Dress Codes

I’m all for dressing up and quite honestly put a lot (ok, maybe too much) time into finding the right outfit for special occasions.  I have ball gowns, cocktail dresses, church clothes, Sunday shopping dresses (yes, I have them!), beach attire, surf attire, golf clothes, tennis clothes and ski clothes.  (Ok, I don’t TECHNICALLY play, golf tennis or ski, but I’m prepared just in case the need arises.) My friends comment that I have “too much” clothing. I prefer to think of myself as prepared.

I also live in the land of the “special event” AKA Palm Beach.  Somehow the caring residents and our seasonal guests have created a social scene like no other. We have breakfasts, teas, luncheons, mid day drinks, happy hours and black ties. We party it down at Polo Matches, Tennis Tournaments, on the golf course and even on the croquet fields.  We cocktail on yachts, at museums, in private homes and posh night clubs.  There are some people whose full time job is just keeping their boss’ social calendar.

Lately it seems as if the event planners and committee chairs have gotten a bid bored with the traditional “Cocktail Attire” comment on the invite.  For someone who is truly prepared for any occasion, I am completely stumped lately. Check out some of the invites I have received recently.
Invite #1              Cowboy or Indian Attire - no this was NOT an invite for my son’s birthday party; it was for a “Garden BBQ” for adults

Invite #2              Festive Feline Attire - Seriously. 

Invite # 3             Strappy Sandals and Sexy Dress   - Finally some direction!  My only worry was the sex factor – how sexy is too sexy?

Invite #4              Smart Casual – Ok I really have a problem with this one.  How is an outfit smart?  I get casual, but smart?

Miscellaneous Invites: Wear Green, Wear Pink, and Wear Purple - while I do appreciate the direction and help in choosing my color for the night, a few more descriptive words might help.  These leave me still wondering – Cocktail? Jeans?  Ball gown?

And my new favorite mystery attire description – “Vegas Casual to Semiformal” and thus the reason I will be sitting in my closet for the next hour trying to figure out what in there fits this description…