Carmine tells Tony, not as an official rule but more as a lesson, that a "Don doesn't wear shorts". Is that a real life thing, that it's considered undignified for a Boss to wear shorts? If so, why?

They can't wear shorts or sneakers back in 63 or 62 the commission made a ruling wear shorts or sneakers and die. Lol

HA! I fucking died when I heard Carmine say that to Tony. Fuckin classic.

After Carmine told him that Tony didn't wear shorts until Carmine died. Then he wore them again on that party and on some other occasions too IIRC. Random fact.

Bosses are supposed to look dignified at all times hence the no shorts line. However track suits? No problem lol

I nearly died wheni realized this is a serious question lol. Yeah there was a commision meeting in the 50s to decide whether shorts were don material or not . Wilson???

I don't know if it's reliable, but I remember reading a long time ago that a (former?) mobster after seeing Tony where shorts pointed out that a Boss wouldn't do that. The writers then decided to include that fact into the show via that scene.

Lucky Luciano ruled that dons are OK wearing shorts on Saturday afternoons, 2-6pm, but that's it. Tony was flouting the rules and could have been whacked for disrespecting the tradition.

Old school bosses were a different breed.