# Why was everyone in the past so well-dressed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819 "2019-11-22T15:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/21 "2019-11-23T04:49:05Z")
I grew up in the Eisenhower years, a product of straight-laced parents in straight-laced suits. My parents would have “cocktail parties” where the men would wear “sport coats” that they thought were “casual wear” because the coat didn’t match the pants. As a kid I realized that the dads had stopped home before the party and changed from their three-piece suits (can you imagine a coat and tie AND A VEST during Pre-Air Conditioned summer days?). The Kennedy years loosened up a bit (he didn’t wear a hat to his inauguration), but it was the rebellion of the Nixon years that really made the world safe for comfortable clothes… my still-a-suit-guy father used to yell “Why don’t you want to look as dressed-up as you can?” By which he meant cut your hair, part it straight, and dress right: get some starch in your button-down shirt, wear a navy blazer with your school tie and polished shoes. And once I started wearing t-shirts and jeans, my mom would always remind the entire dinner table that “Denim is what convicts wear.” So, it’s a change I love, and I fist-pumped the air when I read Roddy’s post, and his great line: > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > …but freedom, once tasted, can’t really be taken back, and it’s been a pretty steady trend towards the casual ever since. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/22 "2019-11-23T05:05:31Z")
Clothes were expensive, and most people had very few changes of clothing. So you could tell how wealthy a person was by the way they dressed. You could tell if a person was a manual worker or an office worker. You could sometimes tell their profession. You could judge the quality of fabric, and if they went to a fancy tailor or dressmaker. This meant that everyone wanted to look as good as possible. Dressing down would have been like saying, “I’m poor, I can’t afford anything better.” ---
**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:** [November 23, 2019, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/23 "2019-11-23T05:08:15Z")
I checked the 1895 Sear’s catalog and the 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog. A word search for pajama drew no hits. People wore nightshirts to bed if they wore anything at all other than underwear in the summer and everything in the winter. Although pajamas existed at that time, ordinary people would have thought you pretentiously rich if you spent money on them. BTW, people in **20** 11 likely thought that wearing pajamas outside the house was at the very least eccentric and more likely a sign of a mental disorder. You don’t have to go back to **19** 11 for that. Customs can change remarkably quickly. 1911 and 1921 were far apart in fashion. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/24 "2019-11-23T05:20:32Z")
What always astonishes me about old photos and films, up to about the early 60s, is the virtual absence of overweight people. It’s like we’ve become a different species. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/25 "2019-11-23T06:15:23Z")
Also remember that most of the fabrics used nowadays for comfortable/leisure clothing just didn’t exist back then. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/26 "2019-11-23T06:54:57Z")
Personally, the sooner mens neckwear (any and all kinds) dies a horrible screaming death the better, don’t give me the bovine excrement excuse that “your collar isn’t fitted right”, I simply find neckwear _uncomfortable_, just as I find turtlenecks uncomfortable (even if they’re tactical, and slightly darker black… 😉 neckwear serves no _functional_ purpose and is nothing more than useless cosmetic frippery and/or a sign of mindless conformity If I ever gain possession of the Infinity Gauntlet, or get the powers of the “Q” Continuum, I will “Snap” 100% of the neckwear in the multiverse and all parallel dimensions out of existence. the move towards casual clothing is a _good_ thing. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/27 "2019-11-23T07:01:20Z")
Part of it was what you grew up wearing. In elementary school in the '50s we wore collar shirts and nice pants every day, with white shirts and ties for Assembly on Fridays. No ties in high school but no jeans either. And definitely no shorts, ever, even when it got hot. If you grew up wearing that stuff, wearing it to work and out wasn’t so odd. If you saw your father go to work in a suit every day, you did also. My kids never saw me go to work in a suit. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/28 "2019-11-23T07:09:43Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > What always astonishes me about old photos and films, up to about the early 60s, is the virtual absence of overweight people. It’s like we’ve become a different species. I correlate USAnian weight increase with the spread of McFood and growth hormones, and ever-decreasing physical activity. People were skinnier before the 1980s. We’re becoming a world of fat pigs. We can link informal dress with clothes production moving offshore and the rise of cheap synthetics. Clothes were costly before the 1960s; I had one pair each of trousers for school, church, and yardwork. In my salad days, I could afford recycled Goodwill clothes. Now it’s Ross and even WalMart for new stuff, cheaper. Old clothes are trash. When I see men in suits on the street now, I assume they’re door-to-door missionaries. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/29 "2019-11-23T07:22:13Z")
