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1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
That aside, Dan! You and Brooklyn Reader are in sync. He quoted the 'badges, we don't need no stinkin badges' line yesterday. WooHoo. I actually looked it up after I read his comment. Some reason I thought it came from the Marilyn Monroe/Clark Gable film "the Misfits. It's actually from some 1927 Book - Treasure of Serra Mader.
I am thinking she does not 'fit in' here in Seattle
I'm guessing she dresses far better than she writes --What else should we expect from the style-over-substance crowd?
*Advertorial! Love that word.
Go on...
I, for one, think it's nice when people dress up to go to classy places. The whole world doesn't have to be Wal-Mart.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013…
I think people usually dress fairly appropriately for the location. Admittedly, the scale is skewed toward casual, but that is the West Coast and especially the northwest. I bet nobody would miss Leslie Kelly if she dressed up and left town.
If you have neither taste or decorum go to Taco Bell and a movie.
But, yes, never had the opposite problem in Seattle either.
Don't ever change, Seattle.
If you want to dine with well-dressed people, skip the big steak houses and hit the smaller restaurants run by the many distinguished chefs in this area. The crowd at Spinasse, for example, has looked great whenever I've been there.
Personally while it is almost physically impossible for me to underdress, I don’t really feel the need to judge what other people are wearing. I certainly appreciate it when someone puts together a fabulous outfit, but I’m not going to sneer at someone who may be considered to be dressed down for an occasion.
Except if they are wearing pjs, that’s just too far.
"Seattlites don't tan, we rust!"
She must be related to those SF clowns that ranted about the Seahawks fans being too loud.
For men, dressing up pretty much means coat, tie, and "slacks", which simply never look good. You've got maybe 4 colors to choose from. Any impact your outfit might have is more or less determined by how much it cost. When a flirtatious woman mentions that I look great in my suit, it's always a bleak reminder of my purpose in this world as man - to earn money so I can buy things for women so they'll love me. How about if I just wear a stained tank top with my annual income printed on it?
I was wearing a tank top and shorts. It was a 90-degree Saturday afternoon in July.
And if you don't want to go listen to classical music, you can just cruise by beforehand and sit and eat Wolfgang Puck's in the foyer before the concert.
I'm not stuffy, but I do think people should dress up more. Shorts and flip-flops are fine for a dash to the grocery store, but not for going out. You don't have to wear a tie, unless you're going to the opera, but you should at least be wearing a stylish buttoned shirt and a sport jacket with a bright hanky in the pocket. And good shoes: good shoes are the most important item of men's clothing. I've got a good pair of Florsheim Imperial brown pebble-grain wingtips that go with anything from a suit to a pair of jeans. And no one over the age of 30 should be wearing a t-shirt unless they're in a band or painting the living room. And you should wear fleece only if you are headed to the Aurora Bridge in order to jump off.
@31, your point about the range of colorful plumage available in women's clothing is taken, but there is a huge variety of attractive shirts available nowadays that work equally well with a tie or without. Hint: go for something floral. And have it pressed by a professional.
Also @21, is not knowing how to tie a tie is the 2013 guy equivalent of women not knowing how to cook? Why are people so proud of not being able to do simple tasks? But agreed on the badge. I won't wear that fucking thing AT work. Makes me feel like I'm some futuristic inmate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSj5stmFk…
The flipside is that now when I go back to Chicago I have to remember to bring my fashionable shit or risk getting dirty looks from stuck up jerks.
In Mel Brooks' 1974 Western Blazing Saddles, the line was delivered as "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."
Get you shit together on them stinkin badges man...;-D
It might be entertaining, though, to frequent a place that required the wearing of pirate pants of the style formerly favoured by Sr Nadal.
There was this guy there, in his 20s, with a woman about his age and an older couple who could have been his parents or hers. This guy was wearing a T-shirt, baggy cargo shorts, and what looked like a nylon on his head. He was totally out of place, and I found it a little annoying (obviously). How hard is it to put on a pair of nice jeans and a collared shirt?
