# Poor/Middle-Class TV/movie characters and tailored suits: a question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430 "2012-03-21T17:53:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/21 "2012-03-22T15:37:41Z")
I remember admiring the swell clothes, the elegant long coats, the boots, that Jimmy Smits and Kim Delaney wore on NYPD Blue when they were out tracking down perps. Their clothes looked expensive and understated-elegant. Dennis Franz, more of a blue-collar type, just sweated it out in his short sleeved white shirts and skinny tie. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/22 "2012-03-22T15:43:54Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > There were more flattering scrubs than that long before _Scrubs_ came on the air. I worked at a Life uniform in college, and we carried several tops that had darts, princess seams, scoop necks, etc. Even the basic ladies’ v-neck had some curved seaming to it so it would fit women better than the unisex v-neck, from pretty much every company. These were not new special styles when I started working there, and that was our senior year of undergrad. The show didn’t come on till **DoctorJ** ’s 4th year of med school, so there were more flattering scrubs a bare minimum of 5 years before _Scrubs_ even hit the air, much less had any impact on scrub styling. We’re never going to see eye to eye on the scrubs issue, **CCL**. Much of what I wrote comes straight from the DVD commentaries. Scrubs were ugly, wardrobe altered everything for the show. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/23 "2012-03-22T16:20:44Z")
Another thing to bear in mind is that on the one hand proper fitting and tailoring can make a suit look at first glance a step up in market level from its sale price, and on the other, higher-quality clothes are usually more tolerant of fittings and alterations, specially the repeated fittings, alterations and cleanings it’ll get if it’s studio wardrobe. In our time, fitting and tailoring is a sort of lost tradition, as witness the rise of “suit separates” at the lower level of purchasing, which was the natural evolution of a long trend at the downmarket level to wear the suit as it comes off the rack with no other alteration but hemming the pants (led to people with non-fashion-standard measurements wearing jackets one size off just to get the proper size pants). We’ve become a nation of people wearing 16.5/34-35 shirts and W38/I32 trousers as they came out of the store, regardless if our true measurements are 16.5/34 and W37/I31. Often the wardrobe department can “upgrade” or “downgrade” the look of a character merely by letting the clothes be well tailored vs. ill-fitting, and the accessories be fancy vs. cheap, as \*\*belladonna \*\*observed. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/24 "2012-03-22T16:46:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > We’re never going to see eye to eye on the scrubs issue, **CCL**. > > Much of what I wrote comes straight from the DVD commentaries. Scrubs were ugly, wardrobe altered everything for the show. I don’t recall saying wardrobe didn’t alter everything to make it fit better. What I said was that not everything available before 2001 was a basic unisex scrub that fit like a circus tent. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/25 "2012-03-22T16:50:39Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > \*Roseanne \*was oft’ remarked on at the time for having the “look” of working class right. The famous afghan on the couch was one that a LOT of people watching actually owned! The wardrobe pieces were reused, like an actual family who can’t afford to wear new outfits everyday… Most famously the [chicken shirt.](http://thirdanddelaware.tumblr.com/page/10) (scroll all the way to the bottom of that link). OTOH, though, Roseanne was also famous for its characters having overly elaborate Halloween costumes that IRL would probably cost far more that what they could afford. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/26 "2012-03-22T17:00:50Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Let’s take cop dramas, for example. Det. Robert Goren of _Law & Order: Criminal Intent_ worked for the Major Case Squad of the NYPD. NYPD cops aren’t paid great… he likely wasn’t pulling in more than $50-60,000 a year. If you take into account the cost of living in New York City, there’s not much left over for expensive suits. And he wore suits all the time. $50-60,000 a year _isn’t getting paid great?!_ Ye Gods. :eek: I’d cut off a limb to make that much. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430/27 "2012-03-22T18:24:16Z")
[aside] > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > $50-60,000 a year _isn’t getting paid great?!_ Ye Gods. :eek: I’d cut off a limb to make that much. It’s very good in general, relative to the national economy, just not that “great” _for NYC_. As per the NYPD page (followed from **Justin\_Bailey** ’s link), base pay plus allowances for a rookie leaving Academy is $45,000 but a plain beat officer maxes out at double that (not counting overtime) (so don’t cut any limbs, they’d rather you have them all). The NY Metropolitan Area is expensive to live and work (and pay employees). [/aside] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poor-middle-class-tv-movie-characters-and-tailored-suits-a-question/616430.md?page=1)