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What Happened to Clothes?
In the prophetic movie Idiocracy (watch the key part here! – NSFW), all the idiots in the future wear Crocs. The writer said, “I thought the worst thing that would come true was everyone wearing Crocs.” Life imitates humor.
From bottom to top: once upon a time, not so very long ago, people wore hats. All people — from dock workers to railway-layers — wore hats. It was a part of being fully dressed. Indeed, it was a reflection on the person in every respect: class, job, status, etc.
That was a long time ago, of course. Daily wear of hats was abandoned by most people during my lifetime.
Today I noticed that even in my straight-laced orthodox Jewish community where people wear suit jackets (and usually hats) all the time, classy footwear has been totally abandoned. Gone are most formal shoes. Black sneakers are common. And so are – gasp – Crocs. For formal Sabbath wear.
The top went first. The bottoms are gone. And all the middle is on its way out. People wear pajamas in public.
Clothes still have meaning, they reflect on the wearer. But what people choose to wear today does not say anything good about the wearers. The emperor has clothes, but they make him look like he belongs in a movie that takes place in 2505.
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The dunning-kruger effect can apply to clothing too, methinks.
You’ve got the silver knob-handled ebon cane that comes with the rest of the outfit, right?
I did in fact have a cane that night, but gold handle with the emblem of the State of GA on the top, that was my cane for pictures when I got married. I gave canes as groomsmen gifts.
Also, my wife made my stick pin. It is a stylized S
It’s not a cane; it’s a walking stick. I have two, a “silver” headed one, and one with the Marine Corp Globe and Anchor.
I refuse to take a man seriously unless he dresses like this:
I wonder if the change in clothing was related to the development and widespread distribution of washing machines and dryers. These appliances made it much easier to wash clothes of a certain type. It is difficult to wash dress clothes, usually requiring a dry cleaner.
I have limited information about bathing and clothes-washing in the olden days. I do seem to recall that in Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about Almanzo’s family having one bath a week. Doing the laundry was a difficult job, and people didn’t seem to have many sets of clothes, so I suspect that their clothing was often as dirty as their bodies.
So I speculate that changing clothing patterns may be related to changing norms of cleanliness, driven by technological improvement.
I am surprised that you weren’t tagged as a potential threat.
Bah. Cane == walking stick.
If silver would suffice, Byran, then gold certainly will.
That’s a huge part of it.
One under-appreciated aspect is the importance of undergarments in older fashions. You didn’t have to wash the suit coat and pants nearly so often because the undershirts and shorts would be wicking the sweat away from the body to where it could evaporate away. When the clothes don’t absorb and hold in the moisture, you don’t get bacteria colonies causing stench.
Like I mentioned earlier, Chef has gone to wearing linen and wool knit undershirts to work. They keep the moisture off his skin so he stays cool and dry … and by keeping his skin dry, his body odor after a hard day has decreased enormously. In fact, the shirts do such a good job that he can wear them again without washing — the odor is that well controlled by proper moisture management.
Yeah, it feels a bit weird to pay $50 for an undershirt that has to be washed in the delicates when a cheap poly-blend will run you $10. But getting the cheapest possible garment means accepting all kinds of unpleasant tradeoffs that you might not even realize you’ve made.
Not in Wisconsin, anyway. Not so sure about New York, Los Angeles, and London. Another good reason to be in Wisconsin.
I’m afraid you’ll have to think me frivolous.
Way ahead of ya.
A lovely comment, and one much appreciated by a woman who wears little but cotton, wool, linen, and (occasionally) silk herself.
In addition to all the benefits described WRT natural fabrics and historic tailoring, one thing a person wearing the aforementioned never had to worry about (just as well in terms of antiquated notions of cleanliness) was the stink of the fabric itself. Artificial fabrics attract oil and odors from our skin, which is one of the reasons they smell so bad. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Science!
Lord knows, Mr. She’s and my marriage survived much. But his affection for, and attachment to, hi-tech undergarment fabric was almost a deal-breaker. Phew.
My favorite? Naot.
I may send my shoes then. They probably aren’t high enough quality to justify it, but I can’t find anything else like them and I don’t want anything else, lol.
I do think this has something to do with it.
I have scheduled a personal fitting session with Square Threads on Friday. Time to get fitted to today’s size. thanks for the push, @amyschley.
I remember “men” dressed like that in the ’60’s. We called them “lounge lizards.”
Because they were.
I know the feeling.
How dare you. I resemble your remark.
If you had ever flown overseas, you wouldn’t be able to say that. 5-7 hours (or 15 to Australia) is a bit long to eschew the lavatory.
The great Adam Carolla had the best comment about Crocs:
”Wearing Crocs is like getting a blow job from a dude. It feels pretty good, and then you look down.”
Except I don’t know any gay guys who would enjoy wearing Crocs.
It sounds sort of like what Harley guys say about Honda riders.
On a long ago thread about shoes, Amy talked about the importance getting properly measured. Apparently, I learned, our feet get longer.
I took her advice. And it turned out that my feet were a full size longer than they had been ten years before when I last had them measured. Finally, after thinking that comfortable shoes for me did not exist anywhere on planet earth, I have many new pairs that are the right size. And I have @amyschley Amy Schley to thank for that. :-) :-)
He patches the tears, dyes the patches as best as he can, and uses a variety of chemicals to clean the white rubber trim. Chucks are hard, though.
He’s a magician.
I was watching “Andy Griffith” recently, and when the camera panned over the price board in the barber shop, a shoe shine was 29 cents. A shave was 39 cents. I don’t even know if most men today would go to the barber’s just for a shave.
The TV show was filmed around 1964. So roughly taking your equation as an inflation guide, a shave would cost around $ 3.60.
So I can’t imagine a barber’s reaction if some guy entered his place and said, “I’d like a shave. That’s gonna cost me $ 3.60, right? And can I get a $ 2.70 shoe shine to go with it?”
I got a shave in a barber shop once. It was in the 80’s. I don’t remember what it cost. She used a straight razor. She said that the razor was the reason barbers had to be licensed.
My great-grandfather is reputed to have said, Wear the best hat, the best gloves and the best shoes. Other than that you can wear rags and still look good.