16 CommentsReplyStuart KermanJuly 7, 2015 at 7:19 pm
Fabulous post,Pedro.
Well said and well done!!
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 7, 2015 at 7:46 pm
Thank you, Stuart, very kind.
ReplyFranz LehrbassJuly 7, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Great essay Pedro. Well-reasoned. I’ve often wondered many similar things. Here’s to kindness, decency, respect for all and working each day to be the best we can be in everyday life. The restraint of good taste is no less authentic than the exhibitionism of letting it all hang out.
Sincerely,
Your former CBC colleage,
Franz Lehrbass.
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 7, 2015 at 8:52 pm
Thank you, Franz, really appreciate it. And great last line, might have to steal that.
ReplyLondon MabelJuly 8, 2015 at 11:06 pm
The last time a man tried to convince me that caring about what you wear is superficial, I asked him: “If the only clean clothes you had left in your closet were orange pants and a shirt with big pink polkadots, would you wear them? Or would you wait til your laundry was done?” That shut him up.
I would add that I think we see caring about appearance as feminine and therefore a weakness. The subtext often isn’t “people who care about their appearance are superficial” but “most women are superficial.” You can see this when guys call each other gay for wearing color etc.
In other news, love the sapeurs! It’s like a subculture of Morris Days!
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 9, 2015 at 8:23 am
Great point, Mabel. Guys feeling uncertain about their masculinity plays a very big part of this discussion, specifically how femininity and hom*osexuality are seen as purely negative.
ReplyJohnDecember 3, 2016 at 6:38 am
That’s probably the best explanation I have come across egalitarianism, men wanted to dress down rather than dress up and it mirrored social change. However there is one big hole in this argument why does it only apply to men and not to women. Women dress up even more now than they did before there is no attempt to be real and dress down, so why does egalitarianism not apply to women’s fashion
ReplyPedro MendesDecember 3, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Very good point, John, and one I’ve been thinking about recently. And while I think more and more women are, in fact, giving up on dressing well, I think it has to do with power and privilege: men (especially white, middle/upper income men) have the freedom to “dress how they like.” Women and other groups do not, despite our believed freedoms.
ReplyGuileJanuary 20, 2017 at 7:15 pm
Because women, in general, care more about how they’re perceived by others. They’re also more easily influenced because they’re more intimately social than men. They judge everything, and everyone, at all times—and assume that they are being judged in return. Just look at how hard the advertising industry monkey-branched from 12-year-old boys, to tweens, to women in general over the past 30 years. All the buying power, theirs AND ours belongs to women.
Travel, education, brand named purses are all the female version of d*** measuring contest. They want to be perceived as “better than”, where as men generally assume they’re good enough until motivated by, you guessed it, women.
ReplyRaymond HuynhJanuary 2, 2017 at 2:40 pm
I thought the real reason was because most men have a stomach or are too skinny to be wearing a suit. It is like going to the beach, most men would be scared beyond belief.
A suit highlights a lot of of a man’s body shape, including their man boobs, stomach area, and waist line.
In our modern culture of every man being afraid of his own body image, wearing casual clothing without tucking in your shirt, or wearing over sized T(s) can hide a lot of this away.
It has nothing to do with uniformity and more about being afraid of expectations.
Do not forget, when you are working in a office, a lot of those features are amplified when you sit down.
ReplyPedro MendesJanuary 2, 2017 at 3:41 pm
I’d have to say the complete opposite is true, Raymond, when it comes to suits: the point of tailored clothing is to hide “God’s mistakes” and make you look thinner and better proportioned than you may be. Casual clothing, on the other hand, especially poor quality and ill-fitting tshirts and jeans (as you’ll often see) exaggerate overweight bodies. Then again, if you were to buy an inexpensive and very trendy (that is, very tight) suit, then yes, it will also exaggerate your oddities.
ReplySteve PutnamJanuary 5, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Very good article, well written.
I really don’t understand this dressing down trend at all to be honest. I used to work in a department store and all the men on the shop floor wore suits, and I loved it. Even in hot weather a shirt and tie were compulsory, now we see so many office based men, where a suit would be worn a few years ago now wearing casual trousers and open collared shirts.
This ‘trend’ has also crept into TV presenters, Match of the Day for example would always require their presenters to be suited, now they wear open neck shirts. To me it shows lack of respect, not only to the audience but also to themselves and their profession. My grandad would always wear at least a shirt and tie when out in public, even if going to the shops. To me it was about self respect, something which sadly seems to be lacking in much of todays society.
In my opinion a man wearing a well fitting suit with a crisp double cuffed shirt finished off with a traditionally knotted tie is telling the world ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’, just like the Guinness advert.
