Tbilisi - Post Report Question and Answers

What is the typical dress code at work and in public places? Is formal dress ever required?

It's pretty standard B-casual to B-formal depending in your section and what's on the schedule for the day. If you're out meeting with contacts most people wear a suit...ties for men etc. - Aug 2024


Georgians dress up and down. You can do either quite easily. - Aug 2024


Business casual to formal depending on the occasion. - Aug 2023


Georgians are stylish and very European in their dress. - Jun 2020


Suits at the embassy with some exceptions. Dressy casual for many functions, as well as cocktail attire for many functions, and definitely at least one formal outfit for Marine Ball and various charity events such as the Burns Supper (which is a ton of fun). - Jan 2019


Business at the embassy (suits and ties). Older Georgian women tend to be more conservative in the dress (long black skirts and head scarves, regardless of the time of year/temperature), but younger people wear whatever. They're very into fashionable (and outrageous) footwear. I tried to wear dresses/skirts when I first got here, then it got super hot, and I switched into Old Navy jean shorts. Nobody seemed to care. - Apr 2017


More casual than DC. - Feb 2017


Shirt and tie. - Jul 2014


Business casual. Georgia tends to be quite clean, and I tend to wear exactly what I do in Washington, DC, as the climate and expectations are very similar. Georgians tend to primarily wear black. Clothing is expensive here, and there is not a lot of variety, so purchasing clothing online and on R&R is generally preferred. - Oct 2011


Similar to Washington, DC. - Sep 2011


semi-formal. - Apr 2011


Business dress at work. The Georgians are still stuck dressing as they did in their Soviet past because they don't have much money, nor do they have easy access to quality clothing, but that is changing. You will now see men in shorts and women in capris, but it's the exception rather than the rule. - Jun 2010


I wore khakis and a button-down shirt most days to work. But flip-flops, running shorts and a t-shirt after a run didn't get me gawked at any more than it would in the U.S. - Oct 2009


Business casual to business. The Georgian women somehow got away with outfits most American women could never pull off at work--not skimpy but just interesting. The women generally always seemed to take care and pride in how they dressed. People were generally clean. - Jan 2009


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