# The main factors in why people dress down much more today compared to previous generations? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447 "2012-10-11T19:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/81 "2012-10-12T12:38:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > My guess is role models. When I was a kid any adult you saw higher than waiter or ditch digger was in a suit… The “waiter” part of this is now ironic, given that very often these days the waiters are the most sharply dressed people in a typical restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/82 "2012-10-12T13:38:41Z")
> [@GQELITE33](#): > > Dressing up takes time, effort and money invested into a persons image. The more they do that, the more they make a statement that they care about themselves. I missed that somehow. All I get out of seeing somebody dressed up is a sense of sadness that they would probably be more comfortable in casual clothes. > [@](#): > > A person who wants to be perceived as a leader and set an example, dresses up. And a true leader leads. A leader doesn’t have to wear a leader uniform to prove he is the leader. > [@](#): > > People that are comfortable just being one of the sheep, dresses down. Bill Gates was never the type of guy that would ever dress up. He was a hippie nerd savant who had high intelligence and even though he is very smart he is very ignorant when it comes to style sense. You statement disproves itself. Proves the statement I made above. A true leader simply leads. Put a buffoon in a suit and it try to call it a leader and you get the pointy haired guy in the Dilbert comic strip. > [@](#): > > In my profession, I want people to know I am the boss. I am the leader of the pack. I want them to say “There is the Alpha Male!” My guess is that your “team” follows you because you lead and not due to your spiffy appearance. > [@](#): > > I have always taken pride in my clothing and having it pressed and dry cleaned and making sure it looks great. I shine my shoes a couple times a week.I make sure I groom myself at an exceptional level and smell nice. It makes me feel good and gives me confidence in myself. If I look in the mirror and look like I should be giving a speech in front of thousands, I will feel like a bad ass. I will feel power. Thats the way I look at it. Its all psychological. Your only point that I agree with. Clothes help you be want you want to be. If nice clothes give you a mental boost then go with it. In my case and the case of others we neither lead nor follow based on appearance. I’m an owner of the company I work in. I am sitting at my desk now in my cargo shorts and T-shirt. I wrote the dress code that I will share with you in it’s entirety. My apologies if it is too verbose - _ **Don’t come to work stinky!** _ Everyone here strictly follows that code. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/83 "2012-10-12T13:41:42Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > I actively dislike most suits. > > If a man in a suit really actually does look GQ, then that’s attractive. I’m not trying to be harsh here, but the chances of the OP actually looking like he stepped out of the pages of GQ (regardless of his clothing and grooming choices) are slim to none. Those photo-shoots are carefully calibrated, tricked-out, bedecked, and then photoshopped to make those suits and those particular models look good. > > 99% of the population will not look as good in a suit as those pictures would like you to think. (Likewise for women’s clothing, so don’t think I’m knocking suits overly harshly.) > > In the meantime, to the OP; I think that you perhaps think a great deal about your appearance, and that’s not a bad thing, but lots of other people really couldn’t give two shits, other than making sure that we’re clean, groomed, decent, and wearing clothing that matches the dominant trends in our work/social environment. You know what? That’s totally ok! Think of it this way - it makes you peacocks stand out more, so you can feel superior to all of us “slobs.” > > BTW - I don’t take showers in the morning, nor do I drink juice, coffee, or eat breakfast. I must be racking up some great cosmic negative karma there, huh? 😃 A man will look good in a suit if he goes and gets it Tailored properly to fit his body type. Also when you go to a place that does this, they will work with you to find the best color combinations and suit that fits you the best. I know this for a fact! Don’t buy suits off the shelf! You gotta get them tailored. Also you do not have to wear a suit everyday to look good. I was thinking about this thread this morning and I came off the wrong way. In no way was I saying you have to wear a suit every single day to look nice. Today I am not wearing a suit. I am wearing a nice dress shirt and a pair of nice slacks with dress shoes. No tie btw. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/84 "2012-10-12T13:59:09Z")
There is another reason why men don’t wear jackets/suits in the office anymore-offices are well heated these days. Back in the old (pre-1950’s days), offices were poorly heated-you needed to wear a jacket to keep warm. In places that still lack central heating, you still see guys wearing jackets. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/85 "2012-10-12T14:09:05Z")
As a woman, I just want to interject to say, while I love a suit-wearin’ man, provided he looks good in it and it’s fitted, I love blue jeans too. It’s all about how you rock it (and hygiene) of course. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/86 "2012-10-12T14:35:07Z")
So, we’re coming off a historic recession (which we still haven’t recovered from), families on two incomes are making comparatively less than single income households from the 70s, there’s still high unemployment, and people need to spend more money to get (1) “decent” clothes which have been (2) tailored? If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s certainly obvious now that reality and this thread parted ways long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/87 "2012-10-12T14:35:37Z")
