Tomorrow night I’m attending a movie premier. I’m in the movie (bit part, but I got lines) and I’m friends with the director and much of the cast and crew. Since the affair promises to be quite the social event, my beautiful and talented girlfriend Bun-Ra and I were wondering what to wear. I have leather blazer that everyone thinks is quite sharp which seems the natural choice. The problem is that the director, assistant director, and much of the cast are vegetarians. Some of them are even vegans. Now, I personally am a meat eater and have engaged in spirited discussions on the subject on several occasions, but this isn’t my party and I don’t want to offend anyone, grind any axes, show any disrespect, or in general cause any discord, however slight, that would detract from the otherwise jovial spirit of the premiere. I have other clothes to wear.
But on the other hand, isn’t worrying about this kind of thing kind of silly? It’s just a jacket, and there are kids getting their arms hacked off with machetes in Africa for their tribal affiliation. I should be able to wear any damned thing I want.
So, knowledgable eveningwear etiqutte dopers, should I wear the leather jacket or not?
I guess it depends on the Vegies/Vegans in question. I’m not a meat eater, and I could care less if someone wears leather. I wear leather. Leather is gooood.
However, if the director or producer or some other Very Important Person[sup]TM[/sup] is a vegan, well, I dunno. If any or all of these people have expressed a strong anti leather opinion in your presence, I would skip it. If you’ve never heard mention then it might be OK.
Honestly, I’m not sure I would worry about offending anyone, so much as spending all night worring that I had offended someone. If you keep wondering if people are talking about your blazer in a bad way, you might miss the show.
The movie is called Away/(a)wake 1. Yes, there’s going to be 2–they had to split it up because the first cut was too big and confusing. I haven’t seen it, but I do trust the director implicitly and think he’ enormously talented.
None of the principles have expressed any anti-leather sentiments in my presence, but I do know they’re pretty anti-fur. I don’t think it would be any kind of huge friendship ending faux pas, but I think it has the potential to end up being a situation kind of like showing up at a football party wearing the jersey of the host’s team’s arch-rival. And yes, I do have other clothes.
If any of the people you’re afraid of offending could be in a position to offer you a job sometime in the future, I’d say it’s better to be safe and wear something else. Otherwise I’d say it doesn’t matter and it’s up to them to be more tolerant.