Megan Scruggs had a specific vision for the Met Gala dress code when she got married in Bristol, Rhode Island in May.
“I wanted my wedding to be really unique, and I had never heard of anyone using that phrase as a dress code before,” Scruggs, 29, told The Post. “I wanted people to know that going all out was highly encouraged.”
Instead, she acknowledged, the order only confused customers.
“I was just trying to have fun and do something that no one had ever done before, and people were just so stressed out,” the Los Angeles-based content creator said. “They were like, ‘We need direction.'”
Indeed, guests at parties and weddings this summer are struggling to decipher an imaginative dress code that at times reads like a string of words.
A month ago, Joseph, a 32-year-old marketing communications professional who lives on the Upper East Side, attended an overseas wedding where the dress code was “summer cocktail” but “black tie was welcome.”
“The dress code is completely different,” complained Joseph, who asked not to be named for fear of not getting invited back next time. “To me, ‘black tie’ is very self-explanatory, and so is ‘summer cocktails.’ To combine the two seemed contradictory.”
He tried to look it up online, but to no avail. “I Googled it, but I guess nothing useful came up,” he said. “I just couldn’t find an answer that was halfway between the two.”
When he arrived at the wedding, he realized he wasn’t the only one confused: “It was all everyone was talking about,” Joseph says. He ended up wearing a beige jacket, a navy J. Crew shirt, and navy slacks.
Confusion over dress codes is on the rise, said Cameron Forbes, an event planner in New York City and the Hamptons who has recently worked on events with sartorial themes including “1950s Prom,” “Coastal Chic,” “Pink Cocktails” and “Nancy Meyers meets Wyoming.”
“You see the term ‘summer formal’ all the time, and it really confuses people,” Forbes says. “There’s ‘summer black tie,’ ‘summer cocktail dress,’ ‘summer chic,’ ‘garden party chic,’ and more. We did an event in June that was themed around coastal attire.”
She’ll be hosting a “Garden Party Retro” themed event in the Hamptons.
“It’s got an ’80s theme, but it’s also outdoors,” Forbes explained.
We instruct our clients on these fanciful visions by providing detailed descriptions and sometimes even a visual style guide with photos to help guests understand.
Otherwise, “it’s all just a combination of different words.”
Lexi Hall, co-founder of wedding content company Follow the Bride, also encourages brides to add a photo-driven style guide to their website.
“Some might say this is controlling, but I think guests like it,” Hall says, noting that a recent trend is to ask guests to wear outfits in colors that match the party decor. “Guests want to be told what to do.”
Fashion brand Svalini held a party in New York last week with a “red carpet royal core” dress code.
“For reference, it’s like James Bond meets Bridgerton,” a brand rep explained. Tick tock“Corsets, Y2K, sparkles, glitter… sparkly black tie.”
Guests responded to the cleavage, sequins and cinched-in styles, and designer Sheel Yernenyi was pleased with the results.
“A cool dress code like this creates an immersive world for your event,” she said, “and also allows for a lot of individuality in your attendees.”
Social media influencer Christina “Tinks” Najjar recently Bridesmaid At a wedding where the dress code was “country coastal: blue, red, or pink.”
She said the challenge was a huge encouragement to her, and that her dress – a floral brocade midi dress by Markarian – lived up to it.
“Personally, I love a little direction,” she told the Post. “What could be better than nailing a fashion directive, other than, of course, watching a close friend get married?”
Scruggs, the Met Gala bride, ultimately sent out “black tie optional” invitations, but added the “formal attire required” designation after her sisters-in-law asked if they could wear sundresses since black tie was optional.
After all, her guests showed up in dark suits and long dresses in jewel tones.
“I wanted the guys to wear pink suits and the girls to wear something more risqué,” she said. “I wanted it to be glamorous, but with the new dress code it just became too formal.”
