Last edited by The_Shooman (2007-10-13 16:00:49)

I note that in Andyland there has arisen a vociiferous claque of defenders of slobwear! Characterizing slobs and slobwear as such is now denounced as the voice of "hate," "bigotry" and "snobbish elitism."

Like the author of the article, I became much more of a sartorialist largely in reaction to the slobwear regnant at my new place of employment after changing jobs some years ago.

I know this is probably the last thing anyone wants to hear and I probably should make sure I am close to the exit BUT

What makes us think most men dressed well back in the day? I think many of them wore their suits and shirts uncomfortably and resented wealthier or more knowledgeable dressers and maybe even felt at a disadvantage.

People wore those clothes, tailored clothes because they had to and because they would be ostracized if they didnt. Reconcile that with the egalitarian atitude that it's all about money. You cant have both, you cant expect everyone to value both because it's where weve decided the line needs to be drawn.

Also, there seems to be this idea that people treated each other better, that things were better...back then. History does not bear this out. Things might have seemed simpler, we might have known less to shake us out of a comfortable stupor but perhaps the movement against formal dress is association with the behavior of those who wore it best?

In 1940 for instance, I can name a lot of things that were wrong with the world. Number one being we had just crawled out of a depression that almost made us like feudal Europe again. People forget, even those who lived it, that the movies were made exactly to counteract the prevailing misery. Only a handful were wearing nice clothes, most people were ragged.

There was a time when a 3 piece suit would have been considered slob-wear. The levels of formality for clothes slowly drift upward as they age, as new styles replace whatever happens to be at the bottom of the scale and send old clothes off into the lofty realms of things you wear to visit the grandparents and eventual sartorial irrelevancy. I don't see anything wrong with the American street casual look...A plain well-fitting cotton t-shirt, jeans in a classic cut that haven't gone through acid-washing or stone-washing or any other sort of washing besides run-of-the-mill let's-remove-the-dirt-washing, maybe a heather gray sweatshirt in cotton or wool,  some sneakers that don't look like they came off a spaceship from Mars, top it off with a Carhartt jacket (again in the proper size) or some sort of field coat, and really it's not such a bad look. The biggest problem is people who try to wear it everywhere, for all occasions.

Last edited by TokyoSlim (2007-10-14 23:38:19)

l used to see a local old bloke (about 90) who used to dress in a three piece suit with bowtie everyday, even in 110 degree weather. But generally, the male septuagenerians in my town wear cheap rubber sole footwear with very dressed-down clothing. The old people aren't leading the way anymore on the sartorial stakes. lt bothers me that no-one seems to enjoy dressing well anymore. lf l see anymore light-grey $10 zip-up vinyl loafers (glued on sole) on any more old farts, l am going to scream.

Even the female septuagenerians are wearing tracksuit pants with sneakers. The ways the older females are dressing disturbs me.

Another thing which disturbs me is the growing number of male slobs wearing baseballs caps while driving motor vehicles. That really gets my goat, especially those teen slobs in tracksuits and baseball caps that drive down the road while listening to loud music with a heavy thunderous beat....cheap rap and extra cheap techno (you can hear the heavy beat from miles around); you know the fat heads i'm talkin' about..l hate those guys.

Last edited by The_Shooman (2007-10-15 10:20:00)

^ What a scruffy bunch of slobs.

Last edited by TB-D (2007-10-16 03:01:05)