European holiday dressing - unwritten rules?

[Hollygoheavenly]

What are the rules for European resort dressing please folks?

At a resort in Mallorca with the family and Wednesday and Thursday everyone was dressed incredibly smartly (linen shirts, smart dresses, polo shirts, Louboutins(!)), and Friday, when we had the opportunity to dress up nicely, everyone else was much more casual 😅

I didn’t grow up in an European household and have only ever done one resort holiday before, which was VERY casual in the evenings, despite it being a very upmarket chain. We took an entire weeks worth of nice clothes to the previous resort and wore them but looked very overdressed. I thought this time I’d save on time, effort and luggage allowance by bringing just 3 days worth of nice outfits for the evening but appear to have gotten it wrong. I’m wondering if I’m missing something? Are there unwritten rules to resort evening attire? Grateful for any input!

Dress how you want to not the way you think others want you to dress

I have been to a few nice resorts (Portugal, Spain and hotels in Italy) and think that people do generally tend to dress up for the evening.

However, it’s generally fairly subtle: a nice summer dress for ladies and a linen shirt plus trousers for men. Perhaps some jewellery and makeup. Nothing loud, glitzy or form-fitting, unless you can absolutely pull it off, which counter-intuitively, the Europeans tend to do better than us pallid Brits!

Not aware of anything; can vary a bit by location but also probably by what people are doing/wearing on Insta for all I know.

I probably haven't been anywhere that posh but I still like to wear something different on holiday. Most hotels I've stayed at people do make a bit of effort for evenings.
A dress or linen trousers. I would usually expect to wear an outfit twice on holiday and take plenty of shoes. OH wears a shirt and smart shorts. You can't do this if you're one of those people who travels with a rucksack and a spare pair of pant.

I find AI is normally less formal unless you are 5*.

If we do B&B and go out for dinner or in the hotel restaurant I find they are more formal/dressed up.

But it also depends on the town/resort.

Some upmarket resorts have a ‘no shorts’ or ‘smart shorts only’ rule for men dining in the restaurant, which tends to make things a bit more formal. But small boys are an exception to this rule!

Is it an all inclusive resort type holiday?

We tend to be very casual, swimwear, sportswear during the day and much smarter in the evening. Dresses and co-ords for me and polos, shirts, smart t-shirs, Chino or linen shorts for the boys and men.
We do have more casual evenings, for example if it's a quick buffet dinner and a couple of drinks compared to much smarter if we were doing the al a carte and a show.

I like dressing up in the evening on holiday, planning the outfits and the getting ready process is part of the experience as we don't do it much at home. It's always what we did as children too so have carried it on.

We're just home from Tenerife and there was a range of styles but most people were at least smart casual in the evening.

Dresses on girls/women and linen on men/boys with smart shorts.

I always dress up in the evenings on holiday regardless of where I go. For me it's part of the holiday, planning my outfits, making an effort to get glammed up etc. I don't give two hoots if people think I'm overdressed, do what makes you happy and makes you feel comfortable

I generally for any holiday will have a clean dress for every evening, and my DH will probably have several shirts for the same purpose.

I wouldn’t say we dress up - but we make ourselves look presentable.

I’m intrigued what you are wearing!

I wear the same 7 midi cotton dresses in the evening for every summer holiday and always look fine. My DH wears chinos or long shorts with a range of short sleeve shirts.
We stay in fairly expensive resorts/hotels.

Shorts and t-shirts all the way for us. I don't do formal, especially when on holiday.

I almost always change into a dress, and add jewellery and change shoes in the evening when I’m away somewhere. Unless I’m not planning to leave my hotel room at all! I like changing for the evening. It’s part of the ritual of being away, especially if it’s somewhere warm.

A lot will depend on what country/area/budget you are.

But yes the kind of people who wear linen all day will wear it to restaurants in the evening.

I'd say I dress up for the evening but it means possibly adding a necklace to the same summer dress I've worn all day.

I also dress up, favourite part of the holiday.

I wonder if it was how you felt rather than how others dressed - so when you were more dressed up you noticed the under dressed, but when you were under dressed you noticed the smart.

You wear the same dress to dinner that you wore all day in the heat? At the beach? By the pool? Wandering around town? That's really grim 🤢.

We always go back to the room for showers and a change of clothes at the very minimum.

I couldn’t wear the same dress I wore during the day to go out for dinner, it would just feel wrong to me.

We always change into summer dresses in the evening - Friday and Saturday we will wear something extra special. Dh wears linen shirts and trousers or very smart tailored jacket with chinos. We go to beautiful hotels where everyone makes an effort. I never wear high heels or anything too much. I follow the European style of well fitted dresses, a small heel or wedges. Sunglasses.

I would never wear the same linen dress to dinner, no.

No heels. Even though it sounds counter intuitive, heels are seen as too formal and "trying too hard" especially for resort style hotels where you presumably only need to walk from your room to the restaurant. It's also now seen as a bit trashy and gives off mistress or gold digger vibes.

Smart casual evening style in most European countries are very nice dresses paired with sneakers or ballet flats and dressed up with high quality accessories, handbag etc. Sneakers obviously need to look sleek and clean (Golden Goose, Sambas, New Balance, Axel Arigato etc), not an old pair of trudged out Nikes. On beach resorts, expensive looking sandals are totally fine for evening wear as well. Evening wear would be linen, tailored pants, shirts, Zimmerman style dresses etc.

What type of thing did you wear on your last holiday when you felt overdressed?

We saw lots of kitten heels in the south of France last month.

I also saw lots in a beach resort in Tuscany last month, I didn’t see any trainers.

I'm a slob on holiday, I use it as an opportunity to relax, funnily enough. I don't take a makeup bag, anything other than walking boots or sliders, no hair dryer straighteners, no jewelry. I dress nicely. But only high street nice.

Or order room service to the beach and evening wear can be a bikini!!