Yes it's ancient; slobbing out, dropping out, letting yourself go. As
you say, what's changed is that people are happy to wear it in public
in an era of self-obsession about appearances not seen since Victorian
times. That's the shift.
This is helpful. I check linked-in just to see what exists fairly frequently and dress in random attire depending on what laundry is done (sometimes really nice, sometimes shorts).
I'd never really considered it as something that meant that I would be leaving.
You have clearly never had a maid to do all your laundry, ironing, etc ;)
Seriously though as someone who went to a high-school where a shirt, suit and tie was mandatory the theory is it inspires a certain kind of behavior. If you are in formal-ware then it's a sign you are working. You change when you get home.
Personally I don't buy it though and now I work in the internet industry so I don't have to, awesome.
Excellent point. There is definitely a suit and tie in my wardrobe, and even a pair of dress shoes. By no means did I mean to imply that we should all lose our basic hygiene standards. I buy new clothes when the others get old, and the turnover is pretty high.
What I meant to imply was that choosing what to wear is a tedious task. Clothing piles up. If you haven't worn something in 6 months (unless it's seasonal), you probably won't.
We equate suits and ties with being dressed up and well dressed now, but that was normal style for many people in many walks of life then. There would have been very cheap jackets and shirts just the same as there are very cheap jeans and t-shirts in contrast to very expensive dress. There is also the fact that even in the 40's having your clothes made at home was not unusual and simply getting squares of cloth was cheaper than pre-made.
So they may look very dapper and done up now, but then it might not have been the same. We can't look back at photographs with the same eye to fashion as we would now.
One thing I can remember causing me quite a bit of anxiety as a kid was the clothes I had to wear. I was terrified of school events where it wasn't necessary to wear a uniform, because I knew the other kids would find out that I didn't own any nice clothes. I'd always pretend I got my days mixed up and show up in uniform anyway, but I'm sure I wasn't fooling anyone.
That was a time before ready to wear mass market clothing came to be. In those days people had a couple of changes of clothes plus their Sunday best. Obviously this group was wealthy, but never the less their dress reflect that time and custom.
The same is true for your own appearance. I think the original motivation for much of the intricate housing as well as intricate body sculpturing/make up/clothes is status assertion. But as I grow older, and especially for houses where the old owners have long gone, I begin to appreciate the aesthetics and dedication put into it. In some sense, motivations aside, it's a gift to the world.
The other day I was walking out of my closet, turned, and nearly jumped out of my skin because some clothes hanging from the door briefly looked like a large man standing right next to me. I'm not sure that our failings only happen under unusual circumstances, but rather maybe we're just used to them and don't think about it much.
TBH, I still probably naturally gravitate towards polos or button-downs, khakis, boating shoes, etc. It's really only been in the past few years (when I still traveled, sigh) that I began deliberately dressing down a bit at certain types of events, at least some of the time, because I wasn't dressed "right" for the event.
Having recently been homeless, and then having achieved a high-paying tech job, I can say that the clothes you wear affect not only you, but also your surroundings, to a great extent.
Before I achieved a good wardrobe, I could literally feel the tension in a room as a result of wearing poor clothing. It is experienced as a vulnerability to social attacks... think the experience you get when your boss frowns at you, but this experience occurring in every room you go into. Without dress comparable to my coworkers, I had to adopt social behaviors which patched the vulnerabilities. (This occurs in the animal kingdom as well, for example, with behaviors such as stotting.) When I had achieved better clothing, I no longer had to worry about such behaviors, and could devote more time, and mind "power", to focusing on my own pursuits.
I am reminded of Virginia Woolf's essay "A Room of One's Own": without some basic necessities one must adopt characteristics to appease the social dynamics around oneself. (I believe Machiavelli writes about this as well, regarding man's relationship to weather, but that's a looser connection.) Now imagine what it must be like to have food, shelter, no problems, good health, and $500,000 in the bank, versus a child in Sy ria. The psychological impact can't be measured.
We must keep in mind that we are all ships at sea, and even the smallest decision can be, and for the majority of individuals on earth is, fundamental to our survival.
tl:dr: When identity in relation to a group matters, unique behaviors sometimes occur to make up for weaknesses in other areas.
reply