Why do most theatre goers wear white? Or rather, why did they used to?

Answer 1

What to wear to theater has for so long been defined by social status, ego inflation, LOOK AT ME attitudes, and or in a more gentle sense it may just be an opportunity to dress up once in awhile to change what is the usual case for many. Color has little to do with it.

Most die hard theater goers I know have variations on every theme. I've seen men in Tux jackets and jeans. I've seen woman who look like they might be walking the Red carpet at Oscar time. I've known people who had favorite, or specific clothing they wore just for theater; some even to stand out abstractly, IE: Flamboyant use of colors together that don't match, blend, coordinate at all, and perhaps that one guy,,,, over there, wearing casual slacks, with a 3 button Henley shirt, topped by a Mustard color sport jacket, might top off his pony tail hair do with a cowboy hat.

In essence though the idea for deeply rooted theater people is to be seen dressed formally.

Steven Wolf

Answer 2

Sorry, but I have been going to theatre in this country, on both the East and West Coast, and around the world (Europe) for a long time. To my way of thinking, most theatregoers wore black or dark colors for men, and various colors for ladies. But not white.

Of course, this doesn't apply to outdoors venues, and summer festivals, etc. There you might well see some whites (light jackets for men and cotton whites for ladies.)

As far as I remember, and as far as I can remember seeing in photographs, there was never a time when theatregoers wore white generally.

Answer 3

Do they?