# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/101 "2020-11-04T06:09:39Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Regarding 3 piece suits: I think they weren’t stupid – everything I’ve seen and read suggests that they hung up their coat on a coat rack if it got too hot to wear in the office/shop/factory/warehouse/construction site. I wore a suit every day at my first and second jobs, in the late '80s and most of the '90s, before “business casual” took hold with a sudden vengeance in the late '90s. Both jobs were office environments, with good climate control (so not too hot or too cold), and invariably, the suitcoat came off the moment I got to my desk, and draped over the back of my “guest chair.” I only wore the coat during the commute, and if we had a big presentation or meeting (which might happen once every few months). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/102 "2020-11-04T06:25:30Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > In the 1960s, it you went to a hockey game in Toronto, men without coat and tie were not admitted to the arena. Oh yeah. I was 6 or 7 when I went to my first Maple Leafs game with my Dad at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I was disappointed to find that I was expected to wear my Sunday church clothes (jacket and tie) on a Saturday night at the hockey game. Still, I put up with it. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/103 "2020-11-04T07:14:13Z")
> In the UK school uniform has actually got _more_ formal since the 60s. In part that’s the result of specific political decisions, as the “academisation” policy allowed (deliberately encouraged?) schools to become “grammar schools in all but name”, as well as our general obsession with social status and its markers. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/104 "2020-11-04T08:27:13Z")
Agreed. But it hasn’t lead to people dressing more formally outside of school. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819/105 "2020-11-04T16:50:28Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Wow. At 6:18 in the video, a couple of guys walk past holding hands and laughing coyly at the camera. Camping it up? Handholding [didn’t always](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/bosom-buddies-a-photo-history-of-male-affection/) have just the romantic associations we now have with it. Not saying they _weren’t_ gay, either, but holding hands and acting up for the (novelty of the) camera isn’t really evidence either way, apparently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-everyone-in-the-past-so-well-dressed/843819.md?page=5)