interesting WSJ article about dressing up(or not)

[Kenneth Cole Haan]

Originally Posted by ShaneB

People dressed in a far more refined style in the past because it was CONVENTION, not because 'trainers' had yet to be 'invented' (what rubbish!). It's social convention or lack of that is the ever residing factor.

Hahah Slob several posts up got pwnd . . .

+1 As if they had no track or exercise gear before 1965 . . . the NBA has been around since the 1940's, and they weren't wearing dress shoes.

 

[Quadcammer]

Honestly who cares?

nobody is forcing you to wear casual clothes to dinner. If you don't like seeing some dude in shorts and flip flops, look the other way or go to a different restaurant.

As much as I enjoy dressing up, I can fully see why some people don't, thats their business. I think I look better, they think they look better, whose right? neither of us.

 

[Spong]

But if you look the other way or go to another resturaunt you'll see ten more similarly dressed fellows

I think why many of us feel this is a problem is it makes things that used to be normal taboo, and frankly, that sucks. Best example I can think of to illustrate the point - I like fedoras, but I don't wear one, despite the fact I would love to, because it stands out too much, years ago it wouldn't have. Suckage.

 

[Quadcammer]

well then don a pair of testicles and wear your fedora. Why do you care if it stands out?

Further, by years ago, I hope you mean decades ago, because fedoras have had widespread popularity for at least 30 years (probably more like 50).

quite frankly, when I'm at dinner, I'm enjoying the food and the company, and not examining the clothing other fellows wear.

Sure, I'll see a guy wearing cargo shorts and sneakers at a nice restaurant and shake my head, but it doesn't affect my enjoyment of my evening.

some of you guys take this crap just a little too far.

 

[Big A]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

I read this article over the weekend. To me, the problem is not the diminishing of dress codes (directly speaking, I couldn't care less), but the apparent diminishing of the values that led people to dress well in the first place. I say 'apparent' because the cynical part of me (the biggest part) believes fundamentally it's always been the same: 99% of people don't have the taste, character, or motivation to be stylish. We just think it was different way back when because of black and white photography and the conflation of enforced formality with genuine style.

Originally Posted by acridsheep

I love this post. Seriously.

Yeah, he's pretty much spot on in my opinion, although I'd ascribe less of the cause to lack of character, and more to motivation.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I feel as if it comes down to social pressure. The pressure in yesteryear was to dress yourself to be presentable and now it's the opposite. In Princeton I never hear much about it, but in the suburbs outside of it I'll hear it from people all the time. In fact my GF's step father has asked me more than a few times to remove my necktie because it makes him feel uncomfortable.

I've told him in no uncertain terms that what I'm wearing is non of his business, but it was interesting to find out that what I'm wearing actually has an affect on other people. It's part motivation, part upbringing, and part career in my opinion. In areas heavily saturated with tech people it's rare to find anyone really dressed up.

 

[entrero]

Mad Men s5 is till next year, so there's no pressure

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

well then don a pair of testicles and wear your fedora. Why do you care if it stands out?

Further, by years ago, I hope you mean decades ago, because fedoras have had widespread popularity for at least 30 years (probably more like 50).

quite frankly, when I'm at dinner, I'm enjoying the food and the company, and not examining the clothing other fellows wear.

Sure, I'll see a guy wearing cargo shorts and sneakers at a nice restaurant and shake my head, but it doesn't affect my enjoyment of my evening.

some of you guys take this crap just a little too far.

Quad, why don't you adopt a new, more appropriate user name, "Son of Cruiser"?

 

[Quadcammer]

Originally Posted by JLibourel

Quad, why don't you adopt a new, more appropriate user name, "Son of Cruiser"?

huh?

 

[Bounder]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

You guys should stop making baseless affirmations, you can't play at being a social scientist any more than you can play at being a physician.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/a...he_sokal_hoax/ Look, let's face it, the real reason guys don't start dressing well in their forties is that they are irrational and stupid. Think about it. Your only real chance to pull some woman 20+ years younger is if she has serious daddy issues. So you really have to model yourself after that old guy who's always in the Brooks Brothers catalog. You've got no chance at all with cargo shorts, an Ed Hardy t-shirt and flip-flops. There just aren't that many woman with slacker older brother issues.

