Bad Manners and Brimstone

Someone posted in the original Ehell forum back in Delphi that it was okay to wear black to an evening wedding in NYC, but not to a daytime wedding in Atlanta.

I know there are a lot of gray areas in between- those are the two extremes.

But I am very glad nobody wore black to my morning wedding in the South.

Was just at a wedding this weekend and <gasp>, I wore black and wasn't the only one. Black pants, fuscia tank top and thin black long cardigan. It was actually work clothes. I'm glad I didn't bother worrying and waste money on new outfit. Only the 20-something were dressed up in fancier dresses. Us old, married ladies were all in simpler dresses or pants and tops like me.

LDH was going to change into a black dress shirt to go with his black jeans

Just a transatlantic language note: in Britain a 'dress shirt' is something designed to wear under a dinner jacket ( = tuxedo) with a black bow tie, or a tailcoat with a white bow tie. A shirt-with-a-collar is just a 'shirt', full stop (= period). A polo shirt, T-shirt, etc is always identified as such.

On THIS side of the pond, a "dress" shirt is usually collared, buttoned down suitable with a tie! Business formal, if you will.

or even business casual if not worn with a tie and not buttoned all the way up to the collar.

When I read jpcher's post, I imagined the groom intending to change into one of those shirts that has a couple of rows of (vertical) ruffles down the front - I thought they were a dress shirt.

Oops!

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On THIS side of the pond, a "dress" shirt is usually collared, buttoned down suitable with a tie! Business formal, if you will.

But over here a button-down collar would be seen as distinctly outré as part of 'business formal' wear, and in many of the starchier workplaces (think stockbroking, the law, etc) a young man who wore one to work might be quietly advised by his mentor not to wear one if he wanted to get on in the sector. Button-downs come and go in fashion for casual wear, but many British men wouldn't wear one ever. I think my DH wouldn't do so even at gunpoint.

I'm not sure if chigger meant a shirt that is "collard" and has "buttons down the front" versus what I think you and I are reading as a shirt with a buttoned down collar.

In the US, buttoned down collared shirts are more casual, but can be worn to work and even with a tie or sports jacket. But they are more casual.

In the US, the term "dress shirt" is a category and not a specific item of clothing seems to be all encompassing of any men's shirt and button's up and doesn't fall into the category of casual/sport shirt like an oxford, flannel or chambray. The major category of Men's "shirt" would include both the dress shirt category and the casual/sport shirt category. Polo's, henleys, tshirts, sweaters (or UK jumper) often fall into the "pull over" sub-category. 

When I read jpcher's post, I imagined the groom intending to change into one of those shirts that has a couple of rows of (vertical) ruffles down the front - I thought they were a dress shirt.

Oops!

LOL!

I'm (we weren't) that fancy . . . by dress shirt I meant something that would be worn at the office and acceptable wear for a suit at weddings, funerals, fancy parties, etc.

Sometimes his shirts had buttoned-down collars (does that make it dressier than other shirts?) sometimes not.

I'm talking about shirts that buttoned down the front whether it's made of silk or cotton. Not polos or t-shirts.

However, flannel? No not a dress shirt. LOL!