San Salvador - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the typical dress code at work and in public places? Is formal dress ever required?
Business or business casual at the Embassy. Formal dress only at the Marine Ball. - Oct 2023
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
