Posted on 06/06/2013 8:48:12 AM PDT by fwdude
This weekend, I will be attending the high school graduation of a young relative, as tens of thousands of others likely will as well. Though these events are a dime a dozen, and a high school graduation doesn't seem to carry the weight of importance that it once did, it seems appropriate to regard the attendance of such an event as a special occasion, special enough to don at least a clean shirt and pants without holes.
But what I expect to see will probably be trumped by even what I've witnessed in past years - people wearing shorts, theme t-shirts, muscle shirts, holey jeans, and flip-flops. At a graduation. Even at college graduations.
What I've noticed over the past several decades is a drastic trend toward an anything-goes attitude toward dress. The last time this drastic a shift seems to have occurred is in the late sixties, when the hippie, commune-living attitude made inroads into society and youth wore whatever they pleased, wherever they pleased, if anything at all.
Today, I see church-goers wear what look like pajamas, short shorts, tube tops, muscle shirts and worse. It's almost like they're defying the traditional "rules." And not only congregants, but pastors and participants seem to be in a contest to see who can dress down the most radically, usually by those who want to be "relevant" to today's youth. (See Ed Young as an example.) I attended a wedding - A WEDDING!!! - several years ago and with very few exceptions, the only people wearing a tie or dress were the marrying couple. Most wore golf shirts, "nice" jeans and tennis shoes. I (wearing my suit) was almost speechless.
Today, there seems to be no venue, no ceremony, no establishment, where manner of dress is any longer important at all. And I see this attitude as directly related to, and caused by, the voracious consumption of society by the rabid, morally-anarchist secularists. Children used to aspire to wear what grownups wore - in Great Britain, young boys were only allowed to wear shorts as appropriate, slacks being a man's attire, and were only allowed to wear such upon attaining "the King's commission." Now, adults seem to want to emulate children, with sagging waistbands, "bling," tatoos and hyper-oversized pants that can't seem to decide if they're shorts or not shorts.
My question is this: is there ANY event or occasion when it is appropriate to dress in other than ordinary, daily apparel, without undue coercion? Or, put another way, is there any occasion when daily, casual wear is inappropriate?
I can already hear the rebuttals by cultural relativists: "but every era has its trends which fly in the face of tradition!" True, but there were still differences in the manner of dress according to occasion. Now, there appear to be none whatsoever. A standardless society when appearances are concerned. Once, even the poorest farmer owned at least one suit, a tie, and a good pair of dress shoes. Everyone was expected to have the ability to look presentable at the most elegant occasion, and all but the poorest (by real poor standards of the day, not today's "opulent poor") could satisfy this minimal standard. Today, I know scores of people who own not one suit, tie, or dress shirt.
I truly believe this attitude mirrors the standardless "morals" we are seeing sweep across every institution which once stood for something. The military might be one last holdout, but even that will see changes - be certain of it.
Its poverty.
No, it's not. Unless you mean poverty of morality.
People still dressed well during The Great Depression.
Personally, one the most unattractive things to see at a wedding is a morbidly obese bridesmaid (or bride) in a backless dress, said back being adorned with tattoos.
Exactly. Thank you.
Most people manage to find a suit and tie when they are on trial.
Mark Steyn, in a recent book, theorized that if you went back to 1950 America and took an average adult male, put him in a time macine and transported him to the present day, his first question would be, “Why are all the adult men dressing like 12 year old boys?”
George Will, who is teased about wearing his suit to the beach, said as much. He noticed families out in public, and that the fathers were dressed identically as their little boys.
You don’t even have to go back that far. People used to dress very well for church service. Then, the “casual” look came in, and the service became casual (spiritually) as well.
I wear a suit and tie to weddings and funerals.
I can't think of anything more revolting than an overweight, 40 year old, man with dungaree cutoffs and a back facing baseball cap (still on) sitting with his family at breakfast, more often than not, also talking on his cell phone.
Purchased by their defense attorney (as well as charm lessons.)
Slobs should be required to have a permit to be in public.
Only weddings I’ve worn a tie to I was in (groom or best man). I don’t like putting a noose around my neck. Now I do wear a nice button up shirt, and I never wear jeans because I never found them comfortable, I gravitate to black khakis. As a society we’ve figured out that dressing up is generally wearing uncomfortable clothes for no good reason, so we stopped. I don’t see it as a decline, just a change.
Look at those old pictures of major league ballgames from the 1930’s. Men in hats, suits and ties. Women in Sunday best dresses and hats. To watch baseball.
I feel your pain, and I dress, for the most part in a manner that you would probably consider appropriate to a given occasion.
However, some norms really are culturally derived and it is not so much a question of morality. Historically, distinctions in dress tend to reflect, not morality, but class differences. So you might argue that what we are seeing is a reflection of the leveling of class that is taking place in our culture, for good or ill.
But to say that it is declining morality, that really is a bit of a reach.
My grandfather wore a 3 piece suit every day. He would not leave the house without a hat. I never saw him in his “shirt sleeves”.
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