I wear (primarily) khakis or jeans, and polo shirts, to school. Dress shirts to work–no tie anymore; I gave up after the first week. I’ve pretty much always dressed this way, fairly conservatively… “nice,” say.
Until the middle of middle school, I wore sweatpants almost every day, except in the summer. Ack. I don’t even own a pair, now.
Most of junior and senior high school for me was spent at a private school, where I had to wear khaki slacks and a white shirt every day. The upside was that I didn’t have to think too much about what to wear every day; the downside was that when my friends and I were out fartin’ around, since there weren’t very many private schools in Houston at the time, if something happened, we were pretty easily identifiable as St. John’s students.
I was a teenager and young adult during hippie times, and tended to wear the uniform (bell-bottom jeans, hiking boots, t-shirt and army jacket), but I also played in several bands, so I had some flashy stuff (platform boots, muslin blouses, sparkly jacket, etc.), but I never wore that stuff to a day job.
When I finally went off to college, the wardrobe mutated from some hippy/flashy to mainly cheap jeans and t-shirts, with the exception of a number of grey dress shirts that the Austin cab code required that I, as a hack, wore.
When the corporado existence began, I started off cheaply with the khakis and white shirts reminiscent of high school, along with a blazer and (a very few, to begin with) neckties. I soon added grey, navy and black dress slacks, along with some pastel button down cotton oxfords. As soon as I could afford it, I began acquiring suits, and I spent the next decade and a half wearing (gradually becoming flashier) suits to work. My leisure attire tended towards jeans and the same dress shirts I wore with the suits, although the occasional t or polo worked its way in, along with, oddly, several sleeveless black t-shirts.
Finally, almost a decade ago, I began to relax on the suits. Now I wear dress slacks or khakis, with button down cotton oxford dress shirts, to work. Weekends are spent mostly in shorts or jeans, with a t-shirt or a polo.
Me too. My first job after college was the last one I had where jeans were acceptable. I only have a couple of pairs of jeans now, since I actually kind of like slacks now. (if anyone had told me ten years ago that I’d own clothes that came from The Gap…) Jeans and T-Shirts are nice, but if you’re a fairly small adult who looks years younger than you are, they don’t help people think “grown-up” when they see you. Not being taken seriously by co-workers might become more important than the comfort of casual-casual clothes. Business casual isn’t really too terrible. Once you get used to it.
I graduated high school in 1984. During those high school years, I was a fashion nightmare. I wore every nasty early 80’s trend you can think of. Leg warmers? I had 'em. Stirrup pants? Yup, I still remember trying to keep those things up. The Flash Dance look? Oh hell yes–let me tell you, mom was not pleased to discover I’d cut up all my clothes. Shoulder pads? Yup, I could have played for the Chicago Bears. And I had fushia bangs on my big old permed 80’s hair.
I dress pretty conservatively now. Mostly boring Talbots-style stuff.
What happened? Many things.
I was always a comfort-orientated dresser. Mostly, when I was young, I wore jeans and t-shirts.
Now, I wear pajamas most of the time. Unless I’m at work, or have to go out, that’s what I always wear: soft jersey-knit drawstring pants and a t-shirt. Even my out-in-public clothes have gotten looser and more comfortable. (I never had a problem with finding clothes my size, unless you count needing petite pants for my short legs. I just prefer my clothes to be loose-fitting.)
I never liked trendy clothes because it required too much time. Having to shop for new things to keep up with the style . . . it just all seemed sort of vain to me, a tad ridiculous. Also, the concept of paying five times more for a brand name just because it was the latest “in” thing has never been fully understood by me.
However, I was always a sucker for something unique. I always loved things like a hand-embroidered blouse, or a Mexican folk dress. (I actually never realized until I was an adult that the other kids laughed at me for wearing these things.) Even today, I still might be found at work wearing an embroidered velvet hippie-style shirt with bell sleeves that I found at a Ren faire, or a vintage jacket I found in a box of a long-dead relative’s clothing.
Praise God for Grunge! I think that might have been the final deth-knell for slavish obedience to fads. I see kids wearing almost anything today, and it’s great. I don’t feel like I stick out for wearing my “odd bits” of clothing. You don’t look weird today unless you really try to-- hell, I was at a party with a guy in a kilt the other day, and no one really seemed to notice.
I dress pretty much the same as I did when I was in high school, except that now I wear colors that are somewhat flattering and I don’t have to be forced to “dress up,” though my definition of dressing up is somewhat more casual than most people’s. I have a weird figure (read:none) and for years wore men’s jeans and baggy shirts, also keeping my hair cut very short. (I was only called “sir” once, and the person who did it was very embarrassed when he heard my obviously female voice.) I was pretty happy when flared jeans came into style, since they’re the only type that don’t look horrible on me. I have taken to wearing button-down shirts on occasion instead of the ubiquitous t-shirts.
yeah, I’ll take my work slacks any day over the jeans I used to own, when it comes to comfort. Soft fabric instead of stiff denim, and no tight waistband squeezing me in the stomach whenever I sit down. I stopped wearing high-waisted jeans, and suddenly I felt like I could breath again when I was sitting at my desk!