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Outside of designated casual periods (e.g. casual Friday), my job requires a jacket and tie?

  • Yes

    Votes: 103 27.9%
  • No

    Votes: 266 72.1%

  • Total voters
    369

gs77

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Here's a photo of Edward Carpenter, an advocate of gay rights and socialism who argued for the abolition of respectability and hierarchy. He's pictured here wearing a suit with sandals (sandals!). His thinking was pretty close to Oscar Wilde's, who while striking a pose, often pointed out the hypocrisy of London's fashionable society (in contemporary terms, this would be like wearing something designed by Jerry Lorenzo while voting for Donald Trump). Carpenter thought the dress codes of his day were overly restrictive, linked to phoniness, and wanted to get rid of them.


View attachment 1191677


Wilde and Carpenter would later influence post-WWI fashion, when some of the more fashionable men switched to just oxford bags and golfing sweaters (including Edward, Prince of Wales). Tweed in the city also became popular when, earlier in the century, it was mainly worn by Marxists, granola eating vegetarians, and pacifists who identified with the working class.

Lots of the stuff people today think is "respectable" was just radical dress from another era and hated on by traditionalists of that generation. In Hardy Aimes' Englishman's Suit, he goes on and on about the dangerous incursions of postmodernism and sets up the worsted suit as the prime achievement of a superior civilization (namely a very specific section of British society). You get the impression that he just pines for the restoration of the empire. He even uses terms like "well-bred and upper-class ways."

Quote from "The Road to Wigan Pier", by George Orwell:

" In addition to this there is the horrible — the really disquieting — prevalence of cranks wherever Socialists are gathered together. One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words "Socialism" and "Communism" draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, "Nature Cure" quack, pacifist, and feminist in England."
 

LA Guy

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The year is 2050 and artificial intelligence has improved. A new thread appears:

"Who Still Works?"
I'm pretty happy that I have this much work security, if nothing else.
 

norMD

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just read the entire thread and there are some interesting views on history and grand politics.

I wear white scrubs to work. So the top and bottom are the same cloth and color, but i think they qualify more as pajamas than a suit. As I commute by bike on the norwegian west coast it is great to know that there always is a dry and clean pajama ready at work.

I can relate to Foos statements regarding a work uniform. It does creat some sort of camaraderie. And it is great to step out of the uniform in the afternoon and leave work behind.

I dont remember who posted "The school of Athens". I guess DWW is Aristotle who clearly wears brown to town and point downward for explanation, while Foo is Plato in a brigthly color toga. Alan Bee is the guy in the orange toga looking with some sceptisism at the guys in the middle. And Riva is lying on the stairs half naked in a blue toga screaming his views.
The rest of us are the guys taking notes.

Have a nice weekend!
%22The_School_of_Athens%22_by_Raffaello_Sanzio_da_Urbino.jpg
 

smittycl

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My mom would't let me have he-man action figures as a kid because she thought they promoted the devil or some ****. I cried when I had to return my he-man birthday presents when I was 6.
My Mom did the same thing with cartoons. She got upset that I was watching a Thor cartoon and made sure I knew the Norse stuff was fake and that I should pay more attention in church. This is when I was 8-9 I think.

I got kicked out of Sunday school later when I was 10 for leading a (winning) guerilla movement. Don't think she ever got over it. :oops:

 
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smittycl

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just read the entire thread and there are some interesting views on history and grand politics.

I wear white scrubs to work. So the top and bottom are the same cloth and color, but i think they qualify more as pajamas than a suit. As I commute by bike on the norwegian west coast it is great to know that there always is a dry and clean pajama ready at work.

I can relate to Foos statements regarding a work uniform. It does creat some sort of camaraderie. And it is great to step out of the uniform in the afternoon and leave work behind.

I dont remember who posted "The school of Athens". I guess DWW is Aristotle who clearly wears brown to town and point downward for explanation, while Foo is Plato in a brigthly color toga. Alan Bee is the guy in the orange toga looking with some sceptisism at the guys in the middle. And Riva is lying on the stairs half naked in a blue toga screaming his views.
The rest of us are the guys taking notes.

