marcie

My family and I will be travelling to Barcelona the beginning of April. What type of dress code is appropriate when touring the city? Are jeans appropriate?

silly

Marcie, jeans are not allowed any where in Spain. If you wear them, you will be fined. Micro minis are all the rage and look great with a tube top. All the young Spainish girls wear them everywhere. The latest trend in Spain has the guys wearing tube tops, this way they get to show off their great arms and abs. Have fun and take plenty of pictures!

wendy

Silly is right. You will be searched at the border and if you have jeans in your luggage you won't be allowed in.

Police

And if you have them on, you must take them off immediately

silly

So wear clean underwear!

Lily

Marcie, <BR>Barcelona is to me one of the Best Dressed cities in Europe (behind Paris of course). Jeans are not too common in the city - but if you are strictly doing the Tourist thing who cares. <BR> <BR>If you plan to go out at night however - do not wear jeans. Many of the clubs just don't allow them. <BR> <BR>It is pretty common to see women in nice slacks however. Shorts are really out too.

Bill

One tip - Wear black - everyone else does

single

We thought we knew what we were doing. We wore black shirts, black shoes, black jackets, even black socks. But my husband didn't have black jeans, he only had blue. <BR>Now I am back in the U.S. working with the best lawyers, trying to get him home. You see, they just don't approve of blue jeans in Barcelona. How were we to know? <BR> <BR>We have some money left in the bank. Hopefully it will be enought to get him released. Pray for us. And please, I beg you, don't wear blue jeans. <BR> <BR>

Christine

Hee hee. Funny stuff. <BR> <BR>Seriously, I was in Barcelona last March. I didn't have jeans because I thought "how american, I can't wear jeans." It seems to me that lots of young europeans wear jeans. Of course I'm not sure how old you are or what sort of things you will be doing. I felt we stuck out as americans more when the men in our group wore khaki pants. But that was just my perspective. <BR> <BR>BTW, we tried to get into a nightclub and were denied. The woman at the door looked us each up and down and said no. I was wearing a cute red knee-length skirt I picked up in Paris w/ a black top and black shoes. I thought I looked fine. I think it was the khakis one of the men was wearing, but I guess we'll never know. <BR> <BR>It seemed to rain a lot when we were there (last week in March) and was a bit chilly. Don't forget a scarf and an umbrella! <BR> <BR>Good luck.

Linda

I think the question was a serious one, not a troll! But this site has gotten so that I can't tell which are serious answers and which aren't. Let's give the lady some good replies. Please! There are those of us out there who rely on the information given in Fodors.

graba

Well if the question was a serious one then I would suggest she should relax and not worry about "dress codes". I mean really some people just don' <BR>t have the good sense to cross the street by themselves! What is wrong with some of you people? Do you live in holes? Do you have to remind yourselves to breath? If sometimes we reply back with silly answers, it's probably because it was a silly question! Get it?

Christina

never been to Barcelona and if you go to clubs where they decide whether to let you in based on your clothes and general looks, what can you do. They just probably thought you weren't hip enough (does sound like your husband is the dork). However, I found the comment about men in khakis interesting because I too wonder why American men insist on wearing khakis so much and why no one ever seems to comment on these boards about that. I think they look rather bad, but especially at night, and they are not practical because they show dirt so much (I'm using the term khakis to mean very light colored beige lightweight pants). It seems to me Europeans hardly ever wear khakis, but jeans a lot. I've seen a few young Parisian men wearing khakis but I think they were trying to look American. Khakis really are an American style, it seems to me. I think if you've never been to a big city or Europe, you can worry about these things. I remember when I was very young and untraveled, I moved to NY City from a small midwestern town for a merchandising internship at Bloomingdales and thought I would have to always wear dresses on the street, just walking around. I really thought that, and coming off the farm, it was hard to scrape the cow doody off my shoes and know what to wear other than overalls and flour sacks. Well, I sewed a lot and had a good sense of design and style, so made a lot of my own clothes and was actually complimented on them by some of the snooty higher-ups at Bloomingdales but I was too embarrassed to tell them I made them when they asked where I got them. In any case, I found out you could wear slacks etc on the streets of New York, not always dresses, but if you're from a small town and haven't traveled much, you really have no one to ask or way to know these things, and you do want to know what's common dress so you feel comfortable.

Darleen

I would realy recomend bring some nice clothing but buy clothing when you get to spain the material and styles the way they fit they are real sharp dressers In Barcelona and all over Spain just a observation when I was in Spain last march all the women wore glasses I don't know if it is they have bad eyes ,and no contacts or they are the style. european women dress better than american women they rarely wore jeans nice slacks ,skirts ,sweaters and silky blouses the pants are real form fitting in the butt area and they looked marvelous. great shopping in Barcelona lots of clothing stores so save room in your suit case check out El Co`te Englase department stores like bloomingdales in the states

Lily

Great answer Darleen! <BR> <BR>I always find time to shop for clothes everywhere I go in Europe! You are right about the form fitting pants! Thank goodness for the comeback of "stretch" fabric! Even middle age+ women in Barcelona look great on the street. <BR> <BR>To all of you who thought this was a silly post, I think it's an important question. Some of us come from nice small American towns and it is very common for us to assume blue jeans, sneakers and tee shirts are acceptable anywhere. Many of my friends here would be shocked to think they would look out of place with blue jeans anywhere! That is not silly it's just life. There isn't anything wrong with trying to improve one's appearance.

tograba

Dear graba, <BR>Today I reminded myself to breath as much as I could. But I got tired and it made me hungry. So I put on my jeans and left my hole to get something to eat. The store is across the street and there was no one around to cross me. I waited but then I passed out because I forgot to breathe. Any way I am outside the hospital now. Somebody brought me here when I passed out. But they won't treat me. They said leave, "You are wearing jeans"! <BR> <BR>Anyway, you seem nice and sensible could you come to my house and help me cross the street so that I can eat. I am hungry and now I am getting tired. I am also scared because often when I sleep I forget to breathe and that makes me wake up. <BR> <BR>Please come soon, I live in the hole across the street from the store. I will be wearing jeans and maybe a nice t-shirt.

to

top <BR>

Ess

Be yourself. Love yourself. Dress to please yourself. And take Darleen's advice: save some room in your bag to buy a few clothing items when you get there. They'll make nice souvenirs.

Capo

Silly, great post...thanks for the laugh! <BR> <BR>Marcie, jeans are fine in Barcelona. (I happen to prefer black jeans since I think they're the best of both worlds: comfortable denim, yet dressier than blue jeans.) My girlfriend & I were in Barcelona last March and the one thing I noticed was a LOT of black clothing, on both men and women. In fact, it seemed like almost everyone was wearing a black coat of some type. (P.S. If you have not yet been to Barcelona, you'll love it. La Rambla is a fascinating street, and the genius of Gaudi is incomparable.)

Capo

Another P.S.: if you like shopping for shoes, you might think you died and went to heaven in Barcelona. It seemed that almost every block had a shoe shop (and a delicious pastry shop!)