Military personnel wearing their Class A uniforms when they’re out among civilians, instead of going around in dumpy, baggy combat uniforms. Every time I see old photos of my grandpa and great-uncles, they’re always in their dress uniforms. Man, did they ever look sharp, especially the Marines. Nowadays…forget it. They all go around wearing shapeless smocks and bloused pants with combat boots.
That looks good if you’re also wearing a helmet, a full kit, and carrying a rifle. But without all that stuff, it looks like long-johns.
OK, so you can’t blend in, but I’m seeing more and more hats these days. Lucky Brand Jeans actually had their male model wearing a fedora a while back. I’d say the renaissance of the fedora, porkpie, and stingybrim is surging right along, at least compared to that of, say, men’s short shorts. There’s a vintage store in my neighborhood that sells a wide variety of hats–probably more than any thing else in its inventory. And I actually notice people around the area wearing them. They’re mostly not the youngest of young adults, but neither are they so old as to have been alive before hats originally faded from the scene.
I hear you on the professional business gent look, but that’s never been easy to pull off in Southern California. It’s just too warm most of the time to make a jacket and tie practical. Even elsewhere, I believe most places are overheated in the winter so it’s the same there.
More Bakelite, I don’t think any other plastic has as good of a feel and heft as Bakelite.
Cooking with lard. Okay, we don’t have to cook everything with lard, but as a society we’ve lost touch with just how good some things can be with lard.
I’m all for a return to the elegance and style of travel (I still wear a brown suit when I travel anyway) … although I think it would be nicer if we took turns with the fan, I’m not sure the punkah-wallah would be that thrilled about being brought back.
Simple cars that any shade tree mechanic could work on. Auto bodies that were super thick steel and would take forever to rust out. I’ve still got 3 old VW’s littering my driveway.
a community free from fear. At least for the kids. I still hear stories of Mom pushing the kids outdoors in the mornings and telling them not to be late for dinner. I looked at a map recently and was amazed at the apparent difficulty and, frankly a touch of fear, that a road trip from DC to New England has for me. It just looks dangerous and complicated. It is also the same route that I drove many times as a teenager and college student traveling to and from school. Not a problem.
Back in the day we were all worried about the nuclear winter and and the Communists. So the truly tiny dangers in the community weren’t a concern. Now that all the “big” problems are gone, we can obsess over stranger-danger and fear of street crime. Of course I don’t want to bring back MAD or McCarthey, but the ability and willingness to live freely in our own community would be nice. And I DO live in a nice community. There are people walking their dogs in the morning, walking in the evening and kids outdoors. But we as a nation are afraid now. We shouldn’t be.
A time when media didn’t compete for our attention with sensational outrageous fear mongering. When local news would just mean that a new shop had opened on Main street, Ms Smith had had a healtly baby daughter, and preparations for the Pumpkin festival were in full swing.
Nowadays local news is all about Clinton and Monica’s blowjob, Brangelina, the latest serial killer, the latest scare (Somebody somewhere in the USA was murdered when he answered a craigslist ad! That might happen to you TOO !). And Aliens, of course.
I’ve been using one since December and it is great. I do get up a little earlier to give myself time and find I do enjoy the quiet alone time before I jump into the day.
I’d also like to see a comeback of hats. I have several but only wear them occasionally.
I don’t think they’re as good as they used to be, though.
You’d love my hometown, then. Actual headline as of right now: Retired science teacher enjoys her time in the kitchen. And that’s in the “Top Stories”.
I have a brown Stetson fedora that I like, as well as a cheap grey one. I wear a hat frequently. Usually it’s one of my two ‘straw’ (one straw, the other coconut straw) pork pies, but often one of my black pork pies. They’re especially nice when I’m driving the MG with the top off.
I do get the occasional ‘look’, but I’ve also received complements. And I’m seeing more guys wearing hats downtown. Mostly they’re ‘outdoors’ fedoras (i.e., the kind sold by REI and other outdoors stores and not a traditional fedora), but I often see stingies and pork pies.
Seconding (thirding? fourthing?) the old car styles. So many times when I’m out in my (super-anonymous) Civic, I look at all the other Accords and Civics and Tahoes out there and just think: bleah.
A little style? A little pizzazz? Any interesting-looking cars now just stick out like sore thumbs. Of course safety is important, and performance, and gas mileage and all that, but … why does it have to look so damn boring?
Or, if the cars DO all still have to be designed by focus group … can we at least get some interesting **colors **fertheluvachrist? Something besides black, silver, red, beige? (Excuse me: Midnight Onyx, Glitter, Sunset Enhanced, Desert Sand Mica…)
I’d bring back the muscle car era. I’d love to be able to get a cheep car that was designed to do nothing but go fast in a straight line (in fact I’m looking at buying one of the new Challenger). Going out to cruise on a Friday night and do a little drag racing would be a blast and who needs fuel mileage I want single digits on the highway.
Another thing I’d like to see is a good network of passenger trains and light rail. I’d love to be able to walk a few blocks, hop on a train and get to where I need to go without having to drive.
Absolutely agreed on the hats. I wear mine anyway because I really don’t care about other people’s opinions of my clothing. But if hats came back, then there would be hat racks in restaurants and bars again. I’m tired of getting grumpy looks from the “don’t wear your hat indoors” crowd when there’s noplace else to put it. I’m NOT going to set a good hat on the floor for a waitress to step on!
As for cars, I want high roofs to come back. I’m sick and bloody tired of test-driving new cars only to find out they’re made for short people. I’m 6’4" tall, and I don’t feel like that’s so far outside the norm that I shouldn’t be able to drive the car of my choice.
I’d like to see a return of craftsmanship: decorative details instead of mass-produced shininess; solid oak instead of fiberboard that chips and deteriorates; dovetail joints in drawers instead of a few extra staples; hand-tooled leather; things being designed for looks.