It’s partly an urban/suburban/rural thing, too. In rural areas, in my experience, adults aren’t as fashion-concious and tend to dress very casually. This may be because most jobs are casual (there aren’t many law firms!), or there aren’t many stores selling trendy clothes. If all your town has is a Wal-Mart 20 miles away, it’s harder to dress “in-style”.
Suburbs of cities vary from casual to more dressed up, but in a more conservative way.
Cities run the gamut, but this is where you will find the people most into the way they dress. There will be formal, dressed-up people with tons of money, trendy 20 somethings, hipsters, members of every other subculture, as well as the guy who goes to the subway in ripped pajamas and a stained t-shirt.
As far as city-vs-city, this makes sense too. Different cultural values pervade different places. A place like Portland, where there is an outdoorsy-hippie-hipster ethos will look different than DC, which is more traditional in attire. NYC houses all sorts of fashion industry people, so a more high-fashio look will be more popular. Etc.
People in Washington, D.C., dress very conservatively – navy blue, black, and charcoal grey suits. If you go downtown during the workday, it’s really amazing how many men are dressed exactly the same. And this is also almost as true for women, although there is a little more leeway for women’s professional dress.
You don’t see the style or fashion choices that you see in professional dress in Washington that you do in New York.
How about Hawaii and flip-flop sandals? Many people there wear them. Sure, flip-flops are worn by other people elsewhere, but if a study were done to see what percentage of a given area wears them, I’m confident Hawaii’s percentage would be highest by far.
I attended a friend’s wedding in Maui and flip-flops were part of the dress code.
I started a new job on Capitol Hill yesterday. I happened to be wearing a black dress, black stockings, black shoes, black jewelry, plus a black overcoat. My boss wore a black skirt suit, black hosiery, black shoes. The lady who is training me wore a black dress and black boots. Pure coincidence, of course.
If Florida isn’t higher, it’s right up there with Hawaii. I’ve interviewed someone for a job who came in wearing dress pants, a nice professional blouse with a lovely jacket… and flip flops. Oh, they were “nice” flip flops. But they were not sandals, they were not professional or dress shoes, they were fucking flip flops. And yes, I check out people’s shoes. Especially job candidates. Are you really detail-oriented? Let me see your shoes and I’ll be the judge of that!
But you know how I said it could be 900º outside and Texans would still be wearing jeans? It could be 20º outside and Floridians are still wearing flip flops.
I have no idea if shorts are taboo in Texas. I live in Florida. I’ve only visited Texas a few times. And am always a little surprised to be the only person in shorts. I don’t know about sweatshirts or hoodies either. What I can tell you is that most Floridians dress like we’re on vacation, even when we’re not. Modesty does not appear to be a concern for most people here.
No, not that I know of. He went from pants, shirt and tie to shorts and t-shirts.
In the summers during college I would work for the company he worked for (he was district mgr.) and he always made me wear a shirt and tie…in Alabama in the summer. After they moved to Florida he worked for the same company but started wearing shorts and t-shirts. I asked him once why he always made me wear a shirt and tie and now he wore shorts and t-shirts every day. He answered, “Well, it’s OK because everyone down here dresses like that.”
Why oh why they do this is beyond me. My waxer actually said “I love how your eyebrows look natural!” Yeah man, I go to him to de-Yeti-fy me, not to make me a geisha. Jesus.
Pittsburgh city residents look better than suburbanites. Easy to tell them apart downtown or at the theater (one of the few places they mix). And the rural folk are just flat out disgusting blobs in XXL tshirts and stretchy pants. I distinctly remember briefly staring at the one guy wearing a suit two weeks ago in rural hickville. He’d never have caught my eye in the city.
Shit, I don’t even think I own a pair of shorts (Texan here!)
Jeans are just part of our common thread, I suppose. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t wear shorts because I have really pasty white legs, which look goofy in comparison to my face and arms–farmer’s tan. If you think of “King of the Hill,” Hank has a perma-farmer’s-tan. I suppose if I wore shorts, my legs might tan, too, but I’d look silly until they did.
Plus, in this place, having that layer of clothing there is often preferable to letting the sun hit your bare skin. As an example, many farmer types I know wear long sleeve blue chambray work shirts in the summer, because it actually keeps you cooler than short sleeves.
FWIW, I’m a professor and I wear jeans to work most days.
As a DC-metro person, I have a theory on this. A lot people go to DC for work related reasons. They just want to get paid. They are told they need to wear a suit to work, so they go out and buy several very boring suits because they are told they have to. They are not interested in making a fashion statement.
People in NY are more fashion conscious. That is why they are there, they want to live the NY lifestyle. The engery, the buzz, the coolness.
It sustains itself because it is somewhat self-fulfilling. If all your co-workers are wearing boring suits, you feel that that is acceptable. If all your friends are wearing cool, hip clothes, you feel the urge to as well.
There’s also a degree of pressure to conform. I’m sure a lot of people in the area would prefer to dress down and a lot of people would prefer to be more fashionable and daring.
He went from pants, shirt and tie to shorts and t-shirts.