I doubt there’s significant debate about increased incidence of casual dress in public settings in recent times, from the workplace to entertainment venues.
I recently saw movie footage (transferred to video) of an auto expedition my parents undertook from New York City to New Orleans. It was truly an expedition in that it was undertaken in pre-Interstate and largely pre-air conditioning times, and apparently covered something like a week’s travel one-way. In the home movie, my parents pose in front of their car at a way stop. My father is wearing a suit and tie, my mother a formal-looking full-length dress. I doubt this was unusual for the time, as uncomfortable as it must have been in a non-air conditioned car in the Deep South in late spring.
I never saw my father leave the house for hospital rounds dressed in anything less than a coat and tie. There are very few docs I see in the hospital dressed that way now - the only one I can think of spoils the effect by wearing running shoes. Most wear scrubs or when called in after hours, casual clothes (including jeans). The patients and visitors are not exactly spiffy-looking either. Here in mid-Ohio with the advent of warm weather there is a lot of skin being exposed in people wearing shorts, a good deal of it revealing sights better left covered up.
In most other public places and travel venues (including airlines) this is pretty much the norm.
Once in awhile we see opinion pieces bemoaning the fact that people dress more casually (sloppily?) now, and that civility/manners/the general experience of going out have suffered as a result. Do others here agree?
(Personally, I love dressing casually, rarely wear a sport coat (and never a tie) anywhere, and value comfort over distinguished dress, especially when traveling).
I see many people putting more effort in their casual dress than you could spend on wearing a suit. Who would applaud anyone for taking the physical effort of dressing oneself in a suit? It’s not that hard––most can do it––it only proves that you’re not actually wearing what you went to bed with. Choosing, however, when dressing and buying, from a huge number of options what you truly want to wear can require much more effort and be much nicer.
I was recently in hospital … I couldn’t tell the nurses from the visitors … and found it really disconcerting to be treated by someone wearing cargo pants and runners. They didn’t even have name tags on … anyone could have walked in and pretended to be a nurse!!
Day to day … thank god we don’t have to wear completely weather inappropriate clothes anymore!!! I know it looked prettier … but layers of petticoats and long skirts in summer?! ugh!
I think I know what you’re talking about; my mom would always dress up a little just to go downtown or go shopping; the ladies of my grandma’s generation would get dressed up a little more (gloves, hat, actual dress, etc.). I find that I’m a little more casual than my mom was, but I’ll still change out of my grubby home clothes before I go out in public. For example, I’m sitting here in my yardwork clothes (because I’m going to go do yardwork), but I’ll put on clean casual clothes before I go do my shopping at Safeway today. I see teenage girls out shopping in their pajamas, for Christ’s sake.
I am not in the least judgmental toward anyone else for their attire. It doesn’t fucking matter to me at all what anyone else wears. Be as comfortable as you want to be, knock yourselves out.
For my own personal comfort, I really like to look nice. My everyday attire consists of either a basic dress, most often a black faux-wrap dress, or a nice skirt & top. With a pair of comfortable heels: closed-toed pumps with tights or stockings in cold weather, sandals & bare legs in hot weather. Accessorized with a pretty silk scarf. I use makeup too and I don’t fucking apologize for it either. It’s a Sicilian thing: Always to look one’s best whenever one steps out of one’s house.
Putting 1 and 2 together: Extra incentive for not giving a fuck about what anyone else wears is that all the slovenly people out there make it ridiculously easy for me to be the best-dressed person on the scene. So yeah, my fellow Americans, let’s see those sweats & sneaks & ripped-up dungarees. You make me look good. My friends keep exclaiming things like “Wow, all dressed up, huh? Sharp!” or “Oh, Johanna, you’re always dressed to the nines!” like it’s something extraordinary. Umm, nope. I don’t call it dressing up. (To me, dressing up would mean going to extra trouble for special occasions.) I call it just basic everyday looking decent. Not halfway decent. All the way decent.
Well, from what I recall, people who dressed more formally were pretty rude to those they considered sloppy dressers. That is, someone in jeans and Tshirt was treated pretty shabbily.
My primary doctor dresses in jeans or khakis and a polo shirt. It doesn’t seem to affect his skills in any way. The doctor I had before this one dressed in pantsuits or skirt suits, and occasionally something a little more casual. She seemed to do a better job when she wasn’t dressed up.
Now, if I’m in a hospital or clinic, I DO want to see most of the personnel wearing name tags.
My grandmother was a LVN, and I remember those dreadful white nylon skirt suits that she had to wear. The colorful print scrubs that medical personnel wear these days are easier to care for, and I think that they improve both patient and personnel morale.
My mother has told me that when she worked in downtown Los Angeles in the 1940’s ladies wore business (skirt) suits, hose (that’s what she called it: hose), good shoes, gloves and a hat. To work.
She took the streetcar to work and mentioned that she had to wash her gloves every night because they got so dirty getting on and off the train. Times have certainly changed here in California.
My friends keep exclaiming things like “Wow, all dressed up, huh? Sharp!” or “Oh, Johanna, you’re always dressed to the nines!” like it’s something extraordinary. Umm, nope. I don’t call it dressing up. (To me, dressing up would mean going to extra trouble for special occasions.) I call it just basic everyday looking decent. Not halfway decent. All the way decent.