Flora Watkins
Eight unmissable places to dress up for
After 14 months of subsisting in loungewear, with a social life largely provided by Netflix box sets and Deliveroo, many would gladly attend the opening of an envelope in order to get out of the house.
Thanks to the vagaries of British weather, ‘dressing up’ has hitherto meant extra layers and grabbing the blanket off the end of the bed to go and sit outside the pub for a couple of hours.
But from Monday 17 May we can drink and dine and dance indoors once more in fabulous destinations for which we’ll definitely need to slough off the jeans…
The Candlelight Club
We keep being told that the post-Covid world will give way to a new Roaring 20s. With their pop-up speakeasies, the Candlelight Club have been rekindling the spirit of Jay Gatsby for the past decade. Their next extravaganza, at a secret central London location, is planned for 16th and 17th July. EVERYONE dresses up — evening wear or jacket and tie for men, flapper dresses and strings of pearls for women. It is entirely lit by candles though, so no nasty, flammable fabrics, please.
Duke’s
‘I like to have a martini/ Two at the very most/ After three I’m under the table/ After four I’m under the host.’
With Dorothy Parker’s ditty in mind, Alessandro limits the number of Duke’s famous martinis to two per person (n.b. to call Alessandro ‘head barman’ is a bit like saying Lady Gaga has a passable pair of pipes). Be warned: sticking to a brace of his rocket fuel is no barrier to staggering out on St James’s, lipstick smeared and tights laddered, but do try to start the evening as soignée as Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.
Rules
Like most of the best places, the oldest restaurant in town doesn’t insist on a jacket and tie (only the waiters are obliged to wear a dinner jacket). Thanks to cameos in Downton Abbey and Spectre, pre-pandemic, there were plenty of casually-dressed tourists around the red velvet booths in Covent Garden. But it would be a shame not to dress with a nod to Lady Edith, with seamed stockings and a tailored dress. It’s also one of the few places in London where you could get away with slinging Granny’s fox fur over your shoulder, if so inclined.
Garsington
Curiously, the festival opera code has never been black tie (even the granddaddy of them all, Glyndebourne, encourages — rather than stipulates — formal dress, to show respect to the singers and musicians). But the chance to wear a floor-length gown is almost always seized upon. Dreamy Garsington, with its walled garden and lake, on the Gettys’ Wormsley estate in the Chilterns, guarantees a glamorous, intoxicating evening. Just bring a wrap or a fur to throw on; ‘our amazing indoor/outdoor hybrid theatre can get chilly after the second interval of Die Rosenkavalier’, advises one insider.
The Wolseley
Although you’d never be turned away in jeans, the opulence of The Wolseley, with its marble floors and Japanese lacquer work, inspires dressing up. You’ll be glad you did if you find yourself on a table next to regulars Kate Moss, Vanessa Kirby or Victoria Beckham.
Claridges
If the joyous sight of choreographer-in-residence, Marius Caluser, dancing across the black and white checked floor in white tie on the hotel’s Instagram feed doesn’t have you shedding your grey trackies, nothing will. Sip a cocktail in the intimate Fumoir Bar, or select a bottle from the extensive champagne menu on the terrace. But keep your phone firmly inside your Chanel bag; the Insta moments will have to wait. There’s a no photography policy to ensure discretion.
Brown’s Hotel
Reputedly the inspiration for Agatha Christie’s At Bertram’s Hotel, the wood-panelled drawing room at Brown’s, off Piccadilly, calls for accessorising with a cashmere twinset, heels and a hat to do their afternoon tea justice.
Sexy Fish
Absurdly crass, fabulous, vulgar and over-the-top, the Eurotrash crowd at Mayfair’s Sexy Fish will be bringing sexy back with sunglasses and shearling worn indoors, lashings of gold and leather and absolutely no jeans or trainers. Unless they’re those weird, clumpy fashion sneakers, that cost in the low four figures and look like orthopaedic shoes. A pair of over-the-knee boots would probably be safer with the doorman.
