Before my trip to NYC and London in 2000, I would have agreed with you, but experience has changed my thouhts on this. When I go see a theatre production in Houston, I dress up, and I will always do so. It is fun, and it seems the appropriate thing to do. I don't think I've ever seen a person not dressed well at a Houston theatre production. Is this because people are more sophisticated in Houston? Not at all -- Houston is simply not a tourist destination, unlike NYC and London.
I was in NYC for four days in 2000, and while I dressed up, many others didn't. I remember looking at them distastefully, thinking they were being disrespectful. We had all dressed up, so why couldn't they? A month later I went to Europe for two weeks, and because I had limited space to pack, I didn't take any dresses; I decided to take slacks instead. I had talked to three of my friends from England who frequented the West End, one of whom had been in several shows there, and they assured me that people wore jeans as it was, so I should not worry about not wearing a dress.
Of course it still bothered me, but after touring all day, going to the theatre at night in my tourist clothes was my only option. I would have rather gone back to my hotel room and done the complete "getting all pretty" thing, but I had one week in London, and we chose to use every possible minute we had, to tour. I still felt uncomfortable at the theatre, especially when I did see people who were dressed so nicely, but it was what it was. Sometimes we must make difficult decisions, and this had been one.
I would rather see people dressed nicely, but now I am not so quick to judge. When there are so many tourists wearing jeans, it is understandable that the locals would, as well.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-26 08:58 pm (UTC)I was in NYC for four days in 2000, and while I dressed up, many others didn't. I remember looking at them distastefully, thinking they were being disrespectful. We had all dressed up, so why couldn't they? A month later I went to Europe for two weeks, and because I had limited space to pack, I didn't take any dresses; I decided to take slacks instead. I had talked to three of my friends from England who frequented the West End, one of whom had been in several shows there, and they assured me that people wore jeans as it was, so I should not worry about not wearing a dress.
Of course it still bothered me, but after touring all day, going to the theatre at night in my tourist clothes was my only option. I would have rather gone back to my hotel room and done the complete "getting all pretty" thing, but I had one week in London, and we chose to use every possible minute we had, to tour. I still felt uncomfortable at the theatre, especially when I did see people who were dressed so nicely, but it was what it was. Sometimes we must make difficult decisions, and this had been one.
I would rather see people dressed nicely, but now I am not so quick to judge. When there are so many tourists wearing jeans, it is understandable that the locals would, as well.