I'm thinking there is some kind of gestalt effect at play with the phrase, but pinning it down is not easy. Plus, clothing (like any art form) is so subjective and enmeshed in culture, that there can be no substantive "this is well dressed, always" statement.
As to the last question, I'll have to think upon it some more before responding. Cocking my head from side to side is not working.
I believe it was Baudelaire who suggested that Democracy was the enemy of being well dressed and/or dandyism. It takes some attention and upkeep. Can everyone do it well? Most in the USA will suggest it's all about money, even the ones who will drop a half a mill on a car. But it is rather like asking can every man be a talented musician or artist or lawyer or anything that requires passion, application, aptitude, imagination.
And of course, the vast majority of men cant compete and would suggest that "appropriate" is the way to go.
Isn't the distinction between being well-dressed and merely well-clothed.
Last edited by formby (2013-08-18 04:01:11)
Lol...Dudley signs on (skip to about 4:30 for the lol):
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/12/medgar-evers-widow-jim-crow-is-alive-in-a-brooks-brothers-suit/
Britain or England?