Restaurant Dinner Tendencies:Dress-up?

Just came back from a lovely gourmet restaurant here in Maui where we had a long dinner. We were just in walking shorts and T-shirts, clean running shoes. Temperature is well over 80 degrees this evening.

But it occurred to me whenever we go to gourmet restaurants, the number of women who dress up more --a summer dress which here in the tropics, is a halter dress or if pants, casual good capris, nice casual but slightly more dressy top with a nice casual purse. Several women wore dress high heeled strappy sandals.

There are times I kinda wonder if there's something WRONG with my sense of style at this time of life. Neither my partner or I bother to dress well or semi-dressy casual for any gourmet restaurant if it's just the 2 of us having dinner together. When we go on vacation out of town, neither of us want the additional weight of dressier outift. And at home, on the rare occasion we do go out to an expensive restaurant (vs. a good, inexpensive place), we don't dress up either.

What is your style of dress whenever you go to a gourmet/good restaurant with your loved one or with 1-2 close good friends?

Hi shootingstar,

don't fret too much. I don't own a cocktail dress nor an evening dress nor a formal dress of any kind. depending on locale, you may get a raised eye brow or they may refuse to serve you. Then again you are the one with the money so whooey to the snobby restaurant.

Boston, NYC, SF, Monterey, Carmel, if they say dinner jacket/blazer for men ... then you better plan on dressing up. Thankfully, these days, women can wear a dressy pant suit and get away with it. I typically wear my "power" outfit for my office for fine dining. My partner also wears a pant suit of sort. More artsy for her. We have never had any trouble being treated properly.

LA and San Diego lacks proper decorum so anything seems to go. I tend to dress business conservative or like a real slob. Not much inbetween.

I dress pretty darn casual. But, hey, I live in Honolulu.

One of my friends tends to get tarted up when we go out, but I'm just not into it and think she often looks silly (I realize dressed up and tarted up aren't the same).

I would like to dress a bit nicer, a bit more feminine. I draw the line at high heels, though!

[Edited to add: I do see some way too casual folks on occasion and they always look like tourists. No shirt and no shoes in the grocery--c'mon the locals don't do that; women wearing bikinis, yes bikinis, to the grocery store and other inappropriate places.]

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Originally Posted by ilima

I dress pretty darn casual. But, hey, I live in Honolulu.

One of my friends tends to get tarted up when we go out, but I'm just not into it and think she often looks silly (I realize dressed up and tarted up aren't the same).

I would like to dress a bit nicer, a bit more feminine. I draw the line at high heels, though!

[Edited to add: I do see some way too casual folks on occasion and they always look like tourists. No shirt and no shoes in the grocery--c'mon the locals don't do that; women wearing bikinis, yes bikinis, to the grocery store and other inappropriate places.]

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I agree the near nakedness at grocery stores or any store for that matter-- inappropriate and unnecessary. Here, to see hotel guests walking barefoot on the hotel floors..sorry..I just think yuck...I just cringe with everyone walking all over the place with their dirty shoes and sandals. But then also I see this occasionally in our condo building at home, when they leave the floor where the fitness centre is to go to their home suite floors.

Ilima, if the Superferry was working now, maybe a meeting could have occurred. Keep on cycling!

Funny how I saw an article in the NZ Herald & made me think of your thread SS...http://http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lif...ectid=10552290

If you ever visited NZ or Aust, you'd be in for a shock..many folks don't wear shoes in a casual situation..even in the cooler months. It was a strange for me when i first moved to NZ..

Are you talking about just this experience, or at home too?

I suspect Hawaii is similar to north Florida: the retirees and tourists have had such an influence that I'm seriously overdressed if I ever wear a nice dress or jewelry, or heels over 2". (In south Florida, a pants suit will still go anywhere, but you'd better have serious jewelry. :rolleyes:)

It's hard to get DH to dress, so I've rarely been any place with a dress code, but even then it seems it's only a jacket that's required, not a tie.

I guess I do notice that there are far more restaurants in Ohio that serve fine food in a dressy casual atmosphere than there used to be. It's really not that there are fewer places that you have to dress up, it's that there are more places you can get a really good meal without dressing up.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

When we go on vacation out of town, neither of us want the additional weight of dressier outift. And at home, on the rare occasion we do go out to an expensive restaurant (vs. a good, inexpensive place), we don't dress up either.

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Nothing wrong with your style (a polite way of saying "Silver and I are the same way";)) Be comfortable with the skin you're in:)

Impress people with who you are, not what you wear. If I must dress up, it better be a place I really want to go...and frankly, I don't care if people I don't know look down on me for being clean casual ('cause people I do know wouldn't look down on me...unless they're taller than me...which 80% of them are:D;)...but that's different...)

