Standards...
As a member of the service most likely to get accused of getting all (unnecessarily) excited about Dress Standards etc then I have to admit to finding this all slightly amusing/surprising. I have never been to an Army Officers Mess Summer Ball at which there was any contention about dress standards - for either sex (Sgts Mess may get more excited, I don't know. Someone out there will be able to tell me). The rules by which most of our messes are run are actually pretty simple. The general rule is ' You are all Ladies/Gentlemen - behave as such'. So no dodgy suits (=shiny), shoes (=not shiny) and no dresses/outfits that might actually cause offence. And we had plenty of short skirts, often worn by Sqn Comds wives if they had the legs.
Surely the key rules are not about length etc but simply about managing to wear whatever clothing with appropriate style. Bring on the short skirts, I say. Get's me going right and proper...
PS Last summer I tried telling Mrs PP that the theme for the ball was 'Wear the dress you wore to the best ball you went to last year'... Unsuccessful but worth a try....
PP