The Senate is really serious about its Seersucker

Talk about business casual.

Yes, even the U.S. Senate sometimes wishes they could lighten up the office dress code, especially as the summer heat kicks in. Thankfully, there's a national holiday for just that, and it happens to be today: National Seersucker Day. The holiday, which honors the blue-and-white striped puckered fabric, gained particular popularity in the Senate in the early '90s as a way to brighten the mood — lest you think senators are "just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits," as former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) once said.

While the lightweight fabric is far from trendy, Seersucker has long been the material of choice for Southerners who must wear suits in the summer heat. "Seersucker is more than fabric — it's a symbol of American made products that create manufacturing, shipping and sales jobs across the country," said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who revived the holiday in the Senate last year after a hiatus in 2012. Below, a look at the Senate tradition throughout the years. Samantha Rollins

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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.