San Salvador - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the typical dress code at work and in public places? Is formal dress ever required?
Honestly I couldn’t say. We’ve been here a year and I’ve been teleworking 99% of the time due to Covid. Seems like typical business/business casual. I can only imagine formal dress at a Marine Ball, but needless to say, due to Covid, there wasn’t one last year. - Feb 2022
Work: typical State Department fare, suits and summer dresses. Formal required for weddings, balls (when they had them) and some Embassy occasions, depending on the ambassador. - Aug 2021
Business attire. Casual on weekends and at the beach. Depending on your position at post could attend various receptions which are business/cocktail attire. Also at least one ball/formal event. You could attend more if you're involved w/ the military or local diplo community. - Jun 2018
The tropical climate means relatively casual. - Mar 2018
Same as DC, a mix of suits and business casual. Formal dress is needed for the Marine ball. - Jan 2018
Salvadorans tend to be more formal. Then again, the richest often dress down and the country's most powerful men wear guayabera shirts. - Jul 2016
Formal at the embassy, business casual elsewhere. Only rich Salvadorans and expats wear shorts when not at the beach. - Dec 2015
Work is business casual. Public anything goes. All women wear 4 inch platform heals and tight spandex. - Mar 2015
Salvadorans are very sharp dressers. Women do their hair, wear heels and wear makeup. Embassy attire is business attire and there were no casual Fridays when I was there. - Oct 2014
Anything goes. - Jul 2014
Conservative, vaguely reminiscent of the Soviet '80s. - Apr 2012
This is a conservative culture and dress is important. - Jul 2011
It's pretty casual around here. However, in the city people rarely wear shorts. And while tight clothing is in, it's not usually too revealing. Inexplicably, polyester is king -- in the form of hot and itchy day suits. - May 2010
Fairly conservative, although some of the women here dress rather... tight. - Feb 2009
