Are you a Sharp Dressed man when performing?

Are you a Sharp Dressed man when performing?

This summer I've seen many shows around the area and let me tell you no one cares what they look like anymore 99% of the acts look like they just woke up and could care less about what they wear, shorts,
dirty sneakers, ripped pants, etc, etc, maybe I am old fashioned but it seems no one cares anymore players or audiences...
what the heck is happening out there today? thoughts?.
ok I am done venting

During the winter and cooler months I always wear a vest, collarless formal dress shirt and tuxedo style pants. During summer it’s a nice pair of slacks and a Hawaiian shirt. I always include a shined pair of shoes with both styles of dress.

Just got a job, with a "business casual" notation.

It's a tux with the Philharmonic; slacks and a short sleeved shirt on the patio and khaki pants, appropriate shirt and sports coat in the dining room at the club.

All part of the job, in my opinion.

Russ

Donny, both you and I have always prided ourselves in our on stage, and offstage appearance. And, our audiences noticed how well we dressed for the occasion, and I frequently had lots of nice comments from audience members as to my attire. UD once said, "We should always dress better than our audiences" or something along those lines. I think he was right.

Today's younger entertainers, obviously, go for the "Look at me!" attire. Kinda like the folks that dye their hair with crazy colors, have hundreds of tattoos all over their body and multiple body piercings.

Though some are excellent musicians, the vast majority, IMO, are not excellent entertainers. I believe they depend on the shock value of their attire to carry them through the night, same as those who cannot read an audience and crank up the volume to ear bleed levels hoping this will fill an empty dance floor.

As for wearing shorts, which I rarely did, they were always clean, pressed, and mostly covered with my guayabera shirt, which was always clean and pressed with sharp pleats. These jobs were usually Tiki Bars in the Florida Keys. At the pool parties I did here, I still wore black slacks and a guayabera shirt.

When I was a kid, my dad always told me "You only have one chance of making a good impression - don't blow it!" He told me this for the first time when I was 11 years old and trying to get a job at the corner grocery store as a stock boy.

Gary

I like to dress nicely for gigs, wearing something that sets me apart from the clientele. But yes, in general everywhere you go now days people dress very casual. My parents tell me back in the day everyone used to dress up for air travel. I remember most people would dress nicely at church and you see just about anything. Sign of the times.

Its nice to hear us old school players still carry on the "Sharp Dressed Man (or Woman)"
for gigs.... but when we're all gone it's all over a freakin' wardrobe free for all for sure ..lol

Donny
I'm with you. the older acts here ( and they are the most popular ) still dress decent even if its black pants/shirt.. the younger acts who play the bars and decks and are 99% guitar players all look like lumber jacks. Seems like you have to have a full beard, long hair and crappy t-shirt and shorts as a uniform. Amazing.
I still adhere to the rule that the preformer should be dressed at least one step up from the audience. Old school thinking but I ain't changing now.

One thing I forgot to add. Keep in mind that we are primarily playing for the ladies, young and old. Ya gotta look good for the ladies!



Gary

I've often posted on this board about how I feel that those of us in the late 60 to late 70 and beyond age group were musicians at what I think was the perfect time ... Especially for those of us who were able to perform with other good musicians, especially when they had good character ... I was blessed to work with the same group of great talented guys for 26 years ... we were able to play the 'top 40' in OUR style, with OUR sound - we were the only 5 piece 'wedding band' with an alto player, not a tenor - and we ALWAYS dressed for the occasion ... our sax layer was a graphic artist by profession and he was always up on the latest fashion regarding tuxedos, formal shirts, bow ties etc. - one thing he refused to do was the 'Nehru' jacket thing - but he kept us looking sharp from head to toe, including the patent leather shoes ...
Today, in this far too casual world (JMHO !!!) people don't dress 'for the occasion' ... the clothes they wear at McD's are the same clothes they wear for dinner in an upscale restaurant ...
These days for NH/AL venues I wear a nice short sleeve sport shirt - it's always about 95 degrees in these places, even with my fan - and nice slacks ... an evening gig in the same venue, I will wear a shirt and tie ... When I fill in at a restaurant, it's usually a black shirt with a light grey (silver) tie, grey slacks and possibly a black blazer ...
Last week I played in the dining room of this upscale Italian restaurant and the owner wants the musicians - one in the dining room, another in the lounge - to wear tuxedos or a black suit with a white shirt and bow tie ... I'm dressed like that playing to some '40 somethings' wearing tees shirts, jeans and baseball caps on backwards !!! But personally, I enjoy getting 'dressed up' for a gig ...

"THE KEYNOTES" circa 1980

Tony love the old school look...old habits are hard to break....
don't know how the younger set appreciates it but we know it works for many years.!!

Pretty close, Gary. What I said was "I like to dress at least as good as the bartenders" ... I gauge the room by the dress of the staff. I'm not going to over dress, if the crowd is used to a more casual attire, and I won't under dress if the wait staff is all in tux-like garb. For most of my performances, I'm more casual than formal, but almost never jeans, unless the room is set up to accept it. Most of my afternoon things are fine with dress pants, and a button down shirt.

Slacks, sport coat, no tie, mostly combinations of black, white, grey, red shirt sometimes.
Previously the customers were required to wear coat and tie...no dress code now.
I used to always wear a tux, but would be overdressed now. I'm still better dressed than most of the customers.

This was how I dressed for a casual party - no tie. Pretty much everything else stayed the same, black slacks, shiny shoes, satin shirt, cuff links, silk vest.

Gary

Gary looking good you "Sharp Dressed Man"

Keep on Don ! I love it.

Regarding the threads topic, we used to dress according to what occasion we should play.
Anyway, always decent clothing.