The very first obvious response to be made is why is this topic in the anonymous forum? In addition to not having good taste in vesture and grooming (era / venue appropriate of course) apparently some are incapable of reading or understanding the guidelines for this forum. Perhaps that is why they wish to remain anonymous though
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I was born in 1951 and have observed evolving style trends. I recall when everyone at Mass wore their ‘Sunday Best’, gentlemen in suits with ties (and often a wool dress hat, churches would sometimes have clips on the pew back to hang the hat during Mass), women in nice dresses and shoes, and usually a hat rather than a veil. Visiting elderly relatives, even into my college years in the early 1970’s, I noted that though they were retired and perhaps not even going out, they would upon arising dress for the day and be well groomed … the gentleman in slacks, a collared shirt, and dress shoes, perhaps a sweater or even a coat and tie … the women would comb their hair, put on a nice dress and shoes, perhaps some Jєωelry or makeup if that was their custom. I found this to be true even for people who worked on farms or at factories and couldn’t always dress this way in their working and family raising days. They would of course dress appropriately for an activity such as working in the garden or shoveling snow. I was an animal science major at university. Professors always wore suites, or at least slacks, dress shoes, collared shirts, and always a tie. When we had live animal labs they would put on coveralls and overshoe boots ~ they didn’t dress down (how we students dressed was another story).
There have been some ridiculous references to “top hat, double breasted trench coat, waxed mustache, gloves, monocle, gold watch, or cane with a brass ball”. Only the minority “upper crust” dressed like this, and it’s no argument for a slovenly appearance by everyone else. The working class still generally had their “best dress standard” that they followed. My work has been with dairy and beef cattle, which was often solitary and usually messy. For part of my career I was in biz to farm sales where I interacted with people as well as the cows. It always seemed appropriate to be well groomed and have good hygiene (however one defines those) and to start out the day with clean and nice clothing appropriate to the day’s work tasks. Outside of work I applied (and still do) the same standard. I dress differently for church, a funeral,or wedding than for running errands or going to the library (the distinction being I am sometimes dressed up for errands or the library). I would dress differently for the bowling alley than for going to the weight room at the gym (I don’t bowl but it looks like fun).
Currently I work various part time / on call positions in the gig economy:
I teach First Aid and CPR for the Red Cross. I notice that many instructors wear jeans, casual / athletic shoes, and maybe even just a t-shirt. I always wear khaki or grey slacks, dress shoes or boots, and a Red Cross polo. Student evaluations of my classes have commented on the professional appearance of the instructor.
I am an assistant at a funeral home. Working at a service gives one a vantage point of seeing just how casual and sloven society has become (though I am noticing that some among the younger generation may be turning things around as compared to their elders). While on a First Call we dress just as we would for a service (with the rare exception perhaps of an outdoor accident scene where everything is going to be messy), even if it is a middle of the night call at a nursing home or hospital with no family present. Staff at these facilities often mention that we dress nicer than people from the other funeral homes. As we never know when we’ll get called, when I’m out and about I’ll typically be in dress shoes and slacks and a white shirt. The suite coat or blazer and a tie will be in the car if I’m not already wearing them. My observation is that when dressed up one is taken more seriously by shop and office staff, and dressing up when going out is my new norm, even when I’m not on call for the mortuary.
For a final example, not long ago after working a funeral (I was in black dress shoes, a black wool suit, white shirt, black and silver tie) I stopped by a supermarket on my way home. The clerk (’20 something’) said (paraphrasing) “You look really nice; Where did you get your suite? I need to get one”.
While standards, styles, and attitudes do shift, in the U.S. in the second decade of the 21
st century the classic business suit is still considered the ‘gold standard’ for looking one’s best, and people do notice when one makes the effort to dress nicely.
Topic: Suit and tie going the way of VCR tapes and landline phones (Read 7709 times)