I’m planning a visit to London this summer with a family of four and am looking for some help. I lived in Hampstead for several years in the mid-70s and know the city and customs have changed tremendously since then. I realize I shouldn’t be anxious about dress code, but we don’t want to appear out-of-place etc., Would it be the norm for people to walk around in shorts and t-shirts even though summer temperatures are considerable less than here in North America? Any guidance would be appreciated.

I have to tell you that I was in London last June during a heat wave and I saw more women's underwear than I have seen in my life, including browsing mail-order catalogues! When the weather gets hot, modern people in London strip down to their skivvies, and the women in particular, whatever their weight, seem fond of spaghetti-strap camisoles and white jeans that reveal everything underneath.

That said, it did seem to me that women favored gauzy "broomstick" type skirts (from India) rather than LL Bean walking shots.

And don't count on temps far cooler than North America. It got up into the muggy 90s almost every day I was there -- and I had also brought clothes based on living in London (yep, Hampstead) in the late 70s.

A couple of colorful Indian skirts for the girls and some shorts for the guys are good to have, along with jeans. I find a down vest is useful to have on the plane and not heavy to tote. It can be left in the hotel room or put on as needed. Snapped up it's protection against chilly breezes and unsnapped, it's tolerable even in sunshine, and therefore can go from morning to afternoon to night again.

American tourists still win the prize worldwide for fashion comedy, but London is still the epicenter of a style of fashion that includes ripped clothes, tatoos and bizarre billowing tents. I can't imagine where you could go where you'd find it necessary to "dress," except maybe afternoon tea at the Savoy.

Thanks for this. My teenage boys should fit in well then - no piercings or tattoos that I know off and I have an excuse to skip tea at the Savoy.

What about air conditioning? Seem to remember very little if any when I was there.

Cheers

What nessundorma said. Honestly, anything goes, and there's so many different nationalities and tourists in London that you could pick any mode of national dress and still not feel out of place. Shorts seem to have gone out for women - cotton skirts are more fashionable (and perhaps more city-suitable). What's more, a hot spell in London can be sweltering, not least because we don't always do aircon that well in bars and restaurants.

You don't have to follow my fashion advice, but if you want the word from a local, in hot weather I would typically wear cotton skirts (knee length) or linen floaty trousers (not capris) with nice flipflops and slim fit t-shirts or vest tops. This look takes me anywhere including work and nice restaurants. I have also been known to wear my thin 'thai fisherman' trousers on odd days when the new age traveller in me takes over.

There's a lot of aussies in London who are disgusted with the drab colours we insist on wearing, and who will dress in bright colours even in the depths of winter, so don't feel obliged to drape yourself in black.

I must say khaki (docker-style) shorts on women seems to be an american speciality.

The first time I went to London there was a heat wave going on (it was August). Every day I was there it was in the 90's. There was no air conditioning in our B&B (don't know about hotels - but would assume that there would be air conditioning in the larger ones) - and not even a fan. This was in 1998. Also went to see Les Miserables and there was no air conditioning there either.

Air conditioning, even where it exists, is totally unreliable. I was there on business and therefore stayed at an old pile of an hotel in Westminster, and the common areas were not air conditioned at all (the breakfast room was a steam bath) and my room air conditioning conked out one night. Pubs were ovens. I finally took a boat down the Thames to Kew one afternoon for relief.

But that was 4 days. My last 3 days in London were spent in the rain with the temps in 50s, 60s. As a British friend of mine said: "The usual service has been resumed." I would still be well prepared for the historically usual in London, even though global warming is encouraging the establishment of more outdoor wine bars.

Just had to drag this old post up to give an update on summer clothing in London. Yesterday was a very warm day in London and I saw, on Oxford Street in the rush hour, a man walking down the street wearing nothing but a pair of speedos.

So I think I can safely advise everyone to wear what they want. And boys, you now know what to bring with you.

I was in London last week and with temperatures around 16-20 Londoners were already running around in tanktops and flip flops. I was wondering what they wear when it really warms up, and now thanks to Kate, I know...

It feels as though we have had a long winter this year so now we've got a bit of sun we're going to make the most of it. I feel like I'm sweltering even though I know it isn't really THAT hot (but then we had snow a month ago). We don't get a lot of hot hot weather so just a glimpse of sun is enough to get us out and stripping off, even if it is still quite chilly. Walking around my town a little while ago on a bright but pretty nippy day there were people in everything from heavy winter coats to one memorably tough man in shorts and his vest (undershirt).

Anyway, in summer, anything goes!

Kate, I wonder if that was the man I saw running the London Marathon in next to nothing. He needn't have bothered.

Good Information above.Its hot this summer in Hampstead ,and a bit wet -but please dont bring fleece.Can I suggest comfortable shoes but no need for a functional look.We may look like we dont care but you will be totally judged on fleece dockers and those deck shoes and clumpy white trainers with white sport socks.Nobody wears that here....

You're going to look like a tourist come what may, just wear whatever you'd wear in those temperatures...although today it is actually on the cold side, not at all summery.

There are many millions of people in London, they wear whatever they wish to, there's no Act of Parliament forbidding the wearing of white trainers by American tourists, or fleeces, or anything. When I go away anywhere I wear what I'd wear at home, don't even think "what do the locals wear", because that has no bearing on my wardrobe.

I realize I shouldn’t be anxious about dress code, but we don’t want to appear out-of-place etc., --that is why I suggest avoiding the touristic uniform. Hampstead in the Woody0070 experience,
and indeed London does have a sence of style and indeed the smart traveller will try to blend into ones surroundings in order to feel at ease. Its smart casual and teeshirts and shorts are more often seen now than the 70s .

Londoners wear saris in New York.

With every other "class" distinction having gone the way of the dodo bird in Britain, about the only think some cling to is snickering at "trainers" on the feet of Americans.

If Londoners have a sense of fashion "style," it's not anything anybody I know would care to imitate.

Again, where what feels comfortable to YOU on your feet and elsewhere because London is vast, it is either chilly and wet or it is broiling and stuffy, and why be unhappy -- this being YOUR vacation -- to avoid the approbation of some Londoner with nothing better to do than think about what you are wearing?

I feel utterly confident saying this because I lived in London for a year and NONE of my friends would have been so parochial as to tell me to "fit in."

"With every other "class" distinction having gone the way of the dodo bird in Britain"

You're talking rubbish, Britain is still very, very much a three tiered society with regard to the class system. If you're suggesting that there is little distinction between each category (other than wealth) you are sadly mistaken.

Is wearing capris still "out"?

mkingdom,

Overstated, I admit, and class certainly still rules. But when it comes to dress, anythng goes in London today, and crass abounds as much as it does in the US.

Looking around my (non public-facing) office I see the following….

Women mainly wearing floaty skirts and loose tops (mind you it’s tit Tuesday tomorrow – all men know about tit-Tuesday). Blokes in either light cotton shirts, polo shirts, Fred Perrys (me) with chino type strides and the Aussie temps all dressed for a barbeque in shorts, tie died T-shirts and flip flops ( I think this is what they wear to funerals and weddings too).

< all men know about tit-Tuesday >

Must be a London thing - a) assuming that all men know it & b) that as it happens in London it must happen elsewhere

It's a universal thing I think. Well, maybe not in Saudi Arabia - but everywhere else.