An invitation to dress down.

[The Wolf]

I dress down. I not only loosen my collar, sometimes I even remove my tie.

I've been known to wear blue jeans with white tennis shoes and short sleeve shirt. It is fairly retro but doesn't stand out as unusual.
I almost never wear shorts. If you saw my legs you'd know why.
Don't tell MK but I even wear a ball cap sometimes.
I have other casual wear but you get the idea.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Sefton]

I almost never wear shorts. If you saw my legs you'd know why.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

I never-and I mean never-wear them. My legs are so white if I get a cut I don't use a bandAid. I reach for the WhiteOut!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I don't like wearing shorts either. There are so many pretty summer skirts that can be dressed down with a plain tight t shirt and cute sandals. I just don't like the way my legs look in shorts, so I don't feel comfortable in them. Besides when I dress like this, I just feel better. Don't get me wrong. I own at least 15 pairs of jeans, if not more. I wear them but I dress them up with a pretty sweater or top, and great shoes and accessories. Or for cool spring day's I d do the polo shirts with cute skirt or khaki's and cute summery shoes. I just want to make sure that if while I'm out and my plans change, I am dressed appropriatly for a new destination that was not originally on the list of things I had planned to do.
In the comfort of my own home, it's tshirts and sweat pants or yoga pants. So comfy, but only Hem gets to see me this dressed down.

 

[Wild Root]

I wear knickerbockerslol
=WR=

 

[Zach R.]

Seriously? If I could find a decent pair my size, I WOULD wear them, by gosh.

 

[Wild Root]

Well, I'm 6'3" and I have three pairs! lol

You can find a pair if you look hard or, you can have some made... they're pretty easy to fabricate! Just tell the tailor to go heavy on the fabric... you want baggy plus fours! They're the coolest!

=WR=

 

[jamespowers]

I wear knickerbockerslol
=WR=

At home or out and about? With flip-flops?

Regards,

J

 

[Wild Root]

Yes, at VON'S with flip flops and black socks. lol

I wear them now and again... I need to stock up on the right kind of socks... the ones I have keep falling down...:rage:

=WR=

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't think that anyone who has ever worn vintage clothing in a mall in America in the early part of the 21st Century has ever felt superior to anyone.

Hemingway, what can I say? Your observation made me smile at its wit, and nod at the truth of it. You make a difficult job (bartending) look easy and fun. That's no small compliment: Fred Astaire did the same with dancing.

.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, at VON'S with flip flops and black socks. lol

I wear them now and again... I need to stock up on the right kind of socks... the ones I have keep falling down...:rage:

=WR=

Then you need sock garters.
Von's!? That reminds me of someone who told me about seeing a guy in a robe with socks and wing tips. :eusa_doh: Classy.

Regards,

J

 

[Wild Root]

Yes, well said Chief! You're doing a swell job back behind that bar!

=WR=

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I never-and I mean never-wear them. My legs are so white if I get a cut I don't use a bandAid. I reach for the WhiteOut!

It's weird how back in the old days only young kids wore shorts all the time, and now it's like adults wearing shorts all the time,...trying to look younger maybe? [huh]
When I was a kid, my mom used to have to make me wear shorts, so maybe this explains in part my current aversion for them. I would rather look like an adult and not like a little kid? lol
If someone else wants to wear shorts all the time, and even in every season, I don't care, it's up to them. I don't even notice any more.
Just as long as they don't have gnarly looking white legs! :eusa_doh: lol

 

[Senator Jack]

I was going to start a thread on this shorts thing, but here it is.

I don't recall having worn shorts since I was ten years old. Maybe even before that. Nothing wrong with a pair of Bermuda shorts, I suppose, but they were never for me. Aside from being around a pool, shorts in public just look odd to me. Though the Caribbean constables look good, I guess.

I remember my mother trying to get me to wear flip-flops when I was about five years old. Not even out in public, just in the backyard! I wouldn't have any part of them and I recall throwing them in the garbage. I guess back then I was thinking they were...well...for sissies. (All right, I said it)

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I was considering knickerbockers for cycling, but I can't picture myself in them and plus fours without picturing Gert Frobe as Auric Goldfinger playing golf. lol

Shorts? Only in the back yard.

 

[Senator Jack]

I can't picture myself in them and plus fours without picturing Gert Frobe as Auric Goldfinger playing golf

All the more reason, Tony. I put together a whole rigout that I stole from Connery in that scene. Now if we can only find an Oddjob.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[scotrace]

Shorts YES

There are some very nice short pants in nice fabrics. Some of the nicest, higher waisted, pleated twill shorts I have are from Old Navy, of all places. I have some very 40's looking polo shirts in silk and a pair of Doctor Martin leather sandals that I wouldn't trade for all the cufflinks in Chicago. All put together, I like that look very much and wear it in my off time in the summer because I prefer not to roast in the hot weather (and my cyclist's legs ain't bad!). My grandfather (1898 - 1991) wore short pants in summer and there was no snappier dresser within 500 miles.
Flip-flops are just uncomfortable for my feet but by all means wear them if you like. Shorts are fine - I think the British military shorts Baggers has approximate some of those buckle-waistband shorts in the 30's illustrations Marc posted - Spiff!!

