dress code

last saturday i went to the space dragons year-end party. my first ye party was five years ago, and it was pretty small. we were all crammed into a restaurant, and there was no dj because there was no room for dancing. over the next few years our team has gotten larger, so we've moved into bigger venues. and a few years ago a part-time dj joined our team, so now he spins at our year-end dinners.

what's also happened is that a lot of masters (over 40 years old) have left the team, and a lot of under 30 year olds have joined. what does that mean? we're a stronger paddling team now, we have more socials, and our ye parties are less classy.

yup. less classy. it's not that we're classless. definitely not. but back in the day, women wore cocktail dresses and maybe even the occasional gown. this ye party was full of clubbing dresses: tight, short, and revealing.

i'm not passing judgement, because i totally dress like that too sometimes. but i do miss the ye parties where people looked nice, not just sexy. and the change does actually make me sad. ye dinner was the one time of year you could count on to play dress up, like how we used to do when we were kids. ..maybe it's just me wanting to feel like i'm at the grown up's party, but you can wear short and tight most any weekend, when do you have the chance to wear something actually nice?

i think a big problem is that most people no longer know the difference. image google cocktail dress and quite a number of the results you see are actually not appropriate cocktail party attire. good questions to ask yourself: is your dress more likely to be seen at a vegas club or at a formal wedding? on a d-list actress at a fro-yo store opening or on an oscar winner at a movie premier? would you wear this to see your in-laws or your sorority sisters?

anyway, no judgement. but next year i'm going to go with the crowd and wear something more casual and more sexy. and you know what? it won't be as fun.