Dress Code

[Travelingnonni99]

20 hours ago, Kate-AHF said:

After reading this thread, and reading the various blogs as to what actually happens on the Seabourn Antarctic cruises, I've decided I just won't eat in the MDR at all while in South Georgia or the Antarctic this December.  I'm on that cruise to see things I will never get a chance to see again.  Not to dress up for dinner.  At least in the Colonnade I can wear (I assume) fleece-lined booties and thermal slax, allowing me to be out on deck before and after eating without running back to the cabin to change out of the "acceptable attire and footwear"

 

While I will respect the dresscode, I will also go on record as saying I think it's utterly ludicrous while in the Antarctic, and I wish Seabourn would suspend the dress code while on that portion of the cruise, and enforce it the rest of the voyage.

Maybe they have suspended the dress code for the cold weather cruise? From the comments I have read,  it does seem people are opting for warm above all else.

[Travelingnonni99]

21 hours ago, Deeacof said:

I too will be on the Antarctica cruise in Feb. Jeans have never been a go to option for me as they provide very little warmth. I will probably pack a pair but casual day wear for the Antarctic part of the cruise  will be heavier fabric  slacks. It is a bit difficult to choose clothing as we go from Antarctic cold to Amazon heat and gumidity. Looking forward to meeting you onboard. 

Maybe pack some hiking clothes for the Amazon, my hiking pants are light weight and great for packing. I wore those with long johns for Iceland last summer. Seemed to work well for me. As was pointed out jeans are not very warm, but with long johns jeans work just fine. I lived in Iowa years ago and wore a brand called cuddle duds, even layered those if necessary under ski clothes. 

[lincslady]

I personally think that nothing looks smarter for a 'casual' evening in the summer season than white trousers with a plain black or navy top and a bit of jewellery a la Jackie Onassis of many years ago - assuming a reasonable figure, of course.

[Hobar]

I personally think that nothing looks smarter for a 'casual' evening in the summer season than white trousers with a plain black or navy top and a bit of jewellery a la Jackie Onassis of many years ago - assuming a reasonable figure, of course.

Wow, that was a VERY long time ago. I was a little kid then.


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[Catlover54]

On 1/29/2019 at 5:45 AM, lincslady said:

I personally think that nothing looks smarter for a 'casual' evening in the summer season than white trousers with a plain black or navy top and a bit of jewellery a la Jackie Onassis of many years ago - assuming a reasonable figure, of course.

 

Would you care to define “ reasonable figure?” 😮

 

I prefer black trousers, so as not to be mistaken for someone with an unreasonable  figure. But I have gotten a lot more reasonable lately after a lot of weight loss from an illness, ( though not quite back to the Twiggy appearance in my youth) .  White  bottoms may thus be on my future shopping list, though my old colored linen blouses, much looser now, will still come with me.

 

Seriously, I agree your “casual”  evening suggestion is perfect for most ladies on SB, elegant,  unfussy, and understated ( plus SB does a great job in the laundry if you happen to spill pasta sauce on light trousers).

 

 I really enjoy the calm but elegant dress atmosphere in the evening on most of my SB cruises and it is not that hard to honor the dress code.

 

Men, if you are bored here,  just avert your eyes to another thread! 😎

 

[lincslady]

Thanks, Catlover.  I realise this is all very frivolous -  I suppose I mean  good proportions of height to width, and ideally a comparatively small behind and  good leg length for your height.

 

Although this 'look' has been around for many years, it is still seen  around and if you look round a group of women the ones who stand out as looking elegant are often in the simplest outfits (just my opinion of course.)

[wripro]

So now we're not on;y juddering each others' clothes, we're judging each others' bodies! 

[lincslady]

Sadly, wripro, I think that is what most people do - you tend to judge others when you first meet/see them on their facial expressions, clothes, and overall shape.  OK, maybe you do not, but many do, and I for one prefer to try to give as good as impression as possible by covering up the bits I do not like about myself and emphasising the few that are more attractive.

 

It is probably mainly a 'woman thing' as my DH  for one does not give a hoot what others think about his appearance.

[Hobar]

 

Yikes Linkslady. As the arbiter of fashion and figures, do you allow exceptions for individuals with physical disabilities, or would you banish them to their suites?

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Why so harsh, Hobar?  Lincslady is expressing *opinions* on what she thinks constitutes elegant fashion and appearance, not portraying herself as an “arbiter” , and I am confident you know very well she is not trying to banish anyone to their suites for failure to secure perfect dentition and awesome hair highlights, much less for being physically disabled.  

The reality is that most women do try at least a little to highlight what society considers their “good” features and downplay the not so “good”, probably even some women you know 🙂.  Even men do so, though in my experience,  to a lesser degree. Lincslady just stated this obvious fact.

