<h3>FILM / LINCOLN CENTER / SEPTEMBER</h3>
<h1>AN EXCUSE TO DRESS A LITTLE MORE</h1>
<p>Not every invitation deserves a new outfit.</p>
<p>Opening night does not necessarily require one either, but it gives you permission.</p>
<p>The 64th New York Film Festival opens on September 25 with James Gray's <em>Paper Tiger</em>, a New York crime drama set in 1986 Queens and Brooklyn. It begins a Main Slate that brings international cinema into Lincoln Center and venues across the city for more than two weeks.</p>
<p>For this chapter, the interesting subject is what happens just before the screen goes dark.</p>
<p>A film premiere occupies a useful place on the scale of New York formality.</p>
<p>It is not a wedding. It is not a gala. Most of the audience is not walking a red carpet. No rule says ordinary clothes are forbidden.</p>
<p>And still, people make an effort.</p>
<p>That small rise in stakes is where personal style becomes visible.</p>
<p>Formal dress codes can flatten people because everyone answers the same instruction. Opening night leaves more room. A black suit with no tie. A long coat over something almost casual. A dress that would be excessive at dinner and completely right here.</p>
<p>The goal is not to impersonate the person being photographed.</p>
<p>It is simply to acknowledge that the evening is different from Tuesday.</p>
<p>Autumn helps. The coat returns. Leather makes sense again. Darker fabrics stop feeling theoretical. A look can be layered because what works at 6:45 does not need to be exactly what works at 10:30.</p>
<p>The question is simple:</p>
<p>What does <strong>your</strong> version of dressed up look like?</p>
<h3>ISSUE NOTE</h3>
<p><strong>64TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL / SEPTEMBER 25–OCTOBER 12, 2026</strong></p>
<p><strong>OPENING NIGHT: JAMES GRAY'S <em>PAPER TIGER</strong></em></p>