Posted on 03/09/2005 9:47:25 AM PST by qam1
NEW YORK – They've been part of the American "uniform" for years, worn to casual restaurants, house parties, and some workplaces.
But as jeans become more expensive, they are also becoming more ubiquitous, showing up everywhere from Midwestern churches to Broadway shows. Nothing is off limits, it seems. Or is it? Among those who buy high-priced, designer denim or who simply don jeans frequently - there's debate about where it's appropriate to wear them.
The tug of war over jeans etiquette is particularly prevalent in New York City. Here, people tend to be more creative about their appearance, and are often more demanding about how fashion-conscious people should look, says Dannielle Romano, editor at large for DailyCandy.com, a fashion and trends website.
Many 20- and 30-somethings here have theater backgrounds, for example, and often say it's inappropriate to wear jeans to theater and other cultural performances out of respect for the performers and the surroundings (even though the venues themselves have no official dress codes).
"I am all in favor of the current denim revolution that we are having, but I do feel that there are times when jeans should be left at home," says Lisa Kerson, a jewelry designer in her early 30s, whose parents insisted that she look nice when going to a play or traveling on a plane. "I still get bothered when I see people wearing jeans to the theater, ballet, opera, etc.," she says in an e-mail.
Melissa Popiel also prefers not to see denim at the theater, or at an engagement party. To her, jeans are OK for a house party or a casual dinner, but not for traditionally dressy places. "I don't like going to cocktail parties and seeing people in jeans," says the advertising executive, who's in her late 20s.
Ms. Popiel estimates she owns about 15 to 20 pairs, including premium brands, and has paid as much as $200 for a pair.
Many others are also paying big bucks for their jeans - from $150 to $1,000 or more per pair. Celebrities, in particular, are making jeans their garb of choice for appearances on talk shows and at some red-carpet events.
That, say fashion experts, sets the tone for the masses, who are encouraged by features like one in the Jan. 24 edition of Us magazine, "Hollywood's 10 Hottest Jeans," complete with suggestions for buying "premium" denim ($140 or more).
The concept of designer jeans is not new, however. They were also hot in the 1970s and 80s.
Are these jeans made for parties?
Etiquette experts offer few hard and fast rules about jeans, but among them are the obvious: Leave them in the closet when you're attending a wedding, or if your workplace bans them.
"A lot of it has to do with the appropriateness of the kind of jean you're wearing," says Peter Post, grandson of manners maven Emily Post and author of the book "Essential Manners for Men."
It comes down to determining if the jeans are for fashion or work. A pair that you do yard work in, for example, are "probably not appropriate to be wearing to a restaurant that night," he explains.
Mr. Post has seen men show up in quality restaurants wearing denim, which doesn't bother him as much as how sloppy their appearance sometimes is.He recalls seeing a man dressed in a T-shirt and old rumpled jeans. "He hadn't taken any care to step it up just a notch, to say to the woman he was with, 'You know, you're really important to me. I want to look good. I want you to look at me and be proud of me,' " he says.
Dark denim is making it easier for men to comfortably wear jeans in the evenings, especially since black jeans are no longer "in." But no matter how hip a certain style may be, some places are still off-limits.
"I probably won't wear them to a funeral," says Robert Smith, a 30- something businessman in Rockton, Ill. But in the past few years he's started wearing them everywhere else - to church and to most work-related functions.
Not the fabric but how it's used
The good news for jeans devotees is that standards for judging people on their appearance are loosening a bit - at least among women under 40. A recent study by Cotton Incorporated indicates that Generation X-age women (26 to 39) are less concerned about first impressions when it comes to dressing than they were 10 years ago, and more often are taking the approach that "you can't judge a book by its cover." The reverse was true for women boomer-age and older.
Alice Harris, author of the book "The Blue Jean," attributes the rise of jeans to casual Fridays in workplaces, which shifted the way people viewed dressing.
"We've actually gone back to a much simpler way of looking at it," suggests Post of the changing attitudes. It's not that certain materials, like denim, are bad. "It's what you've done with that material."
That's exactly where He was or even outside near the local bar or house of prostitution.
You should read this. It will change your life:
Theaters of course have that right. It really doesn't matter however whether you support it or not. In the end, it's the bottom line.
To use an example that would be easily visible, let's take Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, like the theater, has the same right to mandate a coat and tie. However, it would hurt Wal-Mart's bottom line, so Wal-Mart will never require it.
