Picnic, opera and evening air: dressing for the whole visit

Picnic, opera and evening air: dressing for a full Glyndebourne Festival visit, including the dining interval, garden routes, changing temperature and the practical differences between bringing dinner and booking it.

Oliver Messel's feast for Le Bourgeois gentilhomme at Glyndebourne in 1962 included a papier-mâché salmon with a glass eye. The prop was made with enough detail to suggest charred scales, an elaborate piece of hospitality for Mr Jourdain's guests. Its principal obligation was to look convincing from the auditorium.

The audience's supper has a different timetable and a different set of hands around it. A picnic may have travelled for hours before the interval begins; a restaurant meal depends on a reservation and the performance schedule. Decide how you want to dine early enough to choose the clothes, carrying arrangements and weather provision together.

Stage food and real food

A theatrical feast can be wonderfully elaborate without requiring anybody to wash up afterwards. Your own meal needs containers that travel, glasses that arrive intact and a plan for the equipment when dinner is over. Consider who will carry each part and how far it must go, particularly if you also bring furniture.

Try the clothes through those tasks. Lift a basket, reach across the intended table and bend towards the chair. A sleeve that needs shortening or a bag strap that slides is useful information at home. Eveningwear offers plenty of scope for movement if its fit has been chosen with more than arrival in mind.

The interval changes the architecture of the outfit

The Festival's current guidance describes a ninety-minute dining interval. Consult the schedule for the production and date, including any shorter intervals and the final curtain, rather than transferring the hours of a previous visit to the next one.

The long break makes dinner a substantial part of wearing the outfit. Consider the waistband after a meal, the sleeve beside a glass and the skirt in the chair you will use. A coat may be needed for the interval itself, even when the afternoon was warm. Put it where it can be reached without dismantling the picnic.

For her: clothes that survive dinner

A crepe midi dress, secure evening flats and a warm evening coat can provide a straightforward Festival outfit. Look for ease in the lining as well as the outer fabric, and a skirt that settles around the chair without repeated adjustment. Dark metallic shoes can add a small change of surface beneath a plain colour.

Evening trousers with a silk blouse give another useful arrangement. If the blouse has fuller sleeves, choose cuffs that stay clear of the meal and a jacket that accommodates them. A broad trouser leg can take a more contained top; the hem should remain above the ground when walking between the dining place and the opera house.

A long dress can work well with careful length and a secure shoe. Test it around the actual chair, including standing up and moving away from the table. The amount of cloth matters as much as the nominal length, especially when several people and their belongings share a compact picnic arrangement.

For him: formalwear that can sit down

Try the dinner suit with its evening shirt fastened and the trousers at the intended waist. Reach forwards and spend a few minutes in a chair; pulling at the back or pressure at the collar gives a tailor something specific to assess. Polished shoes should be familiar enough for the route through the gardens, with normal support included where needed.

A coloured evening jacket with black formal trousers can bring green or burgundy into the daylight part of the visit. A white evening shirt and black bow tie keep the surrounding arrangement clear. Choose the jacket's weight for the forecast and test the overcoat above it: a beautiful velvet surface can conceal quite a warm lining.

Bring your own, or let somebody else do it

Glyndebourne permits picnics brought from home and offers purchased picnics, bookable covered spaces and restaurants. Choose the form of dinner you actually enjoy arranging. A simple meal can be generous, and a restaurant booking can be the most agreeable way to avoid transporting furniture.

If bringing your own picnic, set up before the performance where possible. Trolleys are available for your furniture; purchased picnics have separate porter and furniture arrangements. Check inclusions and reserve covered space when it is important to you. Gazebos and awnings are not permitted, and you should take rubbish home.

Give the things needed inside the opera house their own bag. Medication, glasses and tickets should not depend on opening the food containers again. Check with the venue about larger belongings and any access support your dining route requires.

The garden is not merely where dinner happens

Landscape was part of John and Audrey Christie's conception of the Festival, with time in the visit for walking and looking. The archive also records the gardens' practical lives: during the war, the area now known as the Urn Garden grew vegetables for evacuees staying at the house.

There is no obligation to turn the interval into a circuit. You may prefer to stay at the table, revisit a patch of garden or leave a conversation unfinished until after the next act. Allow for the return route and the bells, especially if you have settled some distance from the auditorium.

The air after dinner

Pack for the temperature at departure as well as the one at arrival. Glyndebourne recommends an additional warm Festival layer, and a substantial coat or wrap can be useful even when the main outfit feels sufficient in the afternoon. Check whether rain protection is needed separately.

Choose the layer's colour and shape as part of the clothes. Navy can give a bright dress a darker surround; a plain coat can hold together a patterned skirt and simple top. A silk scarf may add another line at the collar, but the coat should provide the warmth required without depending on it.

The salmon was allowed to be fake

Messel's salmon belonged to a staged display of extravagant hospitality. The picnic outside belongs to the people eating it, who are free to prefer a modest supper or an elaborate table. There is pleasure in arranging either well, with the serving done before a conversation becomes too interesting to interrupt.

Check the time before setting out the final course and leave enough room to gather the things you need for the return. Dinner need not be hurried, but the next act will begin whether the last strawberry has been eaten or not.