Thing is, when there's no dress code explicit or implicit, there are no other rules, explicit or implicit. So these yuppies brought their 2-year-old with them, and that little piece of shit screamed its head off throughout dinner.
I did my best to ignore it, because I knew this would be the last dinner I ever had with my friend. But, to this day, I remember that kid, and its shitball parents with money but no taste or consideration.
That's one of many reasons why, no matter how much Seattle tells itself it is a "world class" city, it will never measure up. Sometimes it's not the big things, but the little things. Dress code? It helps, but if people are uncivilized what can you do?
So, in these situations you do what we did. Try as hard as you can to see past it, and focus on what's important. Believe me, I tried, and tried as hard as I could. But Seattle casual, and the lack of "rules," in the end made it impossible.
Sounds like I'm mad, and maybe I am. But I'm more sad than mad, because Seattle remains a provincial outpost that doesn't know style, elegance, or humor. I should've taken him to Canlis.
"He was totally out of place and I found it a little annoying (obviously.)"
Your problem, Jeannie Beuller, isn't Ferris.
@34 Agreed, the wine list is amazing at Canlis, which is why it's strange Ms. Kelly seems unaware of it.
I'm almost always in dresses because I'm not a jeans kind of gal but my husband is just as likely to be wearing PJs as he is a suit. It entirely depends on his mood and almost never based on where he's going (special occasions excepted). It's one of the things I love about him and one of the reasons I'm glad we live in Seattle.
Remember when Fnarf would provide links from the website Pajamas Media? Like a year or two ago. Not that I'm stalking at all, I just haven't seen pajama media in his comments for a while now. Your ballet attire made me think of it.
I like #64 AND I like the second half of #63. What's a girl to do?!
Pajamas would be fine in restaurants. And slippers on the feet. Most peoples' bodies and feet are not great to look at, let alone while you're eating.
#61, your husband is a fucking slob, and you're a fool for putting up with it.
#67, the guy who wears cargo shorts and flipflops into a high-end restaurant has already proclaimed that he doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. He is a lot more likely to be an obnoxious douchebag than the guy who's dressed for the occasion.
The true offense at a restaurant, gallery, museum or performance hall is not your attire; it's your lack of respect, appreciation and curiosity.
Clothes don't make you a better or worse person. So, the only purpose of a strict, class-based dress code is to exclude those of lesser means.
Judging the worthiness of a person by their possessions and adornments is the mark of a simpleton.
Yeah, Canlis. They have jackets they give you if you don't have one. Which incidentally is exactly like jail. They have suits and cheap shoes that "look" respectable for your court appearances if still incarcerated.
Dress codes often are based on gendered binaries and impractical wear that someone who doesn't get to ride in a car would not be able to manage. Nice but practical walking shoes should be acceptable, including walking sandals for men (if you're obsessed with staring at a guy's feet around a white tablecloth, you should consider your fetishes). And effort should be put into being presentable as a sign of respect to the establishment - nice black t-shirt with a blazer or button down over it and clean, dark jeans without rips are not out of reach of someone able to afford to eat out at a fancy place but aren't overly jarring to any but the worst snobs.
Although I think people should have the right to dress like a slob if they want, I think it displays a lack of self respect, and lack of respect to those around them. Suit and tie are not necessary, but that doesn't mean you should go out looking like you just rolled out of bed.
So yes, dress how you like. You should have the right to dress like a slob any place you go. But the rest of us have the right to judge you negatively for it. Not get in your face, or be rude to you, but that degree of lack of respect for your surroundings and the people in them tells me that you aren't someone I want to associate with.
There are all sorts of ways a person can come into the money to afford eating out at nice restaurants, go to concerts and plays, and do all sorts of things. But very little can be done to give some class to someone who inherently lacks it.
I know I can make almost any choice I want here but I think it helps me to be aware of the 4,000 messages that women's clothing sends and to dress the part when I want something (i.e. a promotion).
