La Scala lays down law on dress code

>>>Few operagoers still button up tuxedos or roll on elbow-length gloves for a performance, as many venues have relaxed their dress codes. But tank tops, flip-flops and shorts? That's where Teatro alla Scala, the storied Milan opera house commonly known as La Scala, draws the line.

- AMELIA NIERENBERG

The venue is stepping up the enforcement of its dress code this summer, reminding patrons via signs in the foyer to dress “in keeping with the decorum of the theatre”. The underdressed will not be allowed inside, according to its policy, which is also printed on tickets, nor will they be reimbursed.

“In order not to exclude anyone, it is necessary to establish some minimum rules,” Paolo Besana, a La Scala spokesman, said.

La Scala is the latest European opera to find itself in a sartorial bind as it tries to both court younger patrons and maintain the frisson of a fancy experience.

“For people who go to the opera — occasionally, it is — by definition — something of an occasion,” said John Allison, the editor of Opera With Opera News, who said he had no personal issue going in jeans. “That can be interpreted however people like.”

Some think the concern is overplayed. “The only clothes that matter in any opera house or theatre are the ones on the stage,” Andrew Mellor, a roving critic, wrote in an Instagram message.

Others say the main consideration is respect. “An opera house is not a beach,” said Manuel Brug, the music critic for the German newspaper Die Welt. But, he added, “I don’t care if anyone has jeans and sneakers, at least if they are proper”.