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And until the last few decades,people's aspirations for betterment of themselves and their position,had them emulating what was once called "their betters"

Kind of ironic that at one time, if you tried to dress better than "your station" you could be thrown in jail for it. Despite that, people often did dress as "their betters" because they wanted to be seen more respectibly. Now people seem to revel and compete between themselves to dress as slovenly as possible in as many places as possible. What a shame.

It was more the fabrics,rather than the "styles", that sumptuary laws covered and jewels. The reasoning behind these laws were several fold...1) governments didn't want poorer people spending their money on clothes and bankrupting themselves,and then the government/churches would have to support them and.or their families 2) they didn't want those who did not belong to class X or Y to try to pass themselves off as something they weren't (thusly trying to stop con-artists from worming their way into places they shouldn't be/robbing,pulling off scams) 3)keep the poorer classes in "their place". And then there was Oliver Cromwell,Torquemada, and others who eschewed sumptuous finery as being antithetical to "GOD'S WAY". Of course,that never stopped Cromwell from wearing his plan clothing,made out of VERY fine fabric.

Sadly, yes, today many people try to outdo each other by wearing and speaking like the lowest of the low, the crudest of the crude, and convicted criminals. Instead of calling others "elitists" or "snobs",people who don't think that dressing inappropriately is bad,should wonder just why it is they have little to no respect for themselves.Comfort and how much something costs has nothing at all to do with the debasement and inappropriateness of dress.

Now people seem to revel and compete between themselves to dress as slovenly as possible in as many places as possible.

This is due to the liberal desire to reduce society to the lowest common denominator. That's why you see middle-class kids dressing like low-class street thugs.

Clothing says a lot about a person. Some posters here are in denial about that fact, it seems.

And it has nothing to do with money. Most people can't afford Prada or Armani, but how many Americans really can't afford to own some nice slacks, a couple of good dresses or a decent suit?