Comments on: Dressing Down Those Who Dress Down

By: Mags

Mags — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:06:11 +0000

I know this is waaaaaaaaay out of date, but still…I had to put my two cents in, as they say…

I wear skirts and nice tops everyday (I’m in first year of university, btw) Compared to everyone else, I am overdressed, but do I care?

Quite apart from the way it makes me feel (very good) there is another benefit: I can go straight from university to a nice meal in a restaurant in merchant city (a high class part of glasgow, for people who don’t live in scotland) without changing. I might brush my hair, wash my face, but my clothes are already perfectly appropriate for the occasion.

The ‘Casual Friday’ thing really gets me…you get people who wear velour tracksuits to work in the name of being casual, and then, because they are going out that night, they have to spend an hour or more in the bathroom changing into another set of clothes, brushing and arranging their hair, putting on makeup etc…

I like wearing clothes that are a bit ‘dressier’ if you want to put it that way…

By: Judith in Umbria

Judith in Umbria — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:59:30 +0000

I don’t even think of it as dressing up. You show respect or the lack of it in how you put yourself together, whether it be jeans or satin, or both together if you are into that. If you want me to think you are a careless person with a careless brain and the taste of a garden slug, then throw on whatever is lying on your bedroom floor. But don’t expect me to care who you are or how you wandered into my sight.

After all, I think people get dressed to tell the world who they are. Otherwise, why bother at all? You were born naked and you will not get a reaction from me if you walk around naked. Cold? Wrap up in a blanket. You can wear the boxes my shoes come in on your feet, go ahead, I’m offering them.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:16:13 +0000

This is such an issue for me as well. I feel very strongly that dressing up for certain events is a sign of respect and does not require a huge budget.
When I was in school I always dressed up, even in heels when it was snowing and slippery outside. And to this day I am always the most over dressed person in the room. But I don’t care!
I live on the west coast where complete sweat suits and flip flops are de rigeur and it seriously annoys the hell out of me. And even where I work people come in dressed in sweats and t-shirts! My boss even had to give one of the girls a lecture on dressing better! I think dressing appropriately is even more important at work. Remember: dress for the job you want, not the job you have!

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:12:26 +0000

I live in a very, very casual city here in Florida and it kills me that there doesn’t seem to be a single place off-limits to Crocs, flip flops, and cut-off shorts. I’ve seen people show up to college classes in pajamas!

I want ONE place where I can go and feel the glam surround me. As it is, I’m almost always “over-dressed” compared to those around me, but heck if I let that stop me. I don’t mind standing out, but I still wish some more people would stand with me.

By: The Space Between My Peers » Why Dress Up for Social Occasions?

The Space Between My Peers » Why Dress Up for Social Occasions? — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:37:20 +0000

[…] the Shoeblogger’s September 18th entry, Dressing Down Those Who Dress Down, along with 40 or so comments, was inspired by Linda Grant’s question in The Guardian of the […]

By: seaminglydiva

seaminglydiva — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:32:29 +0000

As a tailor here in the US, I am witness to some of the worst interpretations of style. I have come to loathe jeans- especially the overpriced worn-out variety. And never mind the super low rise cheek bearing styles…
If , instead of 10 pairs of jeans, one purchased a nice suit and a simple dress one would save a bundle and look much classier. I agree, looking good is not a matter of money. It is more a matter of self -respect and a little effort.

By: Linda Grant Replies » Manolo's Shoe Blog: Shoes, Fashion, Celebrity, and Manolo!

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:39:22 +0000

[…] says, Manolo’s very good friend Linda Grant, author of the wonderful piece in the Guardian about the declining standards of dress and comportment, has returned to add more to our very […]

By: angelhair

angelhair — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:18:34 +0000

Whenever I see movies or even photos from the 40’s or 50’s I find it almost shocking how good people looked. Of course movie stars looked great but even average Joes looked very well put together based on the photographic evidence. Now, not so much. This may be yet one more legacy of the 60’s, something that started out well (you know, a corrective measure to get rid of some stuffiness and snobbiness) that has turned into something rather lamentable. In my rather upscale NYC neighborhood you see lots of people, especially aging baby boomers, dressed a step above homeless people. Men and women who haven’t had a good haircut in 30 years and who can’t seem to get out of their jeans or sweat pants for any reason. The women, of course, when they do dress up seem to favor loose, shapeless vaguely “ethnic” garments that look like sacks worn with what look like orthopedic sandals but are probably Birkenstocks. The horror!

And as others have noted, this is not about money. You can find some really fabulous dresses at Target for $30 or $40, far less than you’d pay for a pair of designer jeans or name-brand sneakers. This whole dressing-down phenomenon is actually a reverse form of snobbism, as those on the lower end of the economic scale have tended to still dress nicely when the occasion calls for it even though that may be changing. Head to any black church in the worst, poorest neighborhood and you’ll find many people dressed quite fabulously, hats and all.

The one place in NYC where people still dress is for events at Lincoln Center. While you do see some jeans and khakis for the most part people really deck themselves out - you’ll see fabulous couture dresses and shoes and some evening gowns. And when the Russians (the Kirov, the Bolshoi, etc.) are in town people seem to take it up a notch. Not everyone is in couture, of course, but most are dressed very appropriately even if it’s just a simple skirt and top. Best of all are performances of “The Nutcracker” where all the little girls are dressed in gorgeous velvet party frocks and their moms are just as elegantly dressed. I wish we saw more of this and didn’t have to save it for the opera or ballet.

By: Ninjarina

Ninjarina — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:11:10 +0000

I grew up in the ghetto on the east coast and even in public school, we were taught respect in that unless there is a religious justification for your head covering, TAKE OFF YOUR HAT INDOORS. I was dirt poor and my mother, the immigrant sweatshop seamstress, made most of the clothes my brother and I wore in our childhood. She made sure that we were clean and presentable even if our clothes were a little worn. She’s the one who taught me to hem my pants BY HAND so I would not have an excuse to walk around with tattered hems.

I have since come to live in the same town as Google and it’s actually very polarised. In the words of one of my friends, “half of them come to work dressed like they’re going to a club, half of them dress like they’re about to go to bed.”

I literally cannot stand living in the Silicon Valley sometimes b/c people are just so unkempt. I can walk around and count at least 20 people wearing some kind of apparel or accessory w/ their company’s logo on it - I thought that level of advertisement was limited to more blue collar jobs like delivery people for soda companies; if you’re starting at 60K, there’s no reason why you can’t go out and buy your own briefcase or even backpack w/o having to snag one from the company. I had to yell at one of my best friends, who has lived most of her teen years in the Bay Area, for not wearing pantyhose when she was interning in Washington DC. I also blame the stores b/c I was in Nordstrom’s petites looking for a skirt suit and there was not a.single.one. This wasn’t some dinky store, this was Nordstrom’s in Palo Alto and Palo Alto is FULL of professionals. SF Fashion week is usually a joke too - no one takes you seriously when most of your stuff looks like rejected Burning Man costumes.

Bottom line: public appearance - IS SERIOS BUISNESS!

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:26:42 +0000

Even in graduate school, when I lived on pennies per day, I never wore sweatpants and sneakers around town. All you have to do is find a Goodwill near a nice neighborhood - those doctors near Duke University donated a lot of Armani and Jones New York, and I wasn’t ashamed to wear it! I also managed to wangle a Dillard’s credit card, and that store kept me looking good. I wore a leopard-print blazer, long black silk skirt, and sky-high black heels to my dissertation defense. A bit over-the-top, I agree, but I figured that even if I hadn’t a dime in the bank, I’d have a better shot at making some money if I looked the part!