Proposal:Dress code

Dress code
Proposal status:	Abandoned (inactive)
Proposed by:	Tom Morris
Tagging:	dress:name=*
Applies to:
Definition:	Requirements that one wear particular attire to enter a venue.
Statistics:

This is a proposal to add a set of tags for dress codes and requirements. It is to tag venues that require patrons and visitors adopt particular dress to enter the building.

Evidence

Below are a range of organisations and venues with dress codes.

General

Many schools require pupils to wear school uniforms or conform to dress codes. This seems a fruitless effort to encode in metadata as it applies to pupils of the school, rather than visitors. The use case for this kind of data is "I'm going to this venue, what do I need to know to get in?" and is therefore of more use for things like bars, nightclubs and houses of worship than to schools and offices.

Level of formality

• Institute of Directors are trialling relaxing their dress code, but it used to require men to wear a jacket and tie, and women to wear a similar level of smart business wear
• Ascot – depends on event
• Epsom Downs – depends on event
• The Ivy – "Shorts, singlets and micro-skirts are not acceptable"
• Reform Club – forbids jeans/denim, track suits, sportswear etc.
• Harrods – "no beachwear, no backpacks, no riff-raff"
• St Anne's Old Links – on the golf course, no denim, no jeans, no t-shirts; shirts must be tucked in. In the club house, jacket, collared shirt and tie required but otherwise "smart casual".
• Eclipse Nightclub, Brentwood – "Smart & Stylish Jeans are welcome along with casual shoes such as Converse, Vans etc. Sportswear including "Bubble Style" gym trainers are not permitted on any night. Smart tailored shorts & deck shoes, sandals etc are very welcome in the summer but please leave Hawaiian & sports shorts at home!"
• La Bodega Negra, a Mexican restaurant in Soho, central London, does not allow in people who are overdressed: suits and ties, for instance.
• The Nest, Stoke Newington - "We have a relaxed policy towards clothing, however suits and fancy dress are not permitted."

Modesty/religious

• Most mosques require visitors to take off their shoes before entering the musallah, the prayer hall.
• Some synagogues require visitors to wear a skull cap. Others restrict that requirement only to Jews.
• Legoland – "Shirts, skirts of appropriate length or trousers and shoes must be worn at all times"
• East London Mosque
• St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City – "No shorts, bare shoulders or miniskirts."

Fetish wear

• Torture Garden – "Fantasy, Fetish, Latex, SM, Body Art, Drag, Burlesque, Moulin Rouge, Medical, Uniform, Militaria, Vegas Showgirl, Kit Kat Cabaret, Venice Carnival, Circus Freak Show, Boudoir, Top Hat & Tails, Electro Freak, Porno Punk etc." (Good luck creating a metadata format for that.)
• Backstreet – "Leather or rubber" and no jeans or trainers.

Undress

• Nude beaches and other nudist/naturist resorts.

Others

The following venues make mention of a dress code but do not spell it out:

• Scala London

Campaign groups

• The Society for Barefoot Living have been trying to discover the reasoning behind "no bare feet" policies. Being able to tag venues as allowing for people with bare feet or which require patrons without shoes is something that could help the barefeet community.

Possible approaches

Initial suggestion

One way to deal with this is to use 'dress' as a namespace for a variety of tags, and have a variety of values including 'required', 'permitted', 'forbidden', 'optional'.

dress:modest=yes covers the use case of specifying that a particular modesty requirement exists.

For organisations that require a suit, either dress:suit=required, or dress:tie=required, dress:jacket=required. dress:businesswear=required could be used as a general and gender-neutral alternative.

For specific dress code requirements (for pubs, nightclubs etc.), the specific item of clothing could be used as the name. dress:jeans=forbidden, dress:sportswear=forbidden, dress:trainers=forbidden

For nude-only spaces, dress:nude=required.

To link to a page listing the dress code, dress:url. And for cases where a readable description is required: dress:description (and dress:description:fr etc.).