I Spy with fashion police eye

Spy Bar will choose who can get in. Picture / Martin Sykes

Bouncers at a trendy Auckland bar will be ordered to watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to turn them into fashion police and ward off "arse-pinchers".

Viaduct nightclub Spy Bar has formalised a dress code to keep out troublemakers.

Strict new rules governing entry mean no weird-coloured shoes, light-coloured jeans or jumpers of any kind.

"We want to avoid letting in guys who pinch girls' arses, drunks, troublemakers that cause fights ... This is a good way of eliminating that crowd," said Spy Bar general manager Adam Bennett.

"We can only hold 150 people, so we can be quite choosy on who comes in."

Mr Bennett has also planned methods to ensure his staff can run the minefield of fashion and distinguish avant-garde from faux pas.

"I'm going to get the bouncers to all watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy so they actually know their fashion," he said.

That will mean spotting the difference between, for example, designer ripped jeans and jeans that are just ripped.

"There's a difference between a designer rip and an unintentional rip," Mr Bennett said.

"It's not about being pretentious. It's not about being wanky. We're just doing it so we can guarantee ourselves a non-headache crowd, and the majority of troublemakers don't [have stylish wardrobes]."

Other bars take a more casual approach.

Aroha Wakohika, manager of Lime on Ponsonby Rd, said they did not allow thongs or shorts after about 9pm, but other than that they just liked punters to "look tidy".

Similarly, at Plum at the Viaduct, management prefers their drinkers to be dressed in "nothing too scruffy".

Duty manager Ollie Bradley said don't expect to walk in wearing your labourers boots and soiled T-shirt.

"But it's more likely to be drunk people we turn away, based on how they are behaving, rather than their clothes."

The manager of another popular bar, who did not want to be identified, accused Spy of being "pedantic for a gimmick".

"They want to seem VIP to make themselves more popular," she said.

However, at Pasha at the Viaduct, Hamilton Aitcheson agreed a dress code was important.

The restaurant manager said Pasha asked for "smart casual", which generally meant men had to wear a shirt and collar.

"We are trying to set a standard because we have a lot of high-profile people and corporates coming here and we don't want the rowdy element."