Personal flair

[OC Richard]

we still issue invites to social gatherings, and it is not unusual for them to include a dress code for the guidance of attendees.

This has made me ponder a bit.

Generally the only snail-mail invitations here in Southern California are to weddings, and being a piper who plays at weddings I've received more of these than most people, and I can't recall seeing a dress code on any.

For other things people will post invites on social media, say baby showers, bridal showers, parties, etc. I can't recall seeing a dress code on any of those either.

I think part of it is that people here might bristle at being told how to dress. You see that on XMarks all the time! It's why I try to be clear that when I speak of Highland Dress I'm talking about my personal taste and/or traditional norms or idioms.

There's a major exception here, for party invitations in October: is it a costume party or not? You need to specify, people want to know. You don't want half the people thinking it's a Halloween party, and half thinking it's a non-Halloween party.
If the party is on October 31, or a few days prior, people will generally assume it's a costume party and if it isn't you have to tell people so.