It's interesting but sad that you're being so heavily downvoted for suggesting options outside the subcultural norm. When I was a young hacker coming to work in jeans was frowned upon and I had to put up with a lot of hassle for looking too casual. I've been surprised and disappointed to see the emergence of 'casual conformism' which encourages comfort but retains hostility to anything too different from the common tribal signifiers.
Right - west-coast tech companies have a dress code as strict as old fashioned companies - it just has different things on the list.
In reality, no work place or social event has no dress code. We've just made it even harder by not having names for any of it.
When I worked in a very traditional industry the dress code was always clear - semi-formal, informal, planter's, etc all had clear specific meanings and you could not make a mistake. When I go to a Google office, or a fashionable wedding they say 'wear whatever you are comfortable in' but if I wore a suit to Google or jeans to the wedding I'd be doing it wrong, so it's not honest.
