Dressing for dinner - a thing of the past?

Sporky

EricTheWeary said:

I rarely use hotels - I'm not keen on paying to sleep in a bed last occupied by a sweaty sales rep having joyless sex with a disease ridden prostitute. 

Brings back too many memories?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Still, good you've managed to get off the game.

Blueingreen

I've spent a lot of time in hotels but rarely eat dinner in them.  9 times out of 10 you can find a better restaurant nearby. 

I never wear a suit these days, a dress jacket, open-necked shirt and jeans is about as formal as I get, and I haven't even worn that for a while.  In the past I've gone through periodic phases of wanting to be a bit smarter, often to do with thinking I'm too old to get away with scruffy, but a suit would be too much nowadays and a tie even more so.

I ate in our hotel restaurant a couple of weeks ago when on holiday in Budapest and got a reminder why I usually avoid them.  We'd booked in because the restaurant was supposed to be something special, but we found it expensive, stiff and pretentious.  Most people weren't formally dressed, even in a smart restaurant in a conservative city like Budapest.

EricTheWeary

Sporky said:

EricTheWeary said:

I rarely use hotels - I'm not keen on paying to sleep in a bed last occupied by a sweaty sales rep having joyless sex with a disease ridden prostitute. 

Brings back too many memories?

...let's just say I know of what I speak...  

Snap

stickyfiddle said:

business-casual

and you can stop that sort of nonsense talk right now. RIght out of some american arse corporate handbook.

Business casual belongs with golf casual and dress down friday in the patronising nonsense bin.

Ties: they are cracking when done well. I like a good suit and tie, sharp as you like. However, its rare to see one worn in most businesses, especially anywhere where the climate is vaguely warm. Working in the Middle East, the tie is seen as a very western thing too. ANd its just to chuffing hot for one. I was working in Turkey earlier this year, was surprised to see a few ties on show. US firm as well.

Ties, suits etc - they are all fine if you do them right, but shocking if you don't. Many people don't.

The Italians generally do the whole jacket & tie thing well. Sprezzatura and all that.

mellowsun

Happy to wear a jacket and shirt (so long as it has a soft collar, I've hated stiff, neck-chafing collars since school days) but the tyranny of the tie? No thanks.

Jacket with jeans is a bit Clarkson though, so best avoided.

Jalapeno

Rule 1: Never eat in the Hotel !

I think the overall dressing for eating out - it all depends on the company and the venue really. I wouldn't dress in baggy jeans and a ratty t-shirt for a posh restaurant, but I would for a gastro-pub or wine bar.

Suits ... tricky - I've got a load as wife's cousin is a Saville Row tailor, it's kind of my thing at work (where these days I'm usually over dressed), but ties are definitely on the way out.

cj73

Jalapeno said:

Rule 1: Never eat in the Hotel !

I think the overall dressing for eating out - it all depends on the company and the venue really. I wouldn't dress in baggy jeans and a ratty t-shirt for a posh restaurant, but I would for a gastro-pub or wine bar.

Suits ... tricky - I've got a load as wife's cousin is a Saville Row tailor, it's kind of my thing at work (where these days I'm usually over dressed), but ties are definitely on the way out.

Ties are on the way out?

How will I demonstrate my wacky personality if i can't wear my bright red Wile E. Coyote tie?

holnrew

I do like how you can tell it's a Rocker thread from mobile. 

I can only guess the user name derives from rocking chair rather than rock music

olafgarten

If there is no occasion there is no need to wear a suit, I'm usually wearing a T Shirt and Jeans, and if I'm going to a fancy restaurant, I might upgrade my T Shirt to one with a collar. 

Hertz32

I live out of a mess on base and you have to stick to the mess dress code or else you can't eat. 
The rules at number 1 mess were: Suit and tie monday-thursday after 1930hrs, fri-sun planters rig (Chinos, polo shirt and belt tucked in with smart shoes) from 1930hrs. The trick was to turn up, eat and go to the bar and be out before 1930 so you could stay in uniform and be served. 

Your suit needed to be in your inspection locker for the following morning too, so you didn't want to be putting it on only to have to iron it all that same evening. 


Now I've moved to an even stricter mess where I can't leave the accommodation wing in anything other than planter's rig and no uniform is to be worn after 1900. On the plus side, it's Planters all week so I don't have to wear a suit at all.  

CabbageCat

Hertz32 said:

 On the plus side, it's Planters all week so I don't have to wear a suit at all.  

Vive la liberte, you crazy freewheeler.

ToneControl

This is one of the things putting me off cruise ships

fields5069

I would agree that it's good to be dressed for dinner, but I was very happy when the hotel where I was staying in Cancun let me wear bermuda shorts and running sandals. I was dripping.

Moominpapa

One doesn't dress for dinner - one's valet dresses one for dinner.

Legionreturns

I rarely dress for dinner, but I always always don my red crushed velvet jacket before brandy and cigars in the drawing room. 

Sporky

Planters is something to do with peanuts, right?

WezV

Despite being a scruffy git 99% of the time I quite like putting in a suit every now and again.  I am still me whatever I wear so I don't get this whole pretense thing???


i did once model at a wedding fair to help out a friend.  They put me in a cream suit with tails... that's the only time I have felt uncomfortable in a suit.


i find smart casual a whole lot more stressful.  I can never get that middle ground quite right

Rocker

TheBlueWolf said:

Rocker I'm starting to wonder if you're a thing of the past lol

You may be right @TheBlueWolf.  I am in my sixties but I steadfastly refuse to slot in to the Seniors Activities that hotels organise.  Life is for living, you get one chance, so why not do it right.

A lot of posts allude to 'rarely dressing for dinner' or 'dressing down for dinner'.  The reality is that people dress for whatever the occasion or activity is planned/taking place.  For example, playing tennis, jogging, football, gym workouts, horse riding, golf, cycling and even walking.  People going for a walk often look like an athlete that is in serious training for the Olympics! Seems kinda odd that when going to a hotel or other upmarket restaurant, some people want to give the impression that they are going down to the pub for a few drinks or a game of darts.

It does not take a lot of effort to look the part at dinner in a hotel.  Probably a lot less than preparing to go for a 20 Km cycle with a group of friends.  So c'mon guys, for once do the right thing.

Bridgehouse

Is this the sort of look you mean @Rocker?

Rocker

Not quite @Bridgehouse.  A suit and tie is best but a shirt and trousers is fine.  Definitely out are jeans, tee shirts, sports wear, camouflage clothing etc.

This is not a stuffy upper class thing, it is respecting the dining room, the menu and the other diners.  In short, it is the right thing to do.