A World Gone Casual

I've posted this rant on another forum, but I believe it bears repeating.

My class has recently been presented with the opportunity for a real fine dining experience at a classy white-tablecloth restaurant. Naturally, to prepare for this, I went to the mall to go dress shopping. I spent an hour going to the most likely stores in the mall only to be reminded that we are living in a world gone casual. Nobody dresses up anymore. The clothes that they bill as "formal wear" or "prom dresses" look more like nightgowns. Even the most modest dresses I found sport plunging necklines and hemlines that don't cross the knees. Most of them were so tight that the mere act of trying them on was like a birthing reenactment! I've frankly been more fully dressed at a Rocky Horror viewing.

I must ask, where is the elegance? The sophistication, the sense of occasion or grandeur? We don't dress up for anything anymore, people even wear jeans to weddings. When I asked a floor associate at Maurice's if they had any eveningwear, she answered "All we have for that is bras and panties". She thought I was asking for lingerie! Arrrg!!! Please, somebody, tell me I'm not the only one who's frustrated by this! Or am I just hopelessly old-fashioned?