> [@GQELITE33](#): > > A man will look good in a suit if he goes and gets it Tailored properly to fit his body type. Also when you go to a place that does this, they will work with you to find the best color combinations and suit that fits you the best. I know this for a fact! Don’t buy suits off the shelf! You gotta get them tailored. You still haven’t addressed the point that most folks don’t need a suit to look good or to dress well for the events in their lives. Dressing in a nice suit is fine, but unless you want to look like a person in a suit it’s not appropriate. Back at a previous job we had an engineer (a good one, too) who decided he was going to dress up for work to gain an edge and aim for a higher job. He looked like a fool wearing a suit in our office, and he definitely lost points on the respect scale because it was so transparent. He looked good; the suits were nice and well fitted. But the effect was so jarring as to destroy his credibility in the software development environment. He eventually dropped the idea and went back to jeans and his career continued its upward track. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/88 "2012-10-12T14:35:49Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > As a woman, I just want to interject to say, while I love a suit-wearin’ man, provided he looks good in it and it’s fitted, I love blue jeans too. It’s all about how you rock it (and hygiene) of course. Well said on that one. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/89 "2012-10-12T14:42:46Z")
How about you keep it simple. Follow your companies dress code. Simple as that. If you go to a five star restaurant, dress like you are at a five star restaurant. Dress the Part. The end. But it doesn’t hurt to have your own style, if its positive and you look good doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/90 "2012-10-12T14:45:38Z")
Isn’t it also that back in the day, people bathed/showered less frequently and so they put on elaborate clothing and many layers (such as kummerbunds, waistcoats and cravats) as a means of suppressing bodily odour? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/91 "2012-10-12T14:59:15Z")
On a personal note, I used to love wearing a suit. I was a chef in the old days and suits were exciting and fun. I still own six (6!) tuxedos and 2 kilt outfits, one casual and one formal, plus a utilikilt. I can tie every tie knot known to man. Plus I have a formal Japanese outfit. I own about a dozen hats and two opera capes. Several 3-piece suits and two antique pocket watches. Sadly, I am now in a wheelchair and have trouble with buttons and zippers, let alone a tie. So I wear sweatsuits 24/7 (except the shower). Some of my friends dress like hobos, and some like federal judges. Having lived both sides of the coin, I see everyone is different. Do what feels right but don’t look down on others. ---
**Author:** ![Coustralee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Coustralee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coustralee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/92 "2012-10-12T15:13:27Z")
this thread reminds me of an ad where an actor would imply that you’re not a real man if you’re not taking care of your skin - by using moisturiser. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/93 "2012-10-12T15:15:05Z")
I think it depends on location, industry and other factors. I work a block from Wall Street and there are plenty of people in suits. Lawyers always seem to wear suits. I always wear suits to client meetings, as do my peers. Although more often than not, I see people wearing what I call “Deloitte casual friday”. Black dress pants and a blue or white dress shirt from Brooks Brothers or Thomas Pink or wherever. Which is still pretty casual when compared to Wall Street of old. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/94 "2012-10-12T15:26:37Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I think it depends on location, industry and other factors. I work a block from Wall Street and there are plenty of people in suits. Lawyers always seem to wear suits. I always wear suits to client meetings, as do my peers. > > Although more often than not, I see people wearing what I call “Deloitte casual friday”. Black dress pants and a blue or white dress shirt from Brooks Brothers or Thomas Pink or wherever. Which is still pretty casual when compared to Wall Street of old. Well said as well. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/95 "2012-10-12T15:32:33Z")
> [@GQELITE33](#): > > How about you keep it simple. > > Follow your companies dress code. Simple as that. I don’t work for a company. And the word is company’s. A possessive, not a plural. I judge people by their use of language a million times more than I do their dress. You apparently don’t. Why is that? Language, unlike dress, is actually important. > [@](#): > > If you go to a five star restaurant, dress like you are at a five star restaurant. Fine. I’ll never go to a five-star restaurant, which means I’m safe. > [@](#): > > Dress the Part. The end. I’m dressing my Part. The end. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/96 "2012-10-12T15:33:29Z")
Five reasons why young men should dress sharp Reason #1: Dressing sharp draws positive attention From [5 Reasons To Dress Sharp | Style Tips For Young Men](http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/5-reasons-why-young-men-should-dress-sharp/) MODERATOR NOTE… **GQELITE33**. You can’t just quote a hugh block of text from another website. I deleted most and put in your source. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/97 "2012-10-12T15:34:40Z")
I wonder whether, back in 1812, **GQELITE33** ’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was saying: - _Only in to-day’s Society can one show up to Dinner, and have Some-one be surprised to see him dressed in Knee-Breeches and Stockings! Indeed, the only time one finds it normal to see Some-one in a Gold-embroidered Tail-Coat is at a Wedding! When did Dressing-Up become such a Chore? A Man should feel good about putting on a powdered Wig and looking quite the Dandy._ Fashion changes. The suit has been with us for a very long time, and (I hope) is now on its way out. Also, not everyone thinks of a suit as “sharp”. Personally, I find that a suit makes a man look stiff, dull, unattractive, and a lot older than he really is. ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/98 "2012-10-12T15:40:16Z")
What Does Dressing Sharp Mean? Before we get to the reasons why young men should dress sharp, I believe that we should examine what “dressing sharp” means. Below are four definitions of the sharp-dressed young man. 1. Dressing sharp means to wear clean clothes that fit MODERATOR NOTE #2. See my note in the previous post. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![GQELITE33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71e660/32.png) [@GQELITE33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GQELITE33)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/99 "2012-10-12T15:43:43Z")
A stylish well fitted suit will never go out of style. The only thing that goes out of style with suits is the color patterns. P.S. The double breasted suit is not in style right now btw. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447/100 "2012-10-12T15:44:15Z")
I own my own business, a sole proprietorship. There are few perks to my situation, but one is that I can wear whatever the fuck I want. And I do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-factors-in-why-people-dress-down-much-more-today-compared-to-previous-generations/637447.md?page=6)