 

[acecow]

Originally Posted by Reevolving

I am saying that most people have other priorities, particularly successful ones.
For you to lament the lack of suits and jackets as some sort of flaw is as laughable
.... like griping that men no longer go bowling, or build with model train sets in the basement.

People dressed "well" in the past, b/c they had no other choice.
There wasn't some romantic genteel way of life bullshit.
Bums wore suits ... b/c T-shirts and sneakers had not yet been invented.

This is a fun, self-indulgent, frivolous, arcane, obsessive hobby, but nothing more.
It reduces your net worth (Yes, but think of all the promotions you'll get b/c of those black captoes!)
Is it a way of life for most people? No. An identity? No.
Does it help to wear a nice suit to an interview or close a sale? Sure.
It doesn't make you some sort of "gentleman", doesn't raise your IQ, and certainly doesn't make you better than some guy wearing pleated khakis and a polo shirt.

It just means you have free time, went to the internet, read a lot, and started dressing like a bunch of other enthusiasts who post pictures of their clothing collections. (At least, that's my story)

All I can say is that even before discovering SF, I was really saddened by the lack of respect for clothes in modern culture. That was before I started noticing how other men were dressed. It was the women. Dressed in sweat pants, pajamas, uggs, flip-flops, old t-shirts, with their hair undone and no make-up. I wished they would go back in time and learn from their grandmothers, who wouldn't be seen dead in the clothes women wear to work nowadays. I suppose that some of the women expect the same from men. I suppose some men expect other men to look presentable too. Most others do not though; still, there's nothing wrong with being well put together. You are over-analyzing this. In my life, I've inspired many of my friends to dress better. Also, many girls are actually quite interested in men's clothes and seek my opinion even when choosing clothes for themselves.

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Contemporary stylish people are mostly found among the casually dressed....yeah slobs too.

What in the world is the basis for this conclusion?

Dressing up is merely on its way to irrelevance, at least as something you're required to wear.

This is probably true. But it also touches upon a fundamental disagreement between us: I don't believe the merits of 'dressed up' clothing (tailored suit/jacket, tie, etc.) are limited to their 'up'-ness. You seem to believe that the only reason anyone here dresses the way they do is because they secretly want to appear aristocratic.

At the end, dress codes or not, people will continue to dress more like you and less like me. Why? Because you're mode of dressing is the new 'up'. In most rooms I walk into, dressing like you would get me more praise and esteem than dressing like me. So, while you are right that the suit-and-tie are becoming less relevant, I think you're wrong that the popular drive to dress up is gone. It's just that you're right in the middle of it.

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by Big A

Yeah, he's pretty much spot on in my opinion, although I'd ascribe less of the cause to lack of character, and more to motivation.

Is not the lack of motivation definitive of a lack of character?

 

[wizard7926]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Contemporary stylish people are mostly found among the casually dressed....yeah slobs too.

Fashionable != stylish.

 

[JesseJB]

Originally Posted by acecow

All I can say is that even before discovering SF, I was really saddened by the lack of respect for clothes in modern culture. That was before I started noticing how other men were dressed. It was the women. Dressed in sweat pants, pajamas, uggs, flip-flops, old t-shirts, with their hair undone and no make-up. I wished they would go back in time and learn from their grandmothers, who wouldn't be seen dead in the clothes women wear to work nowadays. I suppose that some of the women expect the same from men. I suppose some men expect other men to look presentable too. Most others do not though; still, there's nothing wrong with being well put together. You are over-analyzing this. In my life, I've inspired many of my friends to dress better. Also, many girls are actually quite interested in men's clothes and seek my opinion even when choosing clothes for themselves.

Look at the country 5 miles outside of any of our cities. Everything man-made looks like complete ****. Why would anyone feel they need to dress up? Hence the sweat pants and Uggs. Its the future! Just another steaming pile left for us by the Boomers.