Artistic and engineering types, and those who have lived abroad, tend to dress less formally, with trousers and coat of different fabrics. As mentioned earlier in the chapter, ties are rarely worn, especially among the more conservative and pious strata, and are seen as a Western irrelevance.
Ties, however, are quite likely to be worn at weddings, and a groom may also wear a light colored suit like off-white or olive green rather than the more common gray or navy blue. Male guests usually wear darker colored suits.
On formal occasions like weddings, women dress like movie stars on premiere night. Because the genders are segregated on such occasions, women spare no effort to present an impressive image: low-cut dresses in heavily embroidered fabrics revealing a lot of cleavage and bare legs are quite usual, even for women who generally observe the hijab rules in mixed company.