The Star's Kevin Collison and Joyce Smith recently put together a pretty comprehensive article about the many social dress codes at work in the Kansas City area. You can read their full article here and here's a handy dandy PDF that gets down to brass tacks.

That should put all of those pesky profiling complaints and nasty discrimination claims to rest for good. Any thoughts?

Last edited July 8, 2008 3:34:50 pm

I have to agree with Paulie, if you want to go into a nice establishment, abide by their dresscode. I'm so tired of people complaining about the P & L not letting people in based on their color. Thats a lot of bullsh*t, dress for the occassion. If you want to dress like a thug then go hang out at the clubs that allow that type of attire. You wouldn't wear your hip-hop attire to church so waht makes it right for you to wear it to certain establishments that are trying to maintain a nice and pleasant environment.

Well maybe you should get a pir of cowboy boots so you can get in the next time. I never said it was a black -vs- white thing. An establishment has the right to inforce any dress code that they wish. Go to andy club outside of the P&L and thye have the same type dress codes. I've been to several clubs that will not allow certain type of clothing. This is a billion dollar investment the city has made and they just want to keep it nice for vistors and not let it get rundown like a lot of the city has become. There's a reason 18th and Vine doesn't do much business. Just take a look around that place, its a ghetto.

I don't want to make it a black & white issue so I will substitute the issue by calling it "Assumptions". I am new to this city or area; 5 months exactly. I don't wear thuggish looking clothing or clothing that I would make me look like a threat to you if you standing in line beside, but the problem is that this club/bar owners, managers, and door guys get too caught up in the bosses orders to enforce these dress codes which entails turns it into a racial issue because "Walaa"....Assumptions...i.e. I was at an establishment in Overland Park (97th & Quivera) so figure that out. I had a ball cap on backwards, so I looked on the patio and saw other patrons wearing ball caps backswards, so I thought okay...the place allows ballcaps....The doorman asks if my bill is straight on my cap, and I replied yes...He then said you have to bend your hat in order to get in. Now my hat cost me $35, and in saying that I am not going to ruin my hat and belittle myself just to get a buzz in there establishment. It is basically a catch 22 for me because every weekend I go out I make sure I am dressed code for the place I am going to go and this is not totally based on my individual style bc it is a stereo type based off of Assumptions.

Last edited July 9, 2008 3:23:54 pm

Ditto on "ignorance at its highest level." But I'm going to give you some scope. Hopefully you will see the discrimination, and change your thoughts. Sure, there are people complaining about the dress code and crying racism because they can't get in to the Power & Light District with their boxers showing and sagging baggy jeans. Frankly, most middle to upper class blacks don't like being engulfed in an environment with "those types" either. For instance, the "black" First Fridays: you can't get in to the monthly event wearing jeans. Patrons have known this for years, and dress accordingly. It' still draws a good-size crowd. A dress code is not the problem here. It's that there are white people littering Power & Light District establishments in flagrant violation of the dress code, and blacks clothed in similar attire cannot enter. I, with my own two eyes, have seen two white men walking around Mosaic, of all places, rocking Billy Butler jerseys. A black man would be considered a fool for trying the same thing. This is obvious racial discrimination. Shall I take this discriminatory plea a step further? Look at the roster of places inside the partially taxpayer-funded District: There's Tengo Sed Cantina (Mexican-themed), Mosaic (techno/house until your head hurts), Angel's Rock Bar (obvious in the title), Lucky Strike, McFadden's (Irish pub), Raglan Road (Another Irish Pub), PBR Big Sky (Country Western), Vinino (Italian and Tango) and Howl at the Moon (Frat-like environment piano bar). That's nine nightspots in The District with eight themes that cater to different/diverse crowds. But mysteriously there's not one place that remotely attempts to appease an upscale black crowd or with a commonly perceived "black style" of music. There's no jazz cafe, no soul lounge, no - here's that ominous word people love to misuse - hip hop spot ... in an establishment of its stature in a city where 45 percent of population is black and the taxpayers have chipped in? Really? I wonder why that is? You put that together with this whole dress code discrimination thing and it makes you wonder if the Cordish Co. wants ANY black people in its establishments. A good number of my black friends who can get in The District don't feel comfortable in there because there's LITTLE (read: nothing) there for them to do. Top on the dress code discrimination and it damn near takes us back to the "separate but equal" era. Let's just add to the Power & White slogan. Let's call it "Power & White: Separate But Equal," because that's what it seems like these previous commenters (including those on The Star's web site) and the Cordish Co. want. And if that's how you want it/like it, there's something seriously wrong with you.


Last edited July 9, 2008 6:24:57 pm