Moscow - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the typical dress code at work and in public places? Is formal dress ever required?
Business casual for most, suits for some. - Dec 2023
Street wear in Moscow was much more casual than I was expecting. There are definitely fashion forward areas and venues but I never felt like I needed to dress up to feel like I didn't stick out. If you go out to dinner you will see a wide range of casual to very dressy. - Mar 2019
Standard business dress, but nothing overbearing or too informal. - Nov 2018
Formal dress would be necessary if one attends many events. Formal wear is widely offered in the shops. Dress code would be business attire. - Oct 2017
Depends on your position. Mostly business attire. - Sep 2016
Formal. Russians tend to dress up, especially women. - Sep 2015
Business; women wear heels with everything. - Jun 2015
Depending on the section you work in, it can range from suit/tie to business casual. Most women dressed in skirts/pants/cardigans. In public, it was anything goes, sometimes you would see men with a girlfriend half their age walking around in freezing weather wearing stiletto heels, a short fur coat and a miniskirt. - Oct 2014
Business dress at work. Russians are much dressier than Americans so no sweatsuits in public here! - Nov 2013
Business dress most of the year. - Jul 2013
Dressy. Russian women especially dress up. The U.S. Embassy is formal: suits and ties for men, suits/nice dresses for women. - Jul 2013
Dress code is regular business attire: same as DC. - Jan 2013
Political types in suits, computer guys in jeans and a polo and management in a tie and sometimes a blazer. - Mar 2012
At the embassy, suits required for both men and women. On the street, you see a variety. It's ok to wear jeans, etc. Women tend to dress up, but the fashions seem more like 1989 than now, and are very tight and revealing and include outrageously high heels. Don't even try to keep up, just dress neatly and comfortably. - May 2011
Formal - Jan 2011
Suit and tie. - Jul 2010
Business suits at work. - May 2010
Business to business casual. - May 2010
Fashionable for women, high-quality for men. My taste differs form the Russian at times, but I find that as long as I focus on high-quality classics with the occasional fun piece, I fit in and look good. - Feb 2010
Same as in America - suits and ties for men, office attire for women. Russian women favor skirts, stockings and high-heels. - Jan 2010
Pretty dressy. - Nov 2009
At work: dark suits and ties for men, for women, Washington DC and better. On the street, this is your chance to wear leather lace-up pants to the grocery store and you need three-inch heels to walk to the park. At first it will seem crazy, then after a year, you'll notice you are wearing red patent leather shoes and your bag matches perfectly. Even if you are a guy! - Oct 2009
Russian women dress more provocatively, and they mostly wear heels. It seems like Russians dress like Western Europeans did about 15 years ago. - Aug 2009
Everyone looks nice all the time. Leave the sweats behind. - Jul 2009
Varies. Russians are more formally dressed in public than Americans (no one would ever dare wear sweatpants, even if it was just to pick up some milk at the corner grocery store) but often less formally dressed at work, although it depends on the office dress code. I was shocked by how casually Russians dress for the theater (jeans are perfectly acceptable at the opera) as compared to people in New York or Washington, DC. - Sep 2008
Professional at work... casual in public. - Aug 2008
