What happened to the dress code? Fashion rules tend to be personal Fashion Articles

What happened to the dress code? Fashion rules tend to be personal

Posted by Jorja Rowlandson on July 12, 2011 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

With more fashion images, advice and information flowing into our lives than ever before from reality television shows, grocery-store scandal sheets, online authorities and now fashion magazine iPad apps, it seems preposterous that we still don’t know what to wear.

“What should I wear today?” It’s a daily quandary for nearly everyone living in modern society.

Blame the sartorial confusion on the disappearance of stringent social dress codes that were universally accepted before the counterculture revolution of the 1960s. It was then, historians say, when the rules for what to wear began to disintegrate.

“I don’t think there are any inviolable dress codes today,” says fashion insider and syndicated style columnist Marylou Luther. She adds, “You CAN wear white shoes after Labor Day. You CAN wear white as a bridesmaid. You CAN wear black to and/or in a wedding. You CAN wear a mini to a black-tie gala. You CAN go to a black-tie without a black tie.”

But despite the lack of fashion dress codes, any fashion maven will tell you expectations still exist for attending events and happenings that often specifically call for black-tie attire, country-club casual or formal dress. Church weddings, temple services, some restaurants and private clubs still maintain dress specifications.

At Shaker Heights Country Club, you won’t get escorted off the golf course for wearing denim cutoff shorts or led away from the pool by security for wearing a thong bikini, but you may get a phone call following your visit asking you to abide by generally accepted standards, says the club’s general manager, Andrew Tuzzeo.

Standards include no denim on the first floor of the clubhouse as well as collared shirts and Bermuda-length shorts on the golf course.

“We never want to embarrass anyone, even guests of members,” Tuzzeo says. “We re-route them to a different area of the club if others are offended by their dress, or we get them a collared shirt at the pro shop. We don’t want someone to not come to the club if they’re not dressed appropriately. [Dress codes] over the years have become more lax. We’re here to make sure members and guests are comfortable.”

The laissez-faire attitude at Shaker Heights Country Club has extended to other former bastions of formal society such as the performing arts.

Gina Vernaci, vice president of theatricals for PlayhouseSquare, is a 27-year veteran of the organization and remembers a time when she wore a dress to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. “The world has changed, and we have changed; we don’t have an established dress code at the theaters anymore,” Vernaci says.

She adds that the performing arts tend to attract patrons with an affinity toward more traditional and formal dress. In fact, the best seats in the house are called the “dress circle,” a nod to a time when European royalty regularly attended the theater. “It’s called the dress circle, but there’s certainly no dictate,” says Vernaci.

With such a variety of programming at PlayhouseSquare — from rock concerts to children’s shows — there are no rules for dressing the part.

The same goes for Cleveland Orchestra performances at Severance Hall. There is no official dress code. Although Beth Schreibman Gehring, president of the orchestra’s women’s committee, says she wouldn’t be caught dead “not dressed up” for a performance.

Schreibman Gehring grew up attending the orchestra and has been involved with the group as a volunteer since 1983. But she holds no one else up to her standards.

“I don’t care what patrons wear,” Schreibman Gehring says. “I care about their ears, their brains and their hearts. Basically I don’t care what they walk in wearing, as long as they get here. Music is for everyone. Not just a certain group.”

She dresses up for the orchestra out of reverence to her mother, who has passed away. “It’s a way for me to feel closer to my mom; it’s an opportunity for me to bring her with me,” she adds. A testament to Schreibman Gehring’s open-mindedness about dress codes, her college-age son regularly attends the orchestra in jeans.

In today’s economy, no arts groups can afford to alienate patrons who are more comfortable in blue jeans than ball gowns.

“We can’t survive if we don’t embrace the relaxed attitudes surrounding today’s choices in dress,” Schreibman Gehring says.

Perhaps that’s the reason that a number of local restaurants with dress codes ranging from “no tank tops or shorts” to “jacket required” declined to talk publicly about their restrictions. Few, it seems, are willing to address dress codes for fear of losing potential customers.

But over at PlayhouseSquare and Severance Hall, there’s no need to be concerned about what to wear. Jeans, shorts, tank tops — all are welcome.

Schreibman Gehring sums it up nicely, “This isn’t my mother’s orchestra anymore, although truth be known, even my very patrician mother would approve. The Cleveland Orchestra truly belongs to everyone,” even if you’re wearing jeans and a T-shirt.