Shorts are fine, comfortable and approporiate vintage wear, if YOU feel comfortable in them and like them. Same goes for polo shirts.

But not, of course, at the symphony!
It's just not done.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think Root has the right idea. There's all these guys out there wearing short pants/long shorts that come to just below the knee -- how hard would it be to put some elastic gathers in the cuffs of those pants? Presto, knickers! Then all we'd have to do is get them into some nice argyle socks, sweater vests, and eight-panel caps -- and there we go.

I don't mind the polo-and-khaki look at all -- I wish these guys who come to the theatre would try that hard. My complaint is with the whole "if it's good enough to wear to wash my car it's good enough for a night on the town" attitude that seems to dominate nowadays. If that's elitist, so be it.

I'm with Daisy on shorts for myself -- I just don't find them comfortable, for one thing. I don't like the back of my thighs sticking to chairs or car seats, and I don't like the feeling of being exposed quite that much. The one pair of shorts I own -- an old pair of gym shorts -- is worn, appropriately enough, at the gym, and nowhere else. What I do wear if I'm really going to "dress down" on a hot day is rayon rompers -- they're loose fitting enough to be comfortable, and short enough to be cool without being so short that I'm uncomfortable.

Most of the time, though, dressing down for me is a loose cotton shirtwaist housedress. Easy to throw on in the morning, cool and breezy to wear, and just throw it in the washing at the end of the day. That's plenty informal for me.

I haven't worn flip flops since I was five. I got a blister and cried and swore never to wear them again. I carry grudges against uncomfy footwear for a long time...

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Personally, I don't dress down much. I don't like shorts or short sleeve shirts; I just don't feel comfortable in them. I feel most comfortable in blazers and tweed jackets.

When I do dress down, my two favorite items are my patch madras shorts that I wear with polo shirts, and yes, sometimes, a blue blazer! I love those shorts.

I also have a pair of LL Bean baggy cargo-shorts that I love to wear when I fish or when I am lounging. They look great with a guayabera, very Hemingwayesque!
Here I am dressed down:


I bought that pigment-dyed suit from J Peterman so that I had a casual suit I could roll up into a ball and still wear on weekend road-trips. That is my more comfortable posture for dressing down.

Another favorite summertime leasure-wear item are these pairs of linen pants from J. Crew that I bought on sale, so I don't worry about them. I wear these with everything.

Here is that J Peterman suit, and a look at Daisy and I dressed down, sort of, we were heading off to a nice dinner:


Marc and Maj. Thanks for your kind comments.

 

[jake_fink]

The heat hasn't been bad but, oy vey, the humidity is vexing, positively vexing.

So I have no qualms about dressing down, even way down. I wear shorts, but only because I have fine legs that the world needs to see as examples of leg perfection. If you are a male with leg tattoos then please wear trousers, as the rulebook states that tattoos shall be tattooed only above the waist.

Man, if the humidity breaks 80% without rain I consider dressing down farther than shorts. I'd be mroe than happy wearing nowt but a straw hat, though I hear that dressing down that far is frowned upon even by the poorly togged plebs of the great unwashed.

Sandals and flip flops are for showers and pools. I draw the line at foot revealing footwear, just coz I don't like seeing feet. I have to avert my eyes, and if I'm averting my eyes from the ground because so many people insisit on wearing sandals and flip flops I don't find as much spare change. I resent that, so cover your bunyons and hammer toes people. Feet should be shod (that's what the word exists for, to cover feet!). Feet are the single most powerful argument that exists for the theory of "Inelegant Design". I wish we were al satyrs, then we'd have pretty little hooves instead of wannabe hands at the ends of our legs.





(The humidex's getting to me. :eusa_doh: )

 

[czack]

I totally agree. Hem and I got all dressed up for the theater, thinking it would be an elegant evening, and people were wearing jeans! Jeans to the theater in a major city. I couldn't believe my eyes. Also, every year we go see The Boston Pops performance of John Williams pieces. It's such an elegant evening in a beautiful music hall. People with the good seats sit at tables, drink champagne and nibble on cheese and fruit while listening to grand music, and the majority of people wear khakis with some sort of polo shirt. They cant even put on a button up and a tie. Tim always wears a suit, I a fancy dress, and we get funny looks. I don't care about the looks though, because I know I'm not the one who looks funny. Such a shame. I know that when I go out, I want to look nice, especially if I'm in a nice environment like a theater. I don't know why people choose to dress so frumpy. It can't be a comfort thing, because a nice dress can be so much more comfortable than jeans and a Tshirt. I feel better about myself when I'm dressed presentable, even nice.

I remember when my mother took me to the symphony, I was about 13. She told me I, in no uncertain terms, would be wearing my dress slacks, my white dress shirt, one of my dad's ties, and a sportcoat. And it had better be ironed. Moms don't do this anymore