ReplyZorbaJuly 26, 2018 at 5:16 pm
Yea right. “Captain of your soul, master of your fate” and you’re wearing the same stupid monkey suit that every other fake-ola has on? Uncomfortable, and above all else HOT HOT HOT! Men can dress nicely without wearing wool jackets and constricting their necks – its time this antiquated mode of dress goes the way of the Do-do bird. Thank Goddess, that’s exactly what’s happening, albeit too slowly for most thinking people.
Its the uniform of the shyster, the liar, and the politician – but I repeat myself.
ReplyNormSeptember 22, 2018 at 10:57 am
If you’re going to dress like everyone else, at least look good while doing it?
Yeah, sure, back in the day everyone wore suits. No individuality. Fine. But today everyone wears ratty jeans, Start Wars t-shirts, sneakers, and caps…while getting their skin splotched with cheap “art” drawn by untalented “artists.”
Where’s the originality it that?
There isn’t any. It’s just conformity.
Just much, much uglier.
And if your neck is confined, I suggest you visit a tailor to learn how to correctly choose your dress shirts.
ReplyKmonsterJanuary 9, 2019 at 3:45 pm
Folks need to stop yapping about what men “should/shouldn’t” wear and go on about their business. I dress for comfort and cost and functionality. I like my baseball cap too. Guess what, the world is still spinning on.
ReplyJJMarch 17, 2019 at 11:05 pm
I’m with “Zorba” on this one! “Hot” is an understatement! More like sweating and suffering! I had to wear a suit for many years. From a very young age I was told, “That’s just the way it is!” -Yeah, I call “BS” on that! I decide what to wear and how to wear it. I have an athletic build, so buying a suit off the rack always looked stupid on me. You try to find something that fits well with a 32″ waist and a 54″ chest! I had to always try and sneak two different suits together to get it to work. Who could afford a tailored suit when you grew up in the Bronx?! Clothes don’t make the man. The man makes the “Man”. I was ridiculed early on for not having clothes that fit me “right”. Through THAT bulling, I learned that people just want to fit in. Trust me, so did I. But you can only cry so many tears until you realize that clothes are just clothes. And, if you have the means to dress “Up”, well, then good for you! Yes, I cried when I was a kid. I acted in childish ways when I was a kid. But now I am an adult. I don’t cry. I act in adult ways. I sometimes think I’m more of a man today because of my experiences of yesterday! Compassion for others is the “suit” that I wear! I donate new, unused clothes to those that do not have.
Leave a Reply
ReplyStuart KermanJuly 7, 2015 at 7:19 pm
Fabulous post,Pedro.
Well said and well done!!
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 7, 2015 at 7:46 pm
Thank you, Stuart, very kind.
ReplyFranz LehrbassJuly 7, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Great essay Pedro. Well-reasoned. I’ve often wondered many similar things. Here’s to kindness, decency, respect for all and working each day to be the best we can be in everyday life. The restraint of good taste is no less authentic than the exhibitionism of letting it all hang out.
Sincerely,
Your former CBC colleage,
Franz Lehrbass.
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 7, 2015 at 8:52 pm
Thank you, Franz, really appreciate it. And great last line, might have to steal that.
ReplyLondon MabelJuly 8, 2015 at 11:06 pm
The last time a man tried to convince me that caring about what you wear is superficial, I asked him: “If the only clean clothes you had left in your closet were orange pants and a shirt with big pink polkadots, would you wear them? Or would you wait til your laundry was done?” That shut him up.
I would add that I think we see caring about appearance as feminine and therefore a weakness. The subtext often isn’t “people who care about their appearance are superficial” but “most women are superficial.” You can see this when guys call each other gay for wearing color etc.
In other news, love the sapeurs! It’s like a subculture of Morris Days!
ReplyPedro MendesJuly 9, 2015 at 8:23 am
Great point, Mabel. Guys feeling uncertain about their masculinity plays a very big part of this discussion, specifically how femininity and hom*osexuality are seen as purely negative.
ReplyJohnDecember 3, 2016 at 6:38 am
That’s probably the best explanation I have come across egalitarianism, men wanted to dress down rather than dress up and it mirrored social change. However there is one big hole in this argument why does it only apply to men and not to women. Women dress up even more now than they did before there is no attempt to be real and dress down, so why does egalitarianism not apply to women’s fashion
ReplyPedro MendesDecember 3, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Very good point, John, and one I’ve been thinking about recently. And while I think more and more women are, in fact, giving up on dressing well, I think it has to do with power and privilege: men (especially white, middle/upper income men) have the freedom to “dress how they like.” Women and other groups do not, despite our believed freedoms.
ReplyGuileJanuary 20, 2017 at 7:15 pm
Because women, in general, care more about how they’re perceived by others. They’re also more easily influenced because they’re more intimately social than men. They judge everything, and everyone, at all times—and assume that they are being judged in return. Just look at how hard the advertising industry monkey-branched from 12-year-old boys, to tweens, to women in general over the past 30 years. All the buying power, theirs AND ours belongs to women.