Anyway, I don't go out much here but I happened to be in the Tenderloin on Saturday night. I couldn't help but notice how many early-20s women who were wearing great dresses and expensive shoes, and were with guys in khakis and terrible shirts. It was a bummer.
You know what REALLY ruins a restaurant experience? When the self-centered fucktard at the next table (or the waiter) is wearing enough "scent" that you can smell them halfway across the room! I don't want all my food and drink to taste like a chemical engineering experiment, thank you. If I'm not actually licking you, I shouldn't be able to smell you.
when my mom first visited me in seattle from atlanta she asked me ' does ANYone in this city own an iron ?'. this was 30 years ago when everywhere else it was the norm to press creases in their jeans.i said 'no'
i generally dress to be comfortable and not to be stylish or fashionable and since i'm a fairly public person i suppose i could be labeled a slob. so be it. whatevs. but i judge the quality of a restaurant by how welcoming they are and how politely they treat me as well as by the quality of the food and the other services. and can't work up half an 'f' about what anyone else thinks
and i've been to canlis. once.
meh.
Oh. Damn. Well. Seattle sounds like a very sane city in many ways. NYC is a hot mess. As is Chicago. Get over yourselves, all you mannequins.
I wish people dressed more age appropriately out here. It always looks kind of silly when people in their 30s and 40s wear the same styles that were popular when they were in high school.
That said, I still prefer those people to the new Capitol Hill weekender Stepford girlfriend/dude bro styles. Have some class, people. No one wears 6-inch platform stripper heels "FOR THEMSELVES." Enough with that ridiculous line already.
I still dress up for nice dinners and shows, but that is so I can feel pretty, not to enforce some bullshit standards on everyone else. Dress codes usually come down to people being judgmental assholes, anyway. Usually with a sexist, classist, or racist twinge. Seattle is a better place for not doing that shit.
Thanks, Terry :-)
Some great cities loom large in our imaginations and the cultural identity of their country. Rome, London, Mexico City, Tokyo etc. New York is ours.
To be less vitriolic about it all, I don't see anything wrong with different places being different. I think a great restaurant experience is equal parts food, service, and ambiance. So Canlis's style isn't yours. No harm, no foul. But I'd pretty strongly dispute your "stick up the ass" epithet. I think the atmosphere there is both elegant and relaxed. It's a more East Coast style, and it doesn't fit everyone.
If Canlis was just a dress code, I wouldn't be a repeat customer. I like not just their style, but their service and their food. They pretty much invented high-end Pacific NW cuisine, and their culinary standards haven't slipped a bit. I think they keep getting better.
I've been to all the restaurants you named, and I liked all of them. Especially the old Campagne. I grieved when that joint closed. I'd really be upset if Canlis closed or compromised their standards. I don't find them stilted or confining at all. You do, so you're certainly free to spent your money where you want to. But the usual attacks on the place for (gasp!) telling men that they'll have to wear a coat?
Oh please. Hasn't anyone ever been anywhere?
I attribute it to the lumber mill influence, as in the attitude that style is a communist plot to turn your sons gay. Even by comparison to other big West Coast cities, this one seems to have elevated male ugliness to some sort of religion. Oh well.
It's like losing a battle every day. Your pants get soaked up to your thighs. Decent shoes get ruined. And you have to wear a god damned ugly-ass parka or rain coat and look like five-year old anyway. So what's the point.
But people here are entirely inappropriate to the setting. For fuck sake I have seen people show up at the god damned Genius Awards wearing a Patagonia fleece vest, sandals with socks, and cargo shorts. Really?
I don't think people have to wear suit and tie 24/7 but for fuck sake put in some fucking effort. Uggs and PJ bottoms are not a fucking outfit.
Seattle is an almost unbearably earnest city with all four cheeks sucked in. It's terminally afraid to take any real stylistic risks. You see it in the bland architecture, and you see it in the comically drab way that the men here dress. Guys, what on earth are you so scared of?