Have a nice weekend!

The suit is the work uniform for me and many others here. It's the great equalizer as men of all shapes and sizes can look good and fit in (in the way that work is the focus, not dress) as long as they pay just a little attention to detail.

Also, you're a medical professional so it's not an even comparison. Of course you wear scrubs. Who wants to get arterial spray on their Zegna? :crazy:

I know what you mean, though. I wore fatigues for 25 years. Basically like wearing pajamas and boots to work.
 
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Aquafortis

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norMD

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My Mom did the same thing with cartoons. She got upset that I was watching a Thor cartoon and made sure I knew the Norse stuff was fake and that I should pay more attention in church. This is when I was 8-9 I think.

I got kicked out of Sunday school later when I was 10 for leading a (winning) guerilla movement. Don't think she ever got over it. :oops:



I guess you started your military career early. I was two years in the navy before starting at a University, fatigues are comfortable! And it was nice to wear a DB with gold buttons without getting any questions. I dont think I could pull of a civilian db blazer with gold buttons.
 

smittycl

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"So that’s why I wanted to bring what I love, the tailoring. I dipped back to a three-button suit, which felt modern again."

Huh? Like the three-button suit had become passe or forgotten in the tailoring world?
I think the traditional full three button has faded a bit. I got rid of the few I had. Greatly prefer the 3x2 roll and espcailly the version where the lapel is fully rolled over.
 

smittycl

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I guess you started your military career early. I was two years in the navy before starting at a University, fatigues are comfortable! And it was nice to wear a DB with gold buttons without getting any questions. I dont think I could pull of a civilian db blazer with gold buttons.
Started at age 18, out for college and the Reserves, then back active after graduation.

DB blazers with gold buttons do have the Navy/Thurston Howell III look, that's for sure. :p
 

Aquafortis

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I think the traditional full three button has faded a bit. I got rid of the few I had. Greatly prefer the 3x2 roll and espcailly the version where the lapel is fully rolled over.

Ah didn't realize she may have been talking about full three-button. I tend to take things fashion designers say with a grain of salt, since they always seem to be changing their minds every six months. ;)

Fully agree that the three-roll-two is much more appealing, even if its origin story supposedly emerged out of resource scarcity and make-shift adaptations to the full three-button when they fell out of favor.
 

smittycl

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Ah didn't realize she may have been talking about full three-button. I tend to take things fashion designers say with a grain of salt, since they always seem to be changing their minds every six months. ;)

Fully agree that the three-roll-two is much more appealing, even if its origin story supposedly emerged out of resource scarcity and make-shift adaptations to the full three-button when they fell out of favor.
I guess it's just a sartorial contrivance as the top button is rarely (or never) used in the full roll-over. I try to avoid contrivances but really like the look of the buttonhole showing on the rolled lapel. ?
 

DEE1970

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Great thread and I've really enjoyed reading all the insights. Two things are immediately apparent - many people can't wear a suit to work, they have to wear a 'uniform' of sorts to conform to the wishes of an employer or for practical reasons (eg. military, healthcare etc.) and that 'the suit' (like all forms of clothing) is subject to evolutionary change and development over time. My own view is that many of us (who work in non-uniform commercial enterprises) have never had more choice when it comes to business attire than we have today. If you do decide to stick to wearing a suit to work, the fabric choices are bewilderingly varied, for example pinstripe, herringbone, checked, hopsack, pick-and-pick, cotton drill, linen and many more as well as different weights. Formality can be adjusted not only by selecting differing fabrics and cloth weights, but also by carefully choosing colour, for example a mid blue or air force blue cloth will be less formal than a dark navy and a light grey will be less formal than charcoal grey. I believe that the suit remains one of the most flexible forms of dress for the commercial environment and while I may wear a grey pinstripe with white shirt, polished black oxfords and a plain or striped tie to a meeting with lawyers and bankers on a Monday, by Friday I could be wearing an unstructured beige linen suit with brown suede loafers and white pique shirt to an internal staff meeting. Long may the suit continue!
 

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How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

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