What to wear, what to wear…

[jsrnephdoc]

As an American 1st, a descendant of Scottish ancestry second, I was amused by an article in today's NY Times that in ways exemplifies the United States as still young at 250 years.

It was about 2 events that will occur in NYC's athletic temple (Madison Square Garden) later this week (probably the rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding of two "All Americans," Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce). Much of it focused on what the 1,000 (or so) invited guests will be expected to wear at the wedding, including a brief lecture on white vs. black tie (I guess "we" really DID need that—although, somehow, I can't seem to find my own invitation).

But then, this IS America, the country now hosting the biggest athletic tournament in the world, so it's probably appropriate to remind us a bit about fashion etiquette, given the excesses (and deficiencies) in fabric so typical of our own biggest fashion event (the Motion Picture Academy Academy Awards) and this peripheral "football" (star) event, featuring a guy who may have gone his entire career without touching the ball with either foot.

I'll close with one of my favorite "style" jokes of all time (from the host announcer AT an Academy Awards ceremony a decade or two so ago). It will be understood only by people familiar with American Politics and Icelandic native singers.

The ceremony begins with the host (almost always a comedian) making fun of people in the audience, usually movie stars. On this occasion, Jon Stewart launched one-liners at many in the audience, then announced "we're so sorry Bjork couldn't be in attendance this year; she was trying on her dress, and Dick Cheney shot her."

[OC Richard]

Thing is, the Oscars are held in Hollywood, and here what passes for "formal" men's attire is often a black t-shirt, jeans, and a black sport-coat thrown over the top.

Actually- I'm not kidding- it's considered rather dressy to wear two t-shirts, a V-neck over a crew-neck, under the sport-coat.

So much for "black tie".

[Father Bill]

So much for "black tie".

So much for any mutual respect either.

[jsrnephdoc]

Thing is, the Oscars are held in Hollywood, and here what passes for "formal" men's attire is often a black t-shirt, jeans, and a black sport-coat thrown over the top.

Actually- I'm not kidding- it's considered rather dressy to wear two t-shirts, a V-neck over a crew-neck, under the sport-coat.

So much for "black tie".

Of course, my original post was meant partially as humor, although I'll wager that if you asked 1,000 Americans where they were most likely to see people dressed in "formal wear," those same Academy Awards would end up in first place (especially if you did it as a "multiple choice test" without suggested answers. To be fair, the host is typically properly dressed, and the male members of the Academy are far more likely to be ridiculously attired than the women (unless the women's clothing are subject to the alphabetic movie ratings scale, where mass murders are OK but visible cleavage was not until relatively recently).