4.20.2009

Whither My Wardrobe?

Last week, George Will unleashed a scathing critique of blue jeans and adults who wear them. While it's a bit over the top, in the vein of a "what is the world coming to" complaint, he has a point.
Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.
That being said, I feel like I'm reaching an age where I should transition my wardrobe. I generally avoid wearing T-shirts outside the house, except on Saturdays (which I guess is casual day for me). I also generally avoid tennis shoes. But I still wear jeans most of the time, although they are free of holes and excessive bagginess. I guess once I'm out of school, I won't be able to wear jeans during the work week, so the question will be whether or not to upgrade my weekend attire.

America has been becoming more casual for quite some time, however. Hats went out of style in the '60's, and most people save a suit for special occasions. Jeans are the next step, for better or worse. Maybe sweatpants will be next. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this article and on modern fashion in general.

P.S. Since I deprived you of a Foreign Affairs Friday column last week, I will direct you to this George Will column about Russia's dire demographic situation.

4 comments :

  1. I was just thinking of how my wardrobe has changed in the last year or two. When I wanted some casual clothes to take to Florida, I realized I didn't have very many t-shirts at all and I hardly wear the ones I do own. In college, I think I only had two or three tops that weren't t-shirts.

    I do still wear jeans and I like them. But again, that isn't my only source of pants like it used to be. I know also wear khaki's and cords, slacks, and have been increasing my number of non-sunday only skirts. And I really only wear my tennis shoes when we are going for a walk.

    I guess I'm starting to dress like an adult. And I think that is a good thing. I will admit I don't always think highly of those 20-30s something adult who I see frequently but never in anything but sloppy jeans and a t-shirt. Casual may be comfortable but it doesn't always send the message you want it to.

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  2. A) The clothes thing
    First of all, Will's biggest problem is that he's a grumpy old man. The piece is Andy Rooney-esque. I don't think it's hard to get most people to agree that you should dress appropriately for what you're doing at the time, but his leading example is seeing grown men in jeans at the airport. Air travel is stressful, uncomfortable, and not fancy. Jeans are a great choice. Besides, it's normal for every generation to have different standards of dress than previous generations. That's the way things always go.

    Admittedly, I'm a bad person to ask about this, though, because I hate hate hate thinking about clothes (especially shopping for them) so I like jeans because they're not uncomfortable and they go with everything (mostly). I'll buy real pants when I get a real job, but I'm never going to feel bad about wearing jeans on my own time.

    B) The Russia thing
    It's very sad that life is so horrible in Russia right now, but it is not a surprise. Russian history shows that Russia has always been a miserable place to live, and every era features a new way to be miserable. Will's overall thesis, that he hates Obama--I mean, that he thinks it's dumb that Obama cares about dealing with Russian and its nuclear arms is fairly silly. He derides the President for prioritizing Russia when the world is "bristling with new threats," but consider one of those new threats: a nuclear North Korea. North Korea is more backward, poor, and high death-ratey than Russia could ever hope to be, and it's a priority because it could develop (effective) nuclear weaponry. Why is it illogical to care about a potential dangerous country--because clearly terrible demographics don't de-fang nations--that already has an impressive nuclear arsenal?

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  3. Well, the jobs I've had have all had very messy aspects to them. From building models to building cakes, I wear jeans everyday to avoid ruining my nicer things. At the same time, I always wear nice jeans that have no holes and are clean in order to be somewhat presentable. A client could pop in at anytime, and I don't want to look like a rag-a-muffin in pj bottoms and a ratty t-shirt. However, in a professional business setting I don't think anything more casual than trouser jeans should be worn.

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  4. Rachel, I'd say Russia and NK are different because Russia has proved for 60 years that it can be responsible with nukes. Also, whether it cuts its arsenal by half or whatever through arms control, it still has plenty of them. Thus, some agreement with Russia to reduce our arsenals won't make us measurably safer.

    NK, on the other hand, gives us no reason to believe it will be a responsible nuclear nation, hence our desire to prevent them from acquiring nukes.

    As for the demography, I agree that that really doesn't mean a whole lot right now, because at this time Russia has power. However, it is useful for medium- to long-range planning.

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