festive dress for the rest of us

I was recently invited to a splashy event at an art museum. That’s terrific. Keep ’em coming. Less terrific was the dress code, “festive attire.”

Festive in relation to what? And according to whom? A quick online search revealed that festive attire is semi-formal with a twist. In other words, brighter colors, bolder styles, hats, anything sparkly. If it raises an eyebrow, wear it. It’s supposed to let you throw together something that makes you feel good and shows off some personal style.

Now, you unleash that kind of festiveness on an art museum crowd, and things can take unexpected turns. To some, festive translated to mismatched socks with sandals, skirts the size of belts and woolly ... jackety things (preferably worn together), all topped off with a never-before-seen hairstyle. And hey, if that festive attire contributed to their festive mood, then it served its purpose.

Here’s a quick recap of traditional dress codes so you don't get caught without the minimum pieces of flair.

White tie / ultra-formal — Men: tailcoat and white vest, shirt and bowtie. Women: long gown. In other words, fancy!

Black tie / formal — Men: tuxedo. Women: dress (knee-length, long).

Semi-formal / informal — Men: dark suit, tie. Women: knee-length dress. "Informal" has tripped up many a partygoer. Don't be fooled!

Cocktail — Men: dark suit. Women: knee-length dress or skirt.

Dressy casual — Men: jacket or collared shirt, pants. Women: skirt or dressy pants. Is it wrong that I want to refer to this as "drasual"?

Business casual — Men: collared shirt, khakis. Women: dressy pants or skirt. Basual!

Casual — Anything goes.

More Rules to Dress By

• If an invitation indicates that a certain dress style is “optional” or “preferred,” you can dress slightly less formally, but not necessarily casual.
• "Informal" means semi-formal, not casual. So no jeans. Sorry.
  
• Hosts, if you choose a creative dress code, like beach formal or urban casual, do your guests a favor and give examples of what is, and is not, okay.

Comments

So, wait, what's California Casual? I always felt you were expected to show up in jams and flip-flops, carrying a boogie board, with a strip of zinc across your nose, but that can't be it...

Is there such a thing as Hipster Formal/Casual? Readers want to know! :)

This all makes me want to become a nudist. But then I'd probably get invited to something that's "informal nude," and then I'd really be up the creek!

Tennison, for a casual hipster look go with skinny jeans, a vintage ironic tee-shirt with a button-down western shirt over it, and some beat-up Converse sneakers. For a more formal hipster look, stick with skinny pants and pair it with a vintage blazer from Buffalo Exchange on top of a bohemian button-down shirt.

These links should help:
http://www.catbirdseat.org/catbirdseat/bingo.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Hipster

I recently hosted a cocktail party. I requested that guest wear a particular color theme. It was Red, Silver, and Black. All of the photos came out beautiful because of this! It was festive!

Hipster Formal is the type of dress code for the Art/Music crowd. Your are dressing to make a visual statment and stand out in the crowd. Think about what a rock star would to the party. But make sure it doesn't look like a costume. Trendy, vintge, or a mix of both, the type of thing your mother wore to get into Sudio 54. This is a creative style. Originality is the key. You can get away with jeans only if they have a new or unusual tist.

It's not only the responsibility of the host to get these designations correct, it's also the responsibility of the partygoers.

I remember being invited to a museum grand opening in the early '90s that described the attire as "black tie."

At the time I actually owned a tuxedo, so that was no problem. But as it turned out, I was literally the only guy there in a tuxedo. Everyone else was dressed in what I would describe as a combination of dressy casual and cocktail.

Ever since then, I definitely think twice before wearing a tuxedo.

Here's a new one for some of us: What would be "Western-Hawaiian Black Tie"? This has us stumped and we do not want to offend?
So many subcatagories in America! Very exciting!

It was nice reading your post. I needed to know such kind of information to update myself. I work in my friend’s boutique of flower girl dresses and also help in the online promotion.