The rules on the dress code return to the scale: no tank tops, flip flops or too casual clothes. Here’s what to wear in order not to risk staying out of the theater.
The Dress Code returns to the Milan Scala. To remember him are not highly disclosed but new signs clearly visible at the entrance and at the ticket office, where they read clearly: “Who does not respect the clothing rules are no right to enter or refund the ticket”. No imposition from Gran Soirée – no obligation of tie or long dress – but some minimal rules to be respected: banner, tank tops, shorts and flip flops, in the name of decoration and respect for the scenic space and for the other spectators.
To enforce them, this time, the masks will be directly, invited to apply the regulation with a good dose of common sense. An example? The prohibition of uncovered shoulders does not apply to the ladies with elegant blouses or closet clothes, nor do the flip flops are worth for those who wear traditional footwear, as in the case of Japanese spectators in Kimono.
A code never abolished, but forgotten
The dress code is not new. There has always been. Indeed, until 2015, it was even printed on the ticket, where the use of the suit was explicitly indicated for men, possibly dark in the gala evenings. Alexander Pereira had changed the route, then superintendent, during the Expo period, imagining an influx of more casual international tourists in clothing.
Then, the choice of “suggesting” rather than imposing, relying on the good taste of the public. A line also followed by the successor Dominique Meyer, who had declared: “I care that young people come, not how they are clothes”. Moreover, he himself had experienced the judging gaze of certain Parisian habitués when as a boy, dressed “as a worker”, he had gone to the Opéra Garnier. But today it is not so much young people – often more well -kept and formal – that worry, as certain distracted tourists, who present themselves with beach estate or urban trekking.
The other theaters: between recommendations and obligations
The scale is not an exception. In Europe, many work theaters confront each other with the question of the decorum of the public, trying to balance openness and tradition. At the Paris Opéra, on the official website it is invited to choose a “consonation clothing”, with a recommendation in a dark suit in the gala evenings. Berlin Staatsoper appreciates elegance, especially the first. The Royal Opera House in London, on the other hand, shows itself more inclusive: “Dress how you feel more comfortable”. No obligation, therefore.
Different speech for the Fenice of Venice, which provides for more restrictive rules, and it is no coincidence: the new superintendent of the Scala, Fortunato Ortombina, comes from there.
The history of the Dress Code alla Scala
Alla Scala, elegance has always had a symbolic value. Since its inauguration in 1778, the theater has been a mirror of society and its stratification, with stages owned by aristocratic and bourgeois families, and a very clear idea of what was “decent”. Until the second post -war period, going to the scale meant dressing for the occasion, with rigor and pomp, especially in the inaugural evenings. Dark clothes, jewels, gloves and hats populated the stages. In the audience there was an unwritten code, but rigidly applied.
Over time, the label has gradually relaxed, especially in the eighties and nineties. But never completely disappeared. The first of 7 December has always remained a separate case, regulated by a precise ceremonial and a strong media attention which, rather than written rules, requires a dress code for social osmosis.
Beyond clothes: behavior in the room
The return of the Dress Code to the Scala is part of a wider rethinking on the public behavior. Because elegance, here, is also a matter of ways. Not only aesthetic, but theatrical ethics: silence in the room, dull phones, no photographs, no blue light between the armchairs. And no food or drinks brought from the outside. Perhaps obvious rules, yet often ignored. The recent case of a smartphone fell from a stage and ended up on the head of a spectator in the audience is emblematic. From there the official invitation not to support phones on the balustrades.
