Before the deregulation of gaming laws in Britain last year, you could safely bet that dress codes for men at London's premier casinos set high international standards. The odds on spotting denim on the Las Vegas Strip were much shorter, while the Casino Barrière de Deauville even tolerated baseball caps (albeit only during poker tournaments). But according to Henry Rose, a West End-based bespoke tailor since 1961 when casinos were legalised in Britain, ever since secret pockets for chips were cut in the cummerbunds of gentlemen who bet behind drawn curtains at shady gambling house parties, it's been a black-tie kind of a world. Suddenly, however, London has been dragged into the sartorial reality of gambling in the 21st century.
Deregulation last October - including an end to the 24-hour casino "cooling off" period required before a first admission - has loosened the collars of London's best gaming houses. Dress codes for men now accommodate those feeling lucky without requiring the fashionable among them to go home and change.
"People in their late twenties now go out wearing jeans and fashion trainers, and this is our new client," says Maria Slater, head of marketing for London Clubs which owns Fifty (St James's Street) and the Sportsman on Old Quebec Street. Still, at Les Ambassadeurs, off Hyde Park Corner, jacket-and-tie rules remain, and where allowed - for example, at the Sportsman - jeans mustn't be "used" or ripped. Slater maintains: "They are mostly fashion brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Seven, Valentino or Made in Heaven. Dress now has a smart but contemporary feel."
It was not always thus. Back in Vegas, after gambling was legalised 75 years ago, evening dress set the early tone. The film Bugsy, a biopic of "Bugsy" Siegel, father of Las Vegas, celebrates early Nevada style. Later, Sinatra's resident Rat Pack maintained a place for sharply cut suits, while entertainers like Liberace - "I didn't get dressed to go unnoticed" - nurtured Vegas as a more branded, fashion spectacle.
Amy de la Haye, formerly a fashion curator of the Victorian and Albert Museum who oversaw an exhibition of Liberace's Vegas outfits at Selfridges' Vegas SuperNova promotion last spring, highlights the late performer's association with Swarovski. "Under lights, the crystals would glitter," she says.
The notorious George Raft's deportation to America in 1970, along with his friends from Chicago, granted London casino men some belated independence to develop their own dress sense. After 1961, when gaming houses were made legal in Britain, Raft, who played himself in the Bond movie Casino Royale and was a childhood friend of Siegel's, fronted the Colony Club and assisted US "associates" with their domination of early British casino life. Henry Rose, who has worked with Stella McCartney and is based above her Bruton Street, London flagship store, recalls their different style: "The dinner jackets were shorter, level with the cheeks of the seat, while the shoulders and lapels were wider, with jet pockets, not flaps or vents. The jets could be in the same material as the lapel or in silk. Single -breasted jackets would be one-button; with either four or six for double-breasted. Cuffs always had fourbuttons."
French casinos beat British counterparts in embracing modern fashions thanks to relaxed government attitudes to gambling. The white tuxedo of the Côte d'Azur and Deauville that Rose recalls from his early days as a tailor is now reserved for special occasions, and a passport has long been all that is required by Parisians in seasonal exile to sample seaside temptations. As is now the case in London, dress codes haven't excluded the spontaneous player. "In Deauville during the summer, shorts are fine for afternoons," suggests Lucy Denos.
Indeed, some fashion brands with outlets in Deauville feature ranges suitable for those men with a foot both on the beach and under the gaming tables.
JM Weston, bespoke shoe-makers, has branches in both Deauville and Cannes, also a casino town. Weston's latest spring/summer range reflects relaxed casino dress codes, according to Michel Perry, creative director. "It is all about finding a way to put a twist on traditional styles," he explains. "We have tried for casual and sophisticated styles which are meant to be worn by day or night, with unusual - some brushed - skins and smooth details."
In Vegas, shoes areless customised. Amy dela Haye points out thatthe desert's heat would always have worked against dress codes from top-to-toe. Derek Llambias, director at Fifty, with three decades in casinos, witnessed the most minimal footwear during two years based at the Strip's Aladdin hotel casino. "I remember a man inflip-flops, shorts and string vest with a plastic bag. He turned out to be a 'whale' which is the word they use there for the biggest players." As well as such high-rollers, shopping keeps a Las Vegas hotel in the black. In April, the Wynn Las Vegas opened boasting a 75,000 sq ft Esplanade, Via Bellagio creator Steve Wynn's latest home to international brands.
Amid all these fashions, Bugsy Siegel would have been conspicuous in black tie. In London, Llambias also concludes: "Those in dinner jackets will have come on from another function." Yet the Tux could be set for a desert renaissance. George Clooney is reportedly behind a proposed $3bn casino venture called Las Ramblas that would embrace Old Vegas style such as evening wear sported by the actor in his heist film Ocean's 11. The consensus in Nevada is this might prove a loser. Clooney, for all his charm, may struggle to attract whales if he chases penguins.
Colin Cameron's latest book, Dawn Till Dusk, is published by Highdown
