Why do you dress the way you do? - Page 3

Actually, I get follow more in stores since SF. I was being followed by a salesman in NM the other day. He finally came out and said "Nice Tom Ford Jacket. Can I direct you to the latest stuff that just came in..."

It is, of course, my life's work to make every random person who sees me walking down the streets of Chicago believe I am one of the 1%, before I surreptitiously slip into my Subaru and drive out to my ex-cornfield not-quite McMansion.

I like the idea of tradition. My grandfather, in retrospect, was/is always appropriately dressed. My father on the other hand has a closet full of tweed jackets and such that he bought back when small independent menswear shops still existed in Canada, but he seems to have fallen out of the habit as workplaces have become more casual. I consequently never learned anything about clothes, so I find it amusing that I am in some sense now recapturing this knowledge, just as I am recapitulating other parts of my grandfather's life (advanced professional training in London, etc—my Uncle told me recently of being in London in the 70s, and being dispatched by his father back on the prairies on to Jermyn St. to get a college tie from T.M. Lewin!).

On that note, most of my relatives are in the same ancient profession, one I didn't choose to join. Instead, I somehow ended up in law, and I think part of that had to do with the clothes, at least insofar as they indicated a defined societal role, and offered a symbolic counterweight to the stethoscope & white coat, etc. (This was obviously not the only reason!) We have barristers' robes where I'm from, so this is more obvious. It also helped that one of my colleges made me wear a gown now and then during term.

It should be said though that I am at the same time aware that a lot of "dressing properly" has to do with class, and it does make me uncomfortable how my sartorial choices are sometimes at odds with my political ones—were someone to say I was a "suit" I might think them a little dim, but I would be reminded that I have, in fact, met the kind of person they mean. While I derive some pleasure from cleaving to historical forms that are for the most part irrelevant today (my "professional" excuses notwithstanding) I acknowledge that it's not really the fault of most people that they buy the reasonably priced clothing on offer at the high street, and that I am engaging in a fundamentally conservative enterprise.

Another reason I dress the way I do, only slightly less problematic, is that as someone who has spent so long in school it makes me feel a bit more "adult." Not that I haven't been for a while, but I think I have always been a bit more serious, a bit more reserved than my peers. The clothes match how I feel, compared to how I see others act—and dress. This is more important when you're in university for the better part of a decade.

First of all, I dress to enhance my natural physical appealing. Hence my reluctance to embrace certain SF approved trends while I stick to (sort of) old fashioned styles which I consider specially flattering for my particular characteristics.
Moreover, it has a social facet as well; providing integration in specific environments.

3 years ago after 25 years of marriage found myself single. The Ex pretty much controlled, or tried to, everything I wore. She had a terrible sense of fashion but I went along with it to keep peace. Now I am free to express myself with what I wear and will for the rest of my life. For most of 20 years putting a Khaki belt and collar devices on my coveralls was getting dressed up for work. But even then I took pride in my uniforms and pressed them myself.

 

I don’t want to look like the rest of the zombies I work with the same suit, white shirt and black shoes which is identical to a uniform in my eyes. And yet don’t want to stick out too much either. Came here back then lurking and reading to find help and get a clue. Still a work in progress but most days nail it down solid thanks to the likes of you all…

 

Vanity, yes I like how I look now. It gives me self confidence and I feel much better about myself. I like how others treat me and the respect I get at and outside of work. And then there is the ZZ Top was right answer, women do like a sharp dressed man. A lot.

For me it is all about expressing myself, pleasing those who see and know me and living well.
I have learned the hard way that one need not break ones bank account or ego to achieve this.
The best things in life truly are free, or at least on sale.

#1 I can sadly see being so very very true.

I like for my clothes to be appropriate for the occasion. People should be able to look at me and tell whether I'm at work or play.

I like nice things, and I like to look good in or with them.
Edited by JayJay - 1/20/12 at 10:43am

I dress the way I do solely for personal comfort. This may seem odd, but if I am wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants around others, I am always very uncomfortable and self-conscious. If I am wearing a tie and sportcoat, I am just much more relaxed and don't even think about what I am wearing. I blame my mother and very tradition father for getting me my first three piece tweed when I eight. I've had a thing for suede elbow patches ever since. I can count the number of times I've worn an un-collared shirt outside on two hands, and I'm going back all the way to infancy here. Are these all things I should be talking to my therapist about?!

Oh, and it's always nice to be pet by the ladies when wearing velvet sport coats

1. Project an Image - at least one of someone who is interesting, but ideally one of competence, intellect and honor/fair dealing.

I do realise this fails sometimes.
 

 

2. Comfort, Practicality and Craftsmanship/Durability - I used to have a hard and fast rule that anything I wore had to be easily replaceable with an identical model. Of course, since most good apparel makers like to cater seasonal collections, I am slowly going insane.

 

I like this outlook, and particularly the last (non-bullet) point. I like to dress in a way that both references and subverts the traditional style in my field, which as it is now long gone, is almost a radical act albeit a playful one. I enjoy well-made things and I want to support real craft. I also just love looking good.

 

However I can't justify the expenditure to just go out to buy 'the best', and I don't want the dullness of the 'adequate', so I am increasingly careful about buying quality vintage, from small manufacturers who don't charge 'fashion' prices, and in sales, while saving for bespoke.

This is the first time in my life I agree with everything you said.

I dress in a elegant way because of

 

a) Aesthetics

b) Vanity

Why, thank you sir.

How could you have read any of my posts when I am on your ignore list?

Originally a few years back I just had the thought, "I had better start dressing a little less casually for work". It snowballed.

I think a lot of people are overtly or subtly referring to a sociological construct known as impression management. This is definitely a conscious factor for me. On one hand I like the way that it leads people to see me and in a more backwards way I like that it nicely covers up the fact that I can be very disorganized and anti-establishment.

The objective of impression management has definitley been evolving into aesthetics as well... For a long time I used to be of the mind that the physical plane was of very little consequence and that the internal world was all-meaningful, while now I am coming to see the two as inseperable. I did/do struggle with the fact that aesthetic beuaty and craftsmanship are so enmeshed with capital ideologies, but I am getting past the point of being hung-up on constructs.

I also used to wrestle with the idea that I was becoming quite vain, but I am starting to see this as one of societies constructs and not necessarily my own... There is quote that says something to the effect of "All is vanity, until we learn to see it as such, and only then we realize that it is not"...

Interesting question.