Monday 15 January 2007

Elegant Casual????

We received an invitation for my cousin's Bar Mitzvah. The invite stated on it that it was "elegant casual" now my question is WTF does that mean???
In my opinion it meant kakis or slacks with a shirt, no suit required for men and dressy but not formal for women...well the event took place last night and my hubby (on my ill advice) went in just that kakis and a nice dress shirt...every other man there (with the exception of the DJ) showed up in a suit and the Zaydi of the bm boy was wearing a tuxedo...why would the invite state anything about the attire if normal attire was expected and there was nothing unusual about what one should wear (like many wedding invites state black tie welcome or i have seen a brunch wedding invite state elegant attire but I have never seen an evening event, bar mitvah or wedding, state casual elegant. What would you have done in this situation? and was my assumption that "casual elegant" meant slack but not jeans completely off the wall (obviously it was based on everyone elses dress for the event) AND is it better to be under dressed than over dressed???

8 comments:

  1. Elegant-Casual??? That sounds like an oxymoron to me! That just doesn't make sense at all. I've had invitations for events that were "dressy-casual", but the word "elegant" seems so far removed from casual. I figure dressy casual is somewhere in the middle, but elegant and casual are complete opposites! I would have thought the same as you. I'd probably have had John wear khakis and a nice shirt or dress pants and a nice shirt too...but I couldn't have thought to ask him to wear a tux! :)

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  2. I probably would have had Adam wear dress pants and a nice shirt, but no tie or jacket. As for me, I always prefer to be overdressed to underdressed, and I would have worn a dress or skirt and blouse...but not an overly dressy one like I would wear to a wedding.

    The things with tuxes is, these days a lot of men own them, so they seem to wear them to every dressy event. Adam rented his for our wedding and does not own one, but my Dad and my brother both own their tuxes, and wear them to most weddings and bar mitvahs. That said, I don't think either of them would have worn them to one if the invitation said Elegant-casual!

    OH, I read again, and only the ZXaidy wore a tux,so I guess that is okay. But all the men waering suits is surprising.

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  3. That's the first I've heard of "elegant casual" too - very confusing! No wonder so many people showed up in suits. I've heard of business casual, dressy casual, cocktail or black tie. I think in this case Ian would have worn dress pants, shirt and a jacket, but no tie. He hates ties anyway, but the jacket just in case. I usually think it's better to be a bit overdressed at those types of occasions -- but then Ian's always telling me I dress up too much (I'm a shopaholic so dress up whenever I get the chance or the clothes just go to waste, right?). So what do I know LOL!

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  4. (I'm a shopaholic so dress up whenever I get the chance or the clothes just go to waste, right?)

    Me too!! My (single or childfree) co-workers make fun of me for wearing my Coach bag to work, saying they save their nice purses for when they "go out". I tell them "It is here or the supermarket!!".

    I love me a chance to dress up!

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  5. yeah i bought new boots to wear with skirts and now realize-when am i ever going to wear a skirt again??? by the time i do the boots will be out of fashion!!

    i think most people didn't read the invite! anyway Gav is pretty easy going so he didn't really care!

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  6. Boots really dress up dark jeans...I always wear my jeans with boots these days, maybe try that?

    We can make dinner plans, and dress up in skirts and boots!

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  7. Agree with Jill - love boots - wear them to one of the mommy dinners!

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  8. Anonymous5:53 pm

    Elegant Casual means the same as Business casual. No jeans, but slacks and nicer shirt. Whatever.

    It's just another way for the fashion industry to impose their crap on society.

    Restaurants are jumping on the elegant casual bandwagon.

    BTW, if everyone showed up at Bar Mitzvah wearing "formal" attire", then that means no one cared or understood it either. They dressed what was comfortable for them.

    Where whatever the F you want, that's comfortable for you and don't conform to the BS.

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