Style is one of the reasons why I think jacket req't is silly--one can be stylishly and well dressed without a jacket. In many cases, I'd say I've been better dressed than half the men who were wearing jackets at some of the jacket-requiring dinners I've been to.

There are in increasing number of top restaurants outside the West Coast that now do NOT have jacket requirements. Even Eleven Madison Park does not, and Alinea, while formally it does, has admitted to us that they cannot enforce it since they charge for tickets in advance and therefore could not refuse service on that for which already has been paid.

L20, Le Bernadin, Jean Georges, Noma, Geranium, Relae, Meadowood, The Ledbury, Amber, Lung King Heen, 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo, Caprice, Marea, Soto, Dinner by HB, the list goes on and on. The fact that there are now 2-3 star restaurants in London that do not require jackets is stunning...and the fact that there are 3 star restaurants in New York is almost as stunning. Hong Kong as well. It used to be that most 2-3 star restaurants or their like required jackets for men; that is ending in many places around the globe. The formal cities still have most, but more and more cities with increasing presence in the top cuisine department are less formal and fewer and fewer require jackets. The Old World/Europe is more formal, though look at Copenhagen as the growing exception along with The Ledbury. The New World is less formal overall...and the New World is increasing at a faster rate in offering new and exciting fine cuisine than the Old (e.g. mostly French and Italian!).