Travel, education, brand named purses are all the female version of d*** measuring contest. They want to be perceived as “better than”, where as men generally assume they’re good enough until motivated by, you guessed it, women.
ReplyRaymond HuynhJanuary 2, 2017 at 2:40 pm
I thought the real reason was because most men have a stomach or are too skinny to be wearing a suit. It is like going to the beach, most men would be scared beyond belief.
A suit highlights a lot of of a man’s body shape, including their man boobs, stomach area, and waist line.
In our modern culture of every man being afraid of his own body image, wearing casual clothing without tucking in your shirt, or wearing over sized T(s) can hide a lot of this away.
It has nothing to do with uniformity and more about being afraid of expectations.
Do not forget, when you are working in a office, a lot of those features are amplified when you sit down.
ReplyPedro MendesJanuary 2, 2017 at 3:41 pm
I’d have to say the complete opposite is true, Raymond, when it comes to suits: the point of tailored clothing is to hide “God’s mistakes” and make you look thinner and better proportioned than you may be. Casual clothing, on the other hand, especially poor quality and ill-fitting tshirts and jeans (as you’ll often see) exaggerate overweight bodies. Then again, if you were to buy an inexpensive and very trendy (that is, very tight) suit, then yes, it will also exaggerate your oddities.
ReplySteve PutnamJanuary 5, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Very good article, well written.
I really don’t understand this dressing down trend at all to be honest. I used to work in a department store and all the men on the shop floor wore suits, and I loved it. Even in hot weather a shirt and tie were compulsory, now we see so many office based men, where a suit would be worn a few years ago now wearing casual trousers and open collared shirts.
This ‘trend’ has also crept into TV presenters, Match of the Day for example would always require their presenters to be suited, now they wear open neck shirts. To me it shows lack of respect, not only to the audience but also to themselves and their profession. My grandad would always wear at least a shirt and tie when out in public, even if going to the shops. To me it was about self respect, something which sadly seems to be lacking in much of todays society.
In my opinion a man wearing a well fitting suit with a crisp double cuffed shirt finished off with a traditionally knotted tie is telling the world ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’, just like the Guinness advert.
ReplyZorbaJuly 26, 2018 at 5:16 pm
Yea right. “Captain of your soul, master of your fate” and you’re wearing the same stupid monkey suit that every other fake-ola has on? Uncomfortable, and above all else HOT HOT HOT! Men can dress nicely without wearing wool jackets and constricting their necks – its time this antiquated mode of dress goes the way of the Do-do bird. Thank Goddess, that’s exactly what’s happening, albeit too slowly for most thinking people.
Its the uniform of the shyster, the liar, and the politician – but I repeat myself.
ReplyNormSeptember 22, 2018 at 10:57 am
If you’re going to dress like everyone else, at least look good while doing it?
Yeah, sure, back in the day everyone wore suits. No individuality. Fine. But today everyone wears ratty jeans, Start Wars t-shirts, sneakers, and caps…while getting their skin splotched with cheap “art” drawn by untalented “artists.”
Where’s the originality it that?
There isn’t any. It’s just conformity.
Just much, much uglier.
And if your neck is confined, I suggest you visit a tailor to learn how to correctly choose your dress shirts.
ReplyKmonsterJanuary 9, 2019 at 3:45 pm
Folks need to stop yapping about what men “should/shouldn’t” wear and go on about their business. I dress for comfort and cost and functionality. I like my baseball cap too. Guess what, the world is still spinning on.
ReplyJJMarch 17, 2019 at 11:05 pm
I’m with “Zorba” on this one! “Hot” is an understatement! More like sweating and suffering! I had to wear a suit for many years. From a very young age I was told, “That’s just the way it is!” -Yeah, I call “BS” on that! I decide what to wear and how to wear it. I have an athletic build, so buying a suit off the rack always looked stupid on me. You try to find something that fits well with a 32″ waist and a 54″ chest! I had to always try and sneak two different suits together to get it to work. Who could afford a tailored suit when you grew up in the Bronx?! Clothes don’t make the man. The man makes the “Man”. I was ridiculed early on for not having clothes that fit me “right”. Through THAT bulling, I learned that people just want to fit in. Trust me, so did I. But you can only cry so many tears until you realize that clothes are just clothes. And, if you have the means to dress “Up”, well, then good for you! Yes, I cried when I was a kid. I acted in childish ways when I was a kid. But now I am an adult. I don’t cry. I act in adult ways. I sometimes think I’m more of a man today because of my experiences of yesterday! Compassion for others is the “suit” that I wear! I donate new, unused clothes to those that do not have.