Dross Code
Oxford is the rare University town where the dress code is more often black tie than anything else. Oddly enough, it is the type of town where one can catch normal, fairly clever individuals bemoaning the words “dress casual” on an invitation. One must make a very important distinction here, however. It is generally the men that one finds in a state of absolute panic over a slight change in the dress code.
Women, naturally, have developed an elastic attitude to black tie and its counterparts. These days, most women simply dress themselves as if on a tribal safari; an ironic statement when one considers the sources of some of Oxford’s wealth. To the point, however. It really is ridiculously easy for Oxford men (a misnomer, I am aware) to dress themselves in Oxford, generally.
There seems to exist among male Oxfordians a Holy Trinity of outfits: a) Black Tie, b) Jumper, with shirt, c) Wildcard, which can consist either of the college hoodie or novelty t-shirt acquired on the requisite gap year. Yet these universal guidelines were shattered this past Tuesday as, horror of horrors, there was no dress code at Law Society ‘Presidential drinks’.
This clearly posed no problem for the female sex; there was plenty of artfully tousled hair pulled back for fall, casual little black dresses, perhaps too much ethnic jewellery, but still. It was a very agreeable showing. I particularly enjoyed the novelty of tweed shorts worn with tights and court shoes. Brilliant. The other team, however, was not playing nearly so well. Men wandered by in freshers t-shirts, jumpers and the odd school tie, as well as dinner jackets.
There was also massive popular support for the striped shirt with a collar teetering in some delicate act of physics right at the very edge of being turned up. Some opted for blazer, shirt and tie, and jeans as a way to straddle the divide. The divine President was in a proper suit and Law Society tie ∧ an excellent call on his part. All in all, though, it was an extremely poor showing, as it lacked the coherent, artfully artless hip factor that the girls displayed.
It appears that the lack of explicit direction: i.e. “black tie,” was simply too much for the bewildered lads. Lest my dear readers think that this is simply a misogynistic, lopsided rant, I’d like to provide an example of one confused boy. As the night drew to a close, a rather forward chap came up to your lovely Editor and tried to instigate a bit of a chat. His pick up line? “I absolutely cannot believe there was no dress code tonight.” Quite.
27th Oct 2005