Some people think today's holiday fashion sense is nothing to celebrate.
Wearing jeans to the orchestra? A sweatshirt to church? A goofy Christmas sweater to anything?
Yup, all that -- and more. Holiday dress has slipped, along with dress in general, in recent years, according to style-watchers. Back in the day, the holiday season was the time to "don we now our gay apparel." Now anything goes.
"We've become such a casual society," said Marilyn Pentel, educator on social skills and creator/CEO, Mannerly Manners, of Minnetrista. "People used to dress up to go to the opera, to the orchestra -- very few do now," an unfortunate trend, in her opinion. "When people show up [for a cultural event] dressed very casually, what it's telling those performers is that you don't respect them enough to dress for their performance," she said.
People behave differently when dressed up, she noted. They carry themselves differently; they're more polite. Her advice: "If you'd wear it to hang around home, don't wear it out to the theater."
But Twin Cities cultural institutions have embraced today's casual dress norms, in part because they don't want to discourage attendance. And audiences definitely dress down more than they used to, said Rita Wolf, receptionist for the Minnesota Orchestra.
"There aren't any rules like, 'No jeans in the hall,'" she said. "Most of the time, it's very casual. Business casual is about as dressy as it gets."
At the Guthrie Theater, where "A Christmas Carol" is a holiday tradition, dressing up is still common although far from universal, said David Russell, manager for the front of the house and visitor services. "We still see families with girls in red velvet dresses. There's more dressing up during the holidays. Maybe they're doing group photos. You've got those holiday clothes, and you can't wear them in January."