The question is: How badly would it hurt the theater's bottom line?
Sometimes my wife and I (and even our son) accidentally color coordinate and it's just too weird for me.
"A pair of khakis and an oxford shirt are not much more expensive than jeans and a t-shirt."
This is actually what I prefer to wear all of the time. Suits make me feel stuffy and I'm just not that into wearing blue jeans. To each his own.
That was a powerful read. I don't even know what to say right now. Thanks for sharing that.
I personally think we would should wear jeans in the Queen's presence, if not out of a lack of etiquette, to "conserve" good old Anglo-American British bashing.
Good old fashioned common sense never fails.
"I'll tell you what though. Not matter what anyone says, we get people into our church who you wouldn't normally get into a church. Hell, they got me in....."
Now if they can just work on that language. BTW, the word "hell" juxtaposed with "they got me in" is probably not a phrase you wanna' throw around too lightly.
Wasn't it though, and I didn't even expect you to read it right now? Every now and again, I go back and look at that article when I feel myself becoming cold or indifferent to the lost people around me.
Yes, it was what I call "good medicine". I'm going to save that article and share it with others.
"When you have a denomination, though, with a theological tradition of dressing formally to honor God the King, it's disrespectful or ignorant to come into a worship service dressed in playclothes."
Jesus had a funny way of purposefully breaking the traditions of the religious institution of his day. Bringing a whip into the temple was probably not a very fashionable thing to do.
Remember reading when the disciples were talking about Jesus' resurrection and Thomas said, "Unless I see and touch the wounds, etc"? Wouldn't it be funny if on any given Sunday, Jesus were to walk through the wall of this formal church dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt?
On a side note, if Jesus walked through the wall of any major Seminary on any given day, they would have to throw out half of their doctrinal statements and dissertations over the last 50 - 100 years.
Wranglers and Lees just aren't as comfortable as Levis, IMO.
Sigh, I know.
It has been going on as a steady decline for years. Theaters cut corners with stage hands, and if they can park more buts in the seats by having the audience spend their money on tickets instead of fancy gowns and tuxedos they will welcome the green.
sigh.
How does someone wearing jeans at church or anywhere else disrespect you? You take it that personal? Sounds like you're the one who is self-centered.
"The Bible doesn't have anything at all to say about what to wear to the opera,which does happen to be the actual topic of this thread."
You are absolutely correct on that point. I wasn't going to post more on this thread but I had a thought come to mind that I just have to share. I pictured Jesus, long hair, in a robe and sandals, going to an Opera...in the year 2005, in New York perhaps...with lovely people such as yourself in attendance, wearing your "appropriate attire", which in your opinion shows respect for those who attend such things, and respect for yourself of course. I wonder how you would feel when someone writes an article in the New York Times about, "Nice robe. But should you really wear a robe to the opera?". Maybe my parents weren't wrong when they told me not to judge others lest I find myself judging God, who can walk among us. Perhaps Jesus himself sat beside you in church last Sunday...perhaps he was that young man wearing jeans, or the older woman (such as myself) wearing slacks and a well-worn sweater. Think about it....PRAY about it....
You know, I really don't think that even deserves a response. I don't know where to begin with such disdain for God's Holy Word by a professing Christian.
Are you really foolish enough to think that Scripture teaches what you are twisting beyond comprehension or are you willfully distorting and/or trifling with God's word especially on a matter that has more significance on what manner of clothes you wear: namely, True or False conversion?
You might want to look at the true meaning of that text and see if does not apply to you. Perhaps God is speaking it to you and you are distorting His communication..
I'm stunned by many of the comments on this thread. Conservatives want to blame Hollywood for destroying our nation's cultural values yet refuse to take any responsibility for their own actions in coarsening our society. Dumbing down our dress code is no different than dumbing down educational standards -- it's just an easy way to get through life.
2 Peter 3:14-16
15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
(from New International Version)
Jesus dressed appropriately for HIS time. Nowhere in the Bible is HE ever described as wearing what would be the equivalent of dungarees.John the Baptist was described as "the wild man",not Jesus! So why would he wear 2,000+ year old clothes to an opera today ?
And it seems that HE was pretty upset,at the wedding in Cana, that enough GOOD wine hadn't been purchased for the guest;which was the right and proper thing to do.
"Dumbing down our dress code is no different than dumbing down educational standards -- it's just an easy way to get through life."
huh?
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