NEW YORK -- Now that Le Cirque has reinvented itself and reopened once again, the real circus is taking place in the main dining room where proprietor Sirio Maccioni's long-established dress code is meeting with resistance from his son Mauro, who wants to loosen things up, the New York Post recently reported.

According to columnist Steve Cuozzo, Maccioni pere continues to demand that his customers dress to the nines, sticking to the 1950s code of jacket and tie, while his son prefers the more modern no-jacket-required kind of sartorial ruling. The compromise so far: The tie rule has been dropped, but dinner jackets still must be worn.

Cuozzo, however, claims the rules may be loosening up even more. On a recent visit to Le Cirque, he reported seeing one male guest wearing"no jacket, no tie and a long white shirt dangling outside of his pants."

When questioned about the fashion infraction, the elder Maccioni replied with a smile: "He just got in from the airport, and they lost his luggage."