 

Western culture has evolved in a way that we do not typically choose to run around in unisex shapeless sacks  (no matter how practical) or in not so practical leather mini skirts when we weigh 400 lb, or  in our birthday suits, just to try and prove that appearance and clothing  choices are silly and irrelevant to living in society while we focus on  other more important things.

There is nothing wrong or shameful in people making a little effort to look nice or maybe even as nice as they can, for special occasions, male or female, and to have a little fun talking about different MDR dressing  styles.

The fact that this thread has gone on so long indicates many people actually  do care to fit in with generally accepted dressing codes. 

 

But if society devolves  in such a way that women on cruises are expected to wear tight corsets and long heavy dresses again,  even if it is 100 degrees out,  like they did in the Victorian era, I will be staying home with my 20 year old terry bath robe and some  easy care elastic waist pants. 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

Thanks,  Catlover.  I do seem to have quite a gift for being irritating, though I can assure everyone it is not deliberate.

[wripro]

On 2/5/2019 at 10:52 AM, lincslady said:

Sadly, wripro, I think that is what most people do - you tend to judge others when you first meet/see them on their facial expressions, clothes, and overall shape.  OK, maybe you do not, but many do, and I for one prefer to try to give as good as impression as possible by covering up the bits I do not like about myself and emphasising the few that are more attractive.

 

It is probably mainly a 'woman thing' as my DH  for one does not give a hoot what others think about his appearance.

It may be what most people do but that's still no reason to talk about it in public. Keep your judgements to yourself and hope that others will do the same for you.

[SLSD]

I grew up with a mother (now 96 years old) who judged everyone based on their appearance.  That cured me of ever even thinking about doing the same.  Our friends come in all shapes and sizes.  So, I agree with wripro--not an appropriate public discussion as it does not forward what we all desire--a life which connects us all through our humanity. 

[Catlover54]

SLSD, I understand what you are in good faith trying to say about “ humanity”  but I think you are mixing apples and oranges here.Certainly,  bottomline, again, though some people are just healthier and/or are culturally perceived as more attractive than others,  it does not make them less worthy of respect,  nor less human. That is obvious. No one is arguing otherwise. Lincslady is not even close  to claiming people who do not dress in the style she likes are inferior beings, or denying that good people come in “ all shapes and sizes”, as perhaps your mom did  (that would be tough for her to believe, as  Lincslady even stated she is married to someone who does not care what people think about his appearance!) 

 

My sense reading her posts over the years is that she has an excellent understanding of what “humanity” is about and how the world works in reality, not just in clothing-blind utopias, and simply chooses to speak frankly about it in an anonymous forum, ( which is not quite the same as  a “ public discussion” ,  much less a face to face discussion). 

I have no interest in group censoring her straightforward, wry comments as inappropriate, and in any event  they do not violate any CC rule. This is, after all, a dress code thread where no one needs to to be unless he/she cares about dress.

 

 Indeed,  we are fooling ourselves if the argument is  that how people present themselves provides zero information about them. The guy heading into a courtroom wearing a custom made suit and Italian tie is more likely a well-off lawyer than a struggling janitor. Wanting to believe otherwise will not make it so, and there is a reason for the casual ( though not always 100% accurate)   phrase “ the clothes make the man.” I work in a field where assessing how people present, including their dress,  forms part of the professional judgments I make on what is going on with them, based on known facts, correlations, and personal experience ( r value is not 0.99, however, as I am in CA, where men spend $500 on a bottle of wine in a restaurant where they wear thongs and tank tops and do other odd things). People ( including cruisers) observe things, they notice patterns, they build on what they know, and they may at times wonder about inconsistencies (which can make things more challenging in the moment, but which builds on future knowledge bases). We are not tabulae rasae.

 

I just came off a SB holiday cruise ( which wripro  himself has stated he deliberately avoids, I should have listened) , where  quite a few males were keen to wear T shirts with cruise-inappropriate written messages on them, complemented with backwards baseball caps, also with logos.  Interestingly, these were typically ( not exclusively) the same people who were very loud in public venues shared by other members of “humanity,”, i.e., the same people who yelled in hallways early in the morning, and played iphone games or phone conversations in calm settings  without headphones.  I could have used a little less “connection” with their “humanity” unless I wanted to write  a satirical skit.  I would not be likely to suggest to DH that we join them for dinner at a group table if I saw them in the dining room, because my experience told me  we would have nothing in common with them other than human DNA, and they would not likely enhance our cruise lives, nor we theirs. I might have missed some deeply stimulating experiences, but as we age, we see cruises ( and our lives)  as too short to waste on likely low value interactions.

