Dress Code at Rule's, London
 

My husband and I have booked reservations at Rule's Restaurant in London for dinner on a weeknight. Does anyone know how dressy this restaurant is? He would prefer to wear a leather jacket over a shirt and tie rather than pack a sports coat or suit.

well I'll pass on the weird image of a shirt and tie with a leather jacket....

There are very few, if any, restaurants in London that still enforce a strict dress code. You could go in jeans if you really wanted to, although you might feel a little out of place.

(also remember that Rules attracts a large tourist crowd, and tourists tend to dress more casually than locals).

If he wants to wear a leather jacket that's fine, but please no tie with that!

Hi vista,

Why not leave the leather jacket at home and wear a sports coat with his shirt and tie?

Well, let me be one to suggest that seeing him in a leather jacket with a shirt and tie is likely to make him look very Bristish. I sure see a lot of that among the locals while I'm in London! Aren't you afraid he won't look enough like a tourist? LOL.

Makes sense to me. And why leave the leather jacket at home and take a sport coat if that's the only place he'd normally wear a sport coat, but he'd like to wear the leather jacket whenever he needs a bit of outerwear-which in London is quite a bit? I'd ignore the psuedo fashion patrol, vistapat, and go with the plan he has.

Patrick, sorry but have to ask; leather jacket with shirt and tie? Leather jacket looks fine without the tie, but silly with tie. Just my view of course.
In general, I have found that lots of people wear suit and tie in restaurants during the week, simply because they have come from work. But hardly any place in London requires suit and tie.

I didn't say that's what I'd wear. I'd personlly ditch the tie if I had a leather jacket, which I don't. But my flat in Covent Garden is right by the very popular Lamb and Flag Pub, filled with locals after work every night. When the weather is cool I have seen dozens of guys there in leather jackets with their shirts and ties. My guess is that mostly these are guys who have some sort of clerical jobs and wear a shirt and tie without sport coat at work, but when it is cool out, they add the leather jacket to the outfit. They are standing drinking their beer at that pub every evening! It becomes a sea of both suits and leather jacket crowd.

Hi Patrick

Is a beer at the local the same as dinner at Rules?

I'm not quite sure I understand what is so "weird" about wearing a leather jacket with a shirt and tie and it sure beats "capri pants" any night of the week. I'd have to agree about non-enforcement of "dress codes" in London. I recently ate at The Ivy and they certainly weren't enforcing one there.
Of course, I'm certain there will be a few people "sniffing" about the "lack of values" and asking "whatever happened to taste" thinking that if they ask these questions long enough the Empire will suddenly re-materialize.
Enjoy your meal.

Please ira, what a silly question to ask!!!

Of course, not, and I didn't mean to imply that it was. And you know perfectly well I didn't. What I was saying was that young men (I don't know how old vistapat's husband is) do wear leather jackets with shirts and ties in London. That's all. It has already been established that coat and tie are not required at Rules. My point is simply that there is nothing wrong with wearing his leather jacket rather than a sportcoat if he wants to, just as there is nothing wrong with wearing a shirt without tie, or a sport coat with tie, or a sportcoat without tie. It is too bad that people seem to think in this day and age there are such hard and fast rules of dress (other that when there really are, of course). Yes, I know some people would rather be hit by a bus than be seen in London in anything but black head to toe, good for them. But guess what? The world would probably not come to an end if a woman wore a red sweater to Rules -- gasp!! And it probably won't mean the end of the British Empire as we know it if vistapat's husband appears at Rules wearing a leather jacket with a shirt and tie. I strongly suspect it won't even turn any heads, except perhaps of a few American tourists there, who probably equate leather jackets with Hell's Angels.

I live in NYC, wear a shirt and tie, seldom a jacket at work, but when cool I wear a black leather jacket to work and home after. does this mean I'd look like I belong in London or would I look like a tourist from New York? am I committing some fashion faux pas?

My $0.02 worth on the subject. Having pretty much eschewed the suit or sport coat for everything but the most formal occasions, I often substitute a black leather jacket for "dressy" situations. This a very thin and smooth lamb skin, long length - the cut of a sport coat. I usually wear this with a dark dress shirt and tie, often with a black, Italian wool v-neck sweater and black pants. With the jacket it gives me a more comfortable feeling when entering a restaurant for example, then I will usually wear it to the table and remove it when seated. I find this to much more versatile especially when traveling.

Now if your talking about a waist length, brown, distressed leather bomber jacket with a white shirt and tie ....... well that's another matter!
JoeG

My husband and I dined at Rules in November. We had been to Windsor that day, and my husband, who was wearing a dress shirt, nice pullover, and his trenchcoat, insisted on stopping at the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

I'm glad we did. Nearly all patrons were dressed quite formally. Most gents were wearing tie/jacket, the rest turtlenecks or sweaters over dress shirt.

I didn't see any gents wearing a shirt and tie with no sweater or jacket.

You didn't mention when you're going, but a leather jacket is not very practical in London, especially if it's the sort you don't want to get wet.

My friend's uncle took us there and everyone was dressed formally.

I dined at Rule's thus past summer, and none of the three in my party wore ties. We were neatly dressed.. but no ties. There was a mix of more formal and less, so I don't think you'll feel out of place. Forget about how you're dressed and go enjoy a fine meal in a fabulous setting.

How did this thread become a treatise on leather jackets? lol.

Mom

Yes, the leather jacket sounds fine, and the consensus seems to be that this restaurant can be dressy, so the tie is also a must--apparently, the Londoners agree that the two together are a pretty common sight, so no problem there.

As for the rest of you, it wasn't a sartorial question--she wanted to know how dressy the restaurant was!

well speaking as a Londoner, I don't remember seeing anywhere that Londoners think a leather jacket is ok!

Leather jackets are common here, but are worn as overcoats ie outdoors. They would be removed upon entering a restaurant and placed in the cloakroom.

Anyway, enough about that, let him wear what he wants.

I assumed if Vistapat asked, she wanted to know. I'm sure people wear leather jackets over a shirt and tie, but I think he would not feel at ease in Rules (or any other smart restaurant) wearing that.