I love dressing up, but there really are not that many places that require super dressy attire, even here in Boston. Those are places I might go to for a special occasion, where my husband would wear a tie. There are lots of "fine dining" restaurants where a work type of dress or pants are fine. I might dress it up with jewelry or shoes, etc. The rest of the places I go to are just casual and it doesn't matter what you wear, as long as you have shoes and a shirt on.
I think it's important to dress appropriately for whatever the situation is. If you don't like wearing a dress or whatever, then don't go to the places that require it.
I know that when I've been in Europe, I appreciate how nice everyone looks. It's not that they are super dressed up, but people seem to think about this more. Since I spend a lot of my time in sports type apparel, dressing up seems even more special!

In my limited experience in Europe, people dress much nicer than Americans do for just "running around" (e.g., if you see anyone in jeans or sneakers, it's probably another American tourist), but then on the other hand, people don't get super dressed for the opera the way they do in the US.

I generally go with the prevailing style. Around here "dressing up" is a clean pair of jeans and a sweater in the winter and clean shorts in the summer. If I go and visit family in NY or D.C., then I tend to dress up more (dressing up being nice pants and a blouse).

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

In my limited experience in Europe, people dress much nicer than Americans do for just "running around" (e.g., if you see anyone in jeans or sneakers, it's probably another American tourist), but then on the other hand, people don't get super dressed for the opera the way they do in the US.

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naaah....

I wear jeans everywhere; I've been to the opera in jeans. and Brits have a horrible dress sense.
Italians, they are the fashionistas, as are French and perhaps Spanish.

But my parts - lots of fashion bums.

I went to a dance performance at the Kennedy Center last night and dress ran the gamut from a guy in Dockers and and Old Navy sweatshirt to men in suits and women in mink coats:mad:.
I wore knee high boots with tights and a nice red car coat.
It was too cold to dress up or I probably would have worn a skirt.

I like dressing nice but not necessarily dressing 'up'.

I must agree with Rabbit. The dress code is changing, in France too. And the jeans-sneakers combination is immensely popular with some categories of French youth (well, was not so long ago - surely they have moved on to a new trend), and those youth keep getting older.

But it's still a notch above New York City, and VERY much ahead of the West Coast in terms of dressing up! Or not necessarily dressing up. Just dressing consciously. Being very aware of how one dresses.

Since I've moved to the West Coast for my PhD, my wardrobe has just been getting more and more casual, to the point that it's a problem now that I'm thinking about returning to the business and policy world. It's going to be expensive! The thing about Vancouver I think is that nobody will be snotty with you if you wear sports/outdoors gear to a restaurant, for example, because they can't assume you're not rich and famous. You just might be a rich and famous person coming back from a bit of climbing in Squamish.

On the other hand, I like to wear dresses and nice shoes when there is nice weather. Nothing fancy, but especially if I am going out to enjoy a really nice dinner, it's part of the ritual to dress the part. But I'll never go and wear something uncomfortable, so I guess that limits how fancy I get. :)

That is true... here in West Coast, we're much too casual sometimes. In Hong Kong and Japan, you'd never find anyone wearing Lululemon other then for the gym. Everyone dress really nice there even just to go out for a movie. Yes, they do wear jeans, but their fashion is much more forward thinking then ours.

Personally, I like to dress up once awhile too. But I can't be bother following the trends. A nice classic black dress is a must and then add a piece or two for the season (ie. shoe or acessories). That's all I would spend my money on. Geez... I would rather buy more Sugoi.

probably a combination of now living on west coast, plus cycling to work in past decade and alot of our vacations involving cycling, where I just ...don't want to lug around more weight ..of fashion.

I guess I could have worn my cycling lycra skort last night..and looked abit more hip. ;) But last night, I did feel I was a woman in minority, in very casual wear.

My partner and I never dress up. We don't even own fashionable clothing, as our lifestyle is not conducive. We both chose career paths which don't require it.

When we wish to eat at finer and more exclusive establishments, we either go during off hours, or wear all black and a jacket or sweater of some form, and our best shoes.

Once, he and I were in a "casual family" place, and the people being shown their seats near us asked not to sit near "the lumberjacks" ( we were in laborer-wear and he has a full beard. ) It was very cute.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

What is your style of dress whenever you go to a gourmet/good restaurant with your loved one or with 1-2 close good friends?

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It depends on my mood more than anything. I dress casually every day, so dressing up a bit can be fun.

I like to be able to fit in anywhere if needed, so I always have a few basic pieces that can be made dressy, and something suitable for black tie events (and not because I enjoy black tie events, but they do come up).

Pam