On my morning walk today I saw a new car with deep candy-apple red paint, somewhat unusual in this era dominated by grey, silver, white and black cars. I know and appreciate the feeling of getting into a fancy car, or really nice clothes, or sitting in a beautifully decorated room.
But my interest in such things seems to be declining with age. In the “last time I’ll buy___” thread someone mentioned that after a lifetime of high heels they’ll never again buy anything other than shoes designed for comfort.
I used to care about dressing nicely, it made me feel good. I’ll bet it would still feel good if a genie snapped their fingers and put me in a sumptuous, well-tailored suit with a crisp-collared shirt and elegant Italian shoes. But I’m quite content to wear a T-shirt and shorts virtually every day now, with hideous ankle socks with slip-on walking shoes.
I drive a green '95 Volvo wagon.
Looking around, I’m not the only one. But once in a while a see someone who “looks sharp.”
It’s me. I live in a trendy affluent area and if you want to be treated like you belong, not like the help, and especially if you want to meet similar women, you gotta look sharp.
Fortunately this being Florida, sharp is also rather informal. Nice shorts (no elastic, no drawstrings), casual shoes (no visible sox though), etc.
Went out for swanky dinner last week w GF. Pink bermuda shorts, maroon open weave knit polo, white linen suitcoat. White fancy sneakers with no visible sox. GF was not the only woman who noticed. For her part, a gold metallic top, white denim mid thigh skirt, and gold wedge sandals. Plus bling. I was not the only man who noticed either.
Naw, that’s not me. I’ve been dressing like a stoned teenager since I was a stoned teenager. Even when you put me in nice clothes, I look like a pile of dirty laundry in about 20 minutes.
It’s me. I have an office job, to which I wear dresses and high heels nearly every day. It isn’t necessary, but I feel better when I look good.
When I was a child, I went to a private school and had to wear skirts. I dreamed of how wonderful it would be to go to school in jeans, and when I got older and went to public school, I lived the dream! Jeans and t-shirts, baby. Young Dung Beetle would be aghast to see me now choosing to wear dresses.
I wear jeans and a polo shirt at work. This is the most “dressed up” I’ve ever been for a job. Outside of work, I wear jeans or shorts (depending on weather) and a t-shirt.
I barely keep my yard mowed, my house is almost entirely undecorated…. No, I don’t really care about style (or anything cosmetic).
I clean up and dress stylishly when the situation calls for it (weddings, nice dinners, social get togethers, etc.), but everyday outfits to the super market, coaching, running errands is usually casual athletic wear.
I like certain cars - but my personal preferences are for 60s-70s models.
I have zero interest in clothing style. My preferences tend towards conservative older man clothes that don’t really go in/out of style. When I need to replace a shirt or pair of shorts, my wife might urge me to buy a color that looks more “current.” She claims it helps me not look older than I am (64). I don’t care one way or the other.
If anything, I tend to view what impression me as efforts to dress very stylishly - like the current “tight/short/little boy suits” make the wearers look silly rather than cool.
Good quality, well fitting clothes in good repair are all the style I care for.
I do like my pretties and my sparklies. And I have them. In a drawer or the safe.
Mainly I go for comfort.
My stylist(the Lil’wrekker) often chides my choice of apparel. To nearly uncomfortable levels.
She especially hates my love of crocs/with socks(no less).
At the moment my eyebrows are giving her fits. She wants me to have them professionally done. Nope. Not paying for that bit of vanity.
My Daddy was Mr. Style. He ran with a bunch of people his age (70s and up), of course most of them were women. The just bragged on his “style” and “look”. Built up his ego. He ate it up.
One older woman at his funeral remarked how he always smelled “so good!” she gushed. It was weird. Let me tell you.
But no, I don’t give a crap. I wanna be clean and covered for what the season dictates. That’s all.
Outside of a preference for dark colors, I’ve no concern for style. I prefer that people ignore me, anyway; so why dress to gain attention when I don’t want it?
To be fair to Young Dungbeetle, being forced to wear a particular style is a great way to make somebody hate it. Perhaps if they hadn’t been forced to wear dresses they’d have liked dresses too.
I think that’s what happens with many revolts against social norms & customs*; the generation after there’s a big swing back to them because it was the fact that they were being forced on people that made them repulsive to most people rather than the customs themselves.
The ones that aren’t innately oppressive/unjust I mean, like men having short hair as opposed to things like racism. In the 1960s wearing it was an act of rebellion, but when long-hair-or-not became just a style choice most men swung back to short hair.
Tee shirt (usually black) and jeans year round. Add colorful flannel during cooler weather. I also have some primary color tee shirts I like. I have white and green Converse Weapons, white with orange stripes Adidas (found for a buck at a church rummage sale!), and black Sketchers for my shoes. While working, it’s long sleeved black dress shirt (sometimes black polo) and black dress pants. Pretty straightforward. I will sometimes coordinate my shoes with my shirt. I basically wear exactly the same thing I did as a college student thirty years ago.
Nope. I’m a computer scientist, and if I were stylish I would have been drummed out of the profession. It’s all about comfort. My wife is the same way. If everyone were like us, the clothing industry would crash bad.
