[QUOTE=The Cosmople]
Most Americans think certain foreign uniforms are funny.
Like the wigs of British barristers in court, or the sashes of diplomats at coronations. And of course the British tall sentry hats and the Beefeater uniforms.
But there’s plenty of other uniforms that seem quaint or unnecessary.
Every time I see a judge in a robe I laugh. If Congressmen can chair an investigation, judges’ robes seem like a pose or a security blanket.
The lace collar on Judge Judy’s robe is worse, as are the stripes on the Chief Justice’s sleeves. And the stripes on admirals’ sleeves make me think of HMS Pinafore.
Boy scout uniforms look ok on the kids, but on the parents look like they just never grew up.
Some of the more elaborate winkles that nuns wear are startling, and also the nurses caps from some nursing schools.
Candy striper nurse’s aides’ uniforms seem really silly, but in a corny sweet way.
What am I missing?
[/QUOTE]
For one, that after the passing of CJ Rhenquist, so went with him the braid on his sleeves (the CJ gets to* personalize * his robe). For another, that the stripes on the cuffs of an admiral’s service-dress uniform are his insignia of rank, not decorative froufrou. And for yet one other, that hardly any modern day non-cloistered sister wears the elaborate wimple-and-veil get-up, except for full-dress special ocassions; nuns in service-oriented (teaching, nursing) orders usually wear work-appropriate clothes, and nurses wear scrubs on an everyday basis – heck, even admirals most of the time are wearing “work” uniforms appropriate to the ship or post they’re at.
BTW I don’t think that it would be so generally viewed as “funny” that diplomats wear their sashes at formal State Ceremonies – if anything, the general feeling of “funniness” would be towards the whole white-tie-and-tails or morning-dress-and-top-hat outfit for ultra-formal ocassions.
So the real question becomes, are there any forms of special-ocassion or trade-identifying “ceremonial vestment” , so to speak, that strike us as anachronistic or quaint. The traditional chimney-sweep get-up has been mentioned. For what it’s worth, I’ll throw in the outfits worn by many hotel bell staff/apartment house doormen, who could just as well do it in shirt and jacket.
