Choir uniform suggestions, from the wise S&B MNers, please!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I'm in a small chamber choir (roughly 22 members, 6 men, 16 women). Our current uniform is black, open necked shirt and trousers for the men, and black trousers with black top (long or three-quarter length sleeves) for the women.

We recently did a consultation exercise and one of the issues that came up was the choir's uniform - some of the women feel that it is too dull and drab, and would like some sort of change - sadly none of them have given us any actual suggestions.

We are going to discuss this at the upcoming AGM, and I was wondering if any of you had any inspiration you could share with me. We have thought of keeping the uniform but adding an accessory - a scarf or corsage etc - but that gets pooh-poohed by some of the committee, and there are concerns about choosing a different colour top (what if we all have slightly different shades - shock horror) - and I have no decent ideas at all.

Heeeellllllp!!!

I'm with you, Chipmunk - I hate wearing trousers - I look dreadful in them and would far rather wear a long black skirt - but on this, the choir is adamant.

I think we will have a brief discussion at the AGM - and I suspect we will end up keeping our current uniform - and certain members will carry on whingeing about it.

SDTG have PM'd you a couple of links. A local choir to me does the black thing, with lots of them wearing LBDs, and a bit of bling. They look good.

Thank you Mardy - that's really helpful of you.

flowery Sorry, I've just realised it might have sounded like I was being a bit dismissive of Rock Choir, which was not the intention. (Just prefer a more varied repertoire. ) I was just trying to list as many options as quickly as possible.

Nope - me neither! Sometimes I have to bite my tongue an awful lot, in order not to blurt out what I am really thinking!

At university it was always "black - more fabric than flesh"

at uni our choir had blue as colour.
blue has the advantage that different shades don't clash.

"flowery Sorry, I've just realised it might have sounded like I was being a bit dismissive of Rock Choir, which was not the intention. (Just prefer a more varied repertoire. ) I was just trying to list as many options as quickly as possible."

No, no, not at all! It's not everyone's cup of tea by any means, and I didn't take that as dismissive. I just didn't want anyone whose cup of tea it might otherwise be to be put off by the t shirt!

The choir my DH sings in just specifies sea colours . It works for them as they are quite informal. If you want to see lots of choirs have a look at Llangollen international music eisteddfod . They have a dress code and it's amazing how different the choirs look.

Our local choir wears a sort of sparkly/beaded turquoise scarf/shrug for the women and a toning bow tie for men. I don't know if they have a supply of them for new members. The shrug is nice as it covers the shoulders (over a black outfit of choice) looks a bit bit special but isn't size specific.

Not unlike this

Totally agree about singing wait-staff in white shirts. Things we have found that worked for us were -
Men - plain coloured tie and/or cummerbund to tone in with
Women - silky, flowy scarf (patterned worked better than plain) can be worn as a sash across the body or draped over one shoulder, knotted loosely around shoulders pashmina-style, tied around waist, etc... We found that depending on the performance we could wear it in a uniform manner or break it up by having everyone choose how they wore it. (Also far, far cheaper than doing a whole new uniform and easier to update if necessary)

Btw - great way to order scarves en-masse is via Ali Baba or wish.com
They're very cheap - if you can agree on the scarves it's a great way to get them in bulk. (But don't necessarily believe them when they advertise things as being silk or wool, they're usually man-made fibres)

My violin group wear any combination of purple/royal blue/black and that looks nice. Some wear all black of course but the overall effect is good!