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On The Arts: Where both the black-tie and casual crowds fit in
Sunday, July 18, 1999 By Caroline Abels
Two good friends had never been to the ballet before, so I took them last spring. The funky "Carmina Burana" was on at the Benedum, and I thought it would be a good "first ballet" for them to see -- a little unusual and probably not what they'd expect.
Caroline Abels is the Post-Gazette cultural arts reporter.
I told my friends the cost of the tickets, the day, the time, told them we could go for dinner before and maybe a drink after. They each agreed, in separate conversations, to come along. And in separate conversations, they each had a question for me.
"What should I wear?" asked one.
"Can I wear jeans?" asked the other.
And could I be more surprised?
"Of course you can wear jeans!" I bellowed. "Absolutely!"
"You can wear anything you want!" I told the other. "You can even wear jeans!"
In the end they took the middle road, dressing in "business casual." But I'm curious why they didn't know that you can wear anything you want -- anything -- to an arts performance in this country today.
It's a safe bet that no performing arts group in America enforces a dress code. This would be akin to keeping underdressed people out of church. And that doesn't happen, does it?
I'm sure my friends knew this -- knew they wouldn't be kicked out of the Benedum if they wore Birkenstocks. Rather, they were probably concerned about "fitting in." Would fellow audience members look down on them if they didn't sport the right clothes? Sneer at them? Stare? Move their seats?
Some people might. But all the more reason to go casual. People who think there is a "proper" way to dress for the opera, symphony or theater should get used to sitting next to people who don't. Otherwise, there will be no opera, symphony or theater for "proper" people to attend because folks who prefer to spend their leisure time where they can be themselves will stay away from cultural events, depriving arts groups of much-needed revenue.
In fact, it's believed that museum attendance is booming nationwide in part because people say they enjoy being able to dress as they please. People report that they feel relieved that no one judges them as they walk around museums. Is it a coincidence that attendance is up?
Stephen Klein, managing director of Pittsburgh Public Theater, says that when his theater moves Downtown this winter -- to its new home near stately Heinz Hall -- it must make a concerted effort to maintain the informal atmosphere it has built on the North Side.
"We're going to have to work to dispel any elitist image now that we're Downtown," Klein says, adding that ushers might be encouraged to wear khakis and polo shirts.
It helps that audiences tend to be more casual for theater than for dance or music. Audiences for small performances -- of any art form -- also tend to be informal. Such people likely assume that they can relax for smaller shows because ticket prices are lower and performance spaces are more intimate. They also tend to be frequent patrons of the arts, so they might be less inclined to treat a night out at the theater or a chamber music concert as an "event" to dress up for.
Large groups such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra or Pittsburgh Opera tend to attract fancier dressers perhaps because they charge more for tickets, or because Heinz Hall and the Benedum Center are so ornate. People might be led to match their outfit with their surroundings or their ticket investment. Or perhaps dressiness occurs at larger venues because the majority of people who go to such places are older and continue the tradition of dressing up for arts events.
If you consider attire representative of class rather than age or arts-going experience, dressiness could be explained by the large number of educated and upper-income people found at arts events. Why such people are the mainstay of arts audiences is too gargantuan a topic to be tackled here, but there have been many times in history when people of all classes -- that is, all manner of dress -- attended arts events. Times like Shakespeare's, when some scholars say the Globe Theater had shabbily dressed peasants rubbing elbows with lords. Or the 19th century, when performances began later in the evening to allow working classes into events.
Buck Favorini, who teaches the history of theater at the University of Pittsburgh, says the 1930s might have transformed arts audiences into the snazzier groups they are today.
"I have a feeling the Depression started to turn theater into something elitist," because it became difficult to afford tickets, Favorini says. "At the same time, the movies came along and picked up the entertainment dollar."
All this said, I know people who don't want arts performances to become casual-dress events. They say the arts provide a great excuse to dress up these days -- days when people no longer don their Sunday best to go on airplanes or to the movies. Others say dressing up shows respect for the artists on stage and the art form being displayed.
So perhaps, as with everything, there's no black and white answer. When it comes to culture couture, the black-tie crowd and the casual crowd should both be expected in the plush seats and plastic chairs of our local arts venues.
But then there's this other matter. When told the topic of this column, a colleague said: "Oh, you should write about this bigger problem. I went to see 'Crazy for You' the other day and there was this guy who was wearing this awful cologne ..."
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