Culture Clashes? : Local Audiences at Opera, Symphony and Ballet Dress to Enjoy Themselves

No doubt about it, people swooned over the opulence of the opening opera scene in the movie “The Age of Innocence,” but not because of the singing or the action on stage. They went nuts for the duds in the audience.

Every woman in a grand gown with a prominent bustle, all that gorgeous cloth covering acres of constricting wire and whalebone. Every man in a tail coat, with shirts and collars starched to the consistency of sheet metal.

Yep, it was gorgeous, all right. And how easy it was to imagine, two hours after the last note of the opera died away, an enormous collective expelling of breath as all that sartorial superstructure was finally loosened.

Fast forward 100 years or so to near-turn-of-the-millennium Orange County. Do opera or symphony or ballet audiences at the Performing Arts Center still hew to the code of the Victorians and dress to the nines, or are mere sixes and sevens--or less--sufficient in laid-back land?

“I think there are no rules, and I’m glad about that, because sometimes people’s perception of what’s acceptable and what isn’t gets in the way of their attending concerts,” said Louis Spisto, the vice president and executive director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. “Sometimes subscribers call and ask what they should wear. But I see everything from dressy dresses and expensive suits to jeans and bomber jackets and everything in between.”

Not that audiences are showing up at the center dressed in thong bathing suits and Mighty Ducks jerseys. But this is, after all, Southern California, and we apparently have become accustomed to thinking of our forays into the cultural life as another component of leisure time, and we often dress accordingly.

“In general, I get a feeling from Orange County residents that when they go out they don’t want to be really dressy, but they don’t want to be super casual either,” said Greg Lawson, a fashion consultant for Alex Sebastian in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. “A major item for us is a knit mock turtleneck under a suit or sport coat. I find that a lot of people, when they go out at night, will dress down a bit rather than wear a shirt and tie. They wear that all day, so at night they want to be comfortable--maybe a nice Armani sport coat and a casual print shirt buttoned to the top.”

Still, there is opening night, traditionally a time to haul out the glad rags.

“Opening nights are always dressier than other performances,” said David DiChiera, the general director of Opera Pacific. “You’ll see people in an opening-night audience who really love to dress in a tuxedo, and in the same audience you’ll see a few odd-looking couples or college students in sweaters. And that’s great, because it reflects the heterogeneous kind of character of our community. It says that opera is an art form for everyone.”

Performing arts spokespersons are understandably reluctant to point up any form of dress as unacceptable for the center. If the organization is healthy financially, they’d likely be happy to play to an audience of nudists.

“Nothing is really unacceptable,” said DiChiera, “but I think the kind of thing one sees every so often, people coming in shorts and sandals, that has a sense of maybe being a little extreme.”

Spisto said he “would be surprised to see anyone in seriously torn-up jeans. But really, when people come dressed casually, they still dress nicely. And I would say most of our classical concert audiences tend to dress in business clothes because they may have come directly from the office or from dinner after work.

“I’ve seen everything out there. But coming to concerts is, I would hope, not about seeing and being seen but about experiencing great music.”