black tie, white tie

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I recently attended a black tie event where the definition of "black tie" was r-e-a-l-l-y being stretched by a lot of the men. The attitude seemed to be "I have enough money that you certainly can't expect to tell me how to dress...I'll wear what I want and if you don't like it you can just try to make an issue out of it". If I were a cynic I'd say that this was a very good way to tell "new money" from "old money"...

Best

AA

Speaking as someone whose money is so old that it has long since crumbled, turned to dust, and blown away, I would suggest that the people you saw weren't the nouveau riche (which I would love to be), but rather the nouveau "non classe". And, because they can be identified as true vulgarians by the way they dress (to say nothing of a total lack of manners) it is easy to spot them in a crowd, avoid them, and make sure they are not invited back. It's a form of social Darwinism of which I wholly approve.

I was a guest at a rather grand affair in Ireland a few years ago when some vulgarians managed to make it past the gate. The Mother of our host looked out at these people sitting on her lawn (something not done at garden parties) sighed and asked of no one in particular, "What is to be done with these people? Are there no country clubs?"

It's really all about behavior, not money. The biggest and, in my opinion, worst snobs are usually to be found in the middle classes.