Quote Originally Posted by CMcG View Post
I have an end of term event coming up and the invitation says "black tie." This seems appropriate for a white formal shirt, self tie black bow tie, evening sporran, dress Braemar jacket, etc. But I looked at last years pictures and the best dressed guys were just wearing suits, while the others weren't even wearing jackets! Call me a stickler, but if the invitation says "black tie" I'm going to dress in formal evening wear, and to heck with the great unwashed, underdressed masses
Good on ya! You are dressing appropriately for the event, where everyone else is dressing to match each other's level of formality. I've noticed that a lot of people do that. They would rather fit in with the rest of the crowd than be properly dressed, and so the trend of "dressing down" continues to get worse and worse.