Houses with 'No Shoe' Rules

[JamesX]



Really? Do you know a good toga maker? Did you know that no one knows how a toga was actually made? It wasn't apparently, just a rectangle. Rather, there was a fine art to making them and getting them to drape correctly. But that knowledge was lost a long time ago.

Or take the building trades. No one knows how to build a good pyramid anymore, either. But more recently, a huge body of artisinal knowledge (if that's a word) has been lost within the last generation. A great number of time-perfected techniques have been lost, particularly in stonework, and have been replaced by much cheaper, but obviously inferior, machine work.

I am not as sanguine as you are.

Do anyone wear Togas anymore? but I can see that should Toga become the next big thing there will be people who rediscover its many secrets. If let say 1000 people decided they want authentic togas, I am sure someone somewhere would be willing to do it. In time if Toga became a returning theme, it will once again be perfected - if it were ever perfect.

The same is true of Pyramid. I would also like to add, if we are to build a pyramid today we would built a better one. Our development on architecture and material science are far more advanced than back in the day.

I am not saying we will return to the same specific item. We certainly don't wear the same exact cloth as 100 years ago, but the idea of fit/comfort, and the ability to achieve them would still be retained.

I am not sure about my grand parent's generation, but I am certainly more casual than my father. However, my nephew certainly pays more attention to his clothing than I have at his age. Maybe it is just a byproduct of the current mass media trends, but I do not believe the relationship is so straight forward. I am convinced in the next 30 years we'll swing back to dressing well as opposed to dressing down.

 

[swiego]

I generally do not agree.

We focus less on clothing because there is so much more competition for our attention. Nowadays I have to devote disposable income to tablet computers and data plans; to movies on disc; to 20 household cleaners; to dishwashers and fish tanks and far more toys for the kids than I ever had. There is less room for a nice set of duds.

I also believe that we are not quite so much an impressions-matter society as in the past; appearances matter, but I think the balance between appearance and ability has shifted a bit and even as a style nut, I'm glad for this. If we are judged less by our clothing than before, then the value of clothing drops.

And then there is the matter of variety. There is so much of it these days, clothing-wise, and it's all so accessible! Online shopping or a quick drive nets me thousands of different choices. So I'm going to be pulled in more directions, want to have more items in my wardrobe and therefore will spend less money per item so that I can pick up more items and enjoy more of that fabulous variety. And I'll want to mix and match as much as possible so I'll select less formal, more casual items.

To those who feel that "we'll swing back to dressing well" do you really think any of these trends are going to abate? I sure don't.

 

[RSS]



Nowadays I have to devote disposable income to tablet computers and data plans; to movies on disc; to 20 household cleaners; to dishwashers and fish tanks and far more toys for the kids than I ever had. There is less room for a nice set of duds.

You don't have to do this, but you have elected to fit the mold so to speak.

 

[swiego]

Fair enough, I don't have to; I choose to.

Nonetheless my point remains: we have more choices than before, and on average will tend to put our hands in more pots than before as a consequence. This is not a trend that is going away.

 

[RSS]



Fair enough, I don't have to; I choose to.

Nonetheless my point remains: we have more choices than before, and on average will tend to put our hands in more pots than before as a consequence. This is not a trend that is going away.

I'm not suggesting that it is going away... but neither is it in our best interests. But if it is personal choice ... ah well. As they say, freedom in today's world is the ability to choose between the Panasonic big screen TV and the Sony big screen TV ... or better yet ... get both. To the average American, there isn't a more important choice.

 

[Nicola]



Do anyone wear Togas anymore? but I can see that should Toga become the next big thing there will be people who rediscover its many secrets. If let say 1000 people decided they want authentic togas, I am sure someone somewhere would be willing to do it. In time if Toga became a returning theme, it will once again be perfected - if it were ever perfect.

The same is true of Pyramid. I would also like to add, if we are to build a pyramid today we would built a better one. Our development on architecture and material science are far more advanced than back in the day.

I am not saying we will return to the same specific item. We certainly don't wear the same exact cloth as 100 years ago, but the idea of fit/comfort, and the ability to achieve them would still be retained.

I am not sure about my grand parent's generation, but I am certainly more casual than my father. However, my nephew certainly pays more attention to his clothing than I have at his age. Maybe it is just a byproduct of the current mass media trends, but I do not believe the relationship is so straight forward. I am convinced in the next 30 years we'll swing back to dressing well as opposed to dressing down.

I'll tell you what more likely will happen.

At some point the company making needles will not have enough sales and they'll all shut down.

The companies that make and sell thread on small scale will do the same.

For that matter so will the companies that provide small bolts of fabric to tailors.

If the interest in the old ways happens early enough then people will be able to use old stock. That's if you're lucky. If not you'll need to reinvent the whole eco system. You won't just need learn how to make a canvassed jacket by hand you'll need to learn how to make your own sewing needles.

This isn't going to happen on any scale.

Or just glance at all the threads about people not being able to find somebody to make button holes on a jacket sleeve. Every jacket has at least one button hole. Every pair of pants have at least one button hole. Every shirt has many buttonholes. Yet the skill for making button holes is already disappearing.

On the formal scale. The lounge suit is a fancy set of PJs.

 

[RSS]



And then there is the matter of variety. There is so much of it these days, clothing-wise, and it's all so accessible! Online shopping or a quick drive nets me thousands of different choices. So I'm going to be pulled in more directions, want to have more items in my wardrobe and therefore will spend less money per item so that I can pick up more items and enjoy more of that fabulous variety. And I'll want to mix and match as much as possible so I'll select less formal, more casual items.

I sumarize as follows: variety at a discount; quantity over quality; style without content. The level of mediocrity to which our culture is sinking never ceases to amaze me.

If we are what we buy ... most of us are cheap crap.

 

[Master Squirrel]

I beg to differ. Well I am off to Subway to get a cardboard tasting sandwich and cookie (saving over 30 cents from the snooty all-local fresh yummy tasting organic subshop next door).

 

[RSS]



I beg to differ. Well I am off to Subway to get a cardboard tasting sandwich and cookie (saving over 30 cents from the snooty all-local fresh yummy tasting organic subshop next door).

Squirrel, I'll send you $0.30 if it will help you to patronize the all-local fresh yummy tasting organic (read snooty) place.

 

[Achilles_]



I beg to differ. Well I am off to Subway to get a cardboard tasting sandwich and cookie (saving over 30 cents from the snooty all-local fresh yummy tasting organic subshop next door).

Is it bad that this actually made me hungry for subway

 

[porcelain monkey]



Close to the topic:



The King of Cool is wearing his shoes indoors, but why is his wife barefooted? Any opinions?

That was the style back in the day - barefoot and pregnant.

 

[RSS]

Thank you PM for bringing this thread back from that little digression.

 

[porcelain monkey]

Always happy to help.

 

[RSS]

To shoe or not to shoe, that is the question...​

 

[RSS]

[COLOR=FF00AA]THE END[/COLOR]​