 

BTW, DH also owns  some shirts with messages or pictures on them that mean something to him ( and sometimes to me), but I insist he not take them on cruises because I believe too many people would not want to talk to us at all if he wore them. Actually, I suspect probably both Lincslady and SLSD would avoid us, am not sure about wripro!) 

If we are ever on the same cruise, we’ll be the neutrally dressed couple that is neither young nor old, and neither gorgeous nor hideous, but where the woman  seems to spend a suspicious amount of time observing and listening to the humanity surrounding her ( and probably also sneaking a note or two about what humanity is wearing, because this forwards what she desires, namely a little fun and reflection) 🙂

Edited February 11, 2019 by Catlover54
typo

[SLSD]

I understand what you are saying Cataloger.  I another point I make is that even though we are anonymous, we do become known to each other here.  I converse in the same way I would in an in person discussion aboard ship.  

 

I guess my mother's insistence on judging other based on appearance has had a permanent affect on me.  Yes, I would avoid the passengers in the baseball caps and inappropriate t-shirts too. 

[lincslady]

Thanks again for your eloquence, Catlover.

 

My phrasing was unfortunate; I think to say that many of us tend to subconsciously assess one another by appearance would have been more appropriate, and I see that SLSD agrees with this.  Maybe we should not, but that is life.

[lincslady]

P.S.  And I think many of you would laugh if you actually saw me - over 70, white hair ( home styled) , unplucked eyebrows, slightly overweight  and wearing fairly simple clothes - mid-price but certainly not designer.  

[Hoyaheel]

The move from discussing clothing to discussing "reasonable" (or otherwise) "figures" is what has been most jarring to me recently in the thread. THAT is what I wish didn't take place here. I love to talk about clothing & dress codes. Far less about other people's bodies.....

[Deeacof]

I love to dress up but  packing is always an issue. My experience on previous Seaborne cruises is that evening dining is offered in various venues. We noticed on our last cruise that evenings in the casual restaurant at the back of the ship were a bit more dressy than previous cruises. Nice pants and pretty tops appeared to be the go to outfit for women. However, on this Antarctic cruise outdoor dining on the back deck  is an option so we may see a more casual attire. At any rate you are welcome to join Russ and I anytime. We are from Texas and not used to cold weather. We will be the ones huddled under blankets. 

[wripro]

4 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

The move from discussing clothing to discussing "reasonable" (or otherwise) "figures" is what has been most jarring to me recently in the thread. THAT is what I wish didn't take place here. I love to talk about clothing & dress codes. Far less about other people's bodies.....

That is exactly what I was referring to. Appearance is very different from body type and which body type is entitled to wear which kind of clothing. That is I found offensive. 

[Deeacof]

On our last Seaborne cruise to Alaska, I noticed that evenings in the Collinade were a bit more dressy. Saw nice slacks with dressy tops on most women and Sunday type dresses. However, on this Antarctica cruise folks who wish to eat alfresco will be wrapped up so the entire vibe may be more casual. 

 

 

 

[SLSD]

Wripro, I found that offensive also, but we must move on.  I am currently working on what to take (in terms of clothing) for our May 23 day cruise on the Sojourn.  I would prefer to pack everything in one suitcase with just a tote carry on with my computer and a few changes of clothes in case of the dreaded luggage loss.  We have dined at the Colonnade so seldom in the evening that I haven't really observed modes of dress there.  My best guess as always been that it is ever so slightly less dressy than the MDR.  Am I wrong?  

[SLSD]

By the way, in reading the posts above I see some terrible typos in my own posts.  Can I blame autocorrect for the wrong spelling of effect vs affect?  I hope so. I am beginning to realize that proof reading is important.  My apologies everyone.  I do know how to spell and I do know proper word usage.  

 

I am still noodling over what I need to take on the cruise from Kobe to Vancouver.  Any additional suggestions are MORE than welcome. Right now, I'm concentrating on layers.  

[wripro]

50 minutes ago, SLSD said:

By the way, in reading the posts above I see some terrible typos in my own posts.  Can I blame autocorrect for the wrong spelling of effect vs affect?  I hope so. I am beginning to realize that proof reading is important.  My apologies everyone.  I do know how to spell and I do know proper word usage.  

 

I am still noodling over what I need to take on the cruise from Kobe to Vancouver.  Any additional suggestions are MORE than welcome. Right now, I'm concentrating on layers.  

Yes, most likely it's autocorrect. I have taken to reading all my posts and emails before licking send or submit. Saves a lot of embarrassment.

[SLSD]

Very funny wripro!  I may also need to wear my reading glasses when I type!