There are plenty of guys of all ages who can look like slobs--even when wearing an ill-fitting but expensive jacket/suit--and other guys of all ages who can look great and dashing without a jacket/suit. While YOU may think every guy should wear a jacket when going to a nice dinner, the younger generations (and I'm calling it <55 yrs of age now but recognize there is a standard deviation here) have moved away from such formality and codified requirements. Men can look dashing and well dressed without a jacket...which is why jacket requirements are outdated for most people under 50-55.

Jacket requirements are unheard of on the West Coast even at some of the finest restaurants--because requirements are less in vogue and we're less traditional out West. But that doesn't mean that people are less well dressed; it just means the well dressed have greater variety.

Old fashion rules die hard, and people who grew up with requirements tend to find them satisfying when they're older. But those of us on the younger end of things (I'm 44) don't like broad rules to dictate how we "have" to dress in order to seem well dressed.

I've been to so many restaurants with jacket requirements (that I often but not always have managed to evade) and seen so many idiot guys wearing ill-fitting jackets and suits that I could vomit...and yet they officially meet the dress code. I'm a gay man, and there was no doubt they weren't well dressed. Putting a jacket or suit on doesn't make you well dressed necessarily, PERIOD. THAT is another reason why I laugh at dress codes, especially at the pricey restaurants where people already know they need to dress well.

In today's world, dressing well means a lot more than it did even 20 years ago--thankfully.