> [@digs](#): > > The Kennedy years loosened up a bit (he didn’t wear a hat to his inauguration)… [Yes, he did.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hat-trick/) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/30 "2019-11-23T09:20:48Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > Street scenes from NYC in 1911 > > [https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0](https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0) > > Notice how well-dressed everyone is. No yoga pants, no leggings, no pajamas, no basketball shorts… everyone is dressed in a manner that we would consider ‘formal.’ All the men are dressed in suits, all the women are dressed in long dresses down to their ankles. People today dress extremely… uh… “casually” in comparison. > > So exactly why did everyone back then dress so well? Several of the things you mention hadn’t even been invented. Neither had polyester, rayon or lycra. And a woman showing her ankles was considered a slut, or at the very least careless. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/31 "2019-11-23T11:01:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And once I started wearing t-shirts and jeans, my mom would always remind the entire dinner table that “Denim is what convicts wear.” Approximately the same era, my mom wouldn’t let me wear jeans because “that’s what farmers wear, and you don’t want to look like a country hick.” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/32 "2019-11-23T11:08:08Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > Street scenes from NYC in 1911 > > [https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0](https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0) …when women’s hats were four times the size of their heads. They must have been bolted on. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/33 "2019-11-23T13:09:02Z")
What surprised me were all the women walking around unescorted. I thought women didn’t do that in busy downtown areas at that time. I guess women back then were more liberated than I thought. Wow. At 6:18 in the video, a couple of guys walk past holding hands and laughing coyly at the camera. Camping it up? Interesting. Everytime I see one of these kind of videos, I think to myself, ‘All these people are dead now.’ I don’t do that when I see silent movies or early classic films. I wonder why. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/34 "2019-11-23T13:21:02Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Personally, the sooner mens neckwear (any and all kinds) dies a horrible screaming death the better, don’t give me the bovine excrement excuse that “your collar isn’t fitted right”, I simply find neckwear _uncomfortable_, just as I find turtlenecks uncomfortable (even if they’re tactical, and slightly darker black… 😉 > > neckwear serves no _functional_ purpose and is nothing more than useless cosmetic frippery and/or a sign of mindless conformity > > If I ever gain possession of the Infinity Gauntlet, or get the powers of the “Q” Continuum, I will “Snap” 100% of the neckwear in the multiverse and all parallel dimensions out of existence. > > the move towards casual clothing is a _good_ thing. Maybe 18 years ago I bagged up all my ties in a lawn/leaf bag (I had tons of ties) and took them to Goodwill. Later I took my suits. When I told my gf what I was doing, she thought I was exaggerating and was merely updating my wardrobe. The next wedding we attended she saw I was wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt and she thought I was kidding. She actually searched my closets and was shocked that I had zero “dress” clothes. We almost didn’t go to the wedding, she was that flustered, but when we arrived she saw I was one of six “non-traditionally dressed” guys in attendance. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/35 "2019-11-23T13:56:53Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > …when women’s hats were four times the size of their heads. They must have been bolted on. [Hat pins](https://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/easy-edwardian-day-out-thistle-hill-house-tour-with-the-dfwcg/hat-pins/)! The 13" long hat pin was really popular for the huge hats, especially because they could double as a self defense weapon. Not coincidentally, bans on hat pins longer than 7-9" sprung up all over (and you bet your bippy suffragettes were checked for illegal length hatpins). Edited to add link here if the top one doesn’t work : [hat pins – The Pragmatic Costumer](https://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/easy-edwardian-day-out-thistle-hill-house-tour-with-the-dfwcg/hat-pins/) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/36 "2019-11-23T15:39:03Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Everytime I see one of these kind of videos, I think to myself, ‘All these people are dead now.’ I don’t do that when I see silent movies or early classic films. I wonder why. Because [celluloid heroes never really die](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL0cG7a2PW0). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/37 "2019-11-23T16:11:41Z")
I have pictures of my grandfather and my great-grandfather wearing suit coats over bib overalls in the the 20s-30s. It appeared to be casual wear. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/38 "2019-11-23T17:35:32Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > piles of horse hockey in the streets. and they didn’t even try to avoid stepping in it. Check out the children at 2:43 and the gentlemen crossing the street at 7:45. Eww! ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/39 "2019-11-23T17:46:36Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I have pictures of my grandfather and my great-grandfather wearing suit coats over bib overalls in the the 20s-30s. It appeared to be casual wear. Err, these days men wear suit coats over T shirts and jeans. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/40 "2019-11-23T18:36:17Z")
[Otto Bettmann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Bettmann)’s classic [The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible!](http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-good-old-days-they-were-terrib/#gsc.tab=0) shows what USA 1850-1910 was about. Spoiler: horseshit was everywhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819.md?page=3)