Dressing nice in the modern world can lead to trouble?

[Yesteryear]

In the modern world dressing nice and standing out isn't always a good thing, sometimes it can make you a target for crooks and thugs. That unwanted attention got me robbed once several years ago; luckily I didn't loose much money and the confrontation passed without violence. It was my nice outfit that made me the target, since I looked like someone with money (though that wasn't true)! I've found myself dressing more conservative after that. Still nice, just not full vintage style. The last thing I want is attention.

Has anyone else ever had a violent/dangerous encounter because of how they were dressed? What did you do?

 

[Benproof]

My guess is that the ladies have a much harder time than us men....and those of us who wear watches, carry iphones or drive flash cars are more likely to get mugged or attacked than those of us wearing our most loved in tweed jacket and designer jeans. To be frank, no one has ever tried to mug me for my fedora nor for my jacket. I guess neither feature as the essential uniform of Yeezy & Co nor does it fit with the steal-a-pair-of-Nikes on the thug's best hits (no pun intended!) for stolen items.

I've only been attacked 4 times....and all times...it had more to do with me being in the wrong place, wrong time.

Once when I was out walking alone in the countryside, I heard some growling and a bl**dy great big dog came at me. Also had a brush with a bull in a field which wasn't very gentlemanly of him and then some. Night times, even family friendly places in the heart of a public place/event, feral teenagers prowling around for trouble in the absence of any presence of authority or policemen, now replaced by cheaper CCTV which can collect the evidence of crime, after assault, rather than having the pesky business and paperwork and planning to 'pre-empt' assaults by visual deterrence of real human bodies.

Maybe people used to dig the mods vs skinheads thing, which then became politicised. Nowadays, if anyone dares try steal my tweed jacket, I will publically post on facebook and twitter and humiliate the hell out of them (and errr..me..) should they try and wear the stolen tweed!

What did I do?

Run! Now that's going to be much harder now I'm trying to get used to wearing proper shoes. Without a red jacket, I ain't going to be very good at playing "Yo! Un-de-le! Un-de-le! Yo!" with a raging bull

With yobs, you just have to defer to their greater lower consciousness. The other situations, I never reported to the police. After being attacked by two hulking 6ft 6in guys who ambushed me on a quiet road after one was seated on the ground asking for "spare change", his mate was on the opposite side waiting to pounce as I passed by. They succeeded and he got me into a neck hold. All I could do at that point, was sock him in the balls with all the force I could muster with my free arm with my titanium ball joint (500grams of solid mass ). Don't mess with a fine arts graduate. I've never seen a guy wheeze so badly but I scarpered quickly after that as his mate went to check if his balls were still there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The people who get mugged around here are the ones who look like they have drugs to sell. As long as you stay away from the Myrtle House or the Brunswick Rooms after 11pm, nobody here is going to bother you. A man can walk down the street in an evening suit or an evening gown, and nobody here will pay them the least bit of attention. We are a very fashion-disinterested community.

Home invasions, on the other hand, are very common here -- it's usually done by men in their twenties or thirties looking to satisfy their addiction to opiate painkillers or to get opiates to sell on the street, and older women living alone are the number one targets. They don't care what you're wearing at the time, only that they might be able to get their stinking fix.

 

[Shangas]

I've never had a dangerous/violent encounter because of how I dress. Although one time I admit I blew my top at someone.

I was at the flea market (this was a few years ago now) and I was haggling with a lady over...something...I forget what....and some other nosy parking old hag butts in with something like: "What are you doin' trying to chip off the price! You can afford it just look at what you're wearing!"

What I was wearing would've been a button-down shirt, slacks, braces, waistcoat, pocketwatch and chain, and probably a hat of some kind.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but to put it as politely as possible...I told her to get stuffed. And that is like, the ultra-polite version of what I said. And no, I don't feel guilty about doing what I did. She should be old enough to shut up and mind her own business.

 

[stratcat]

I've never had a dangerous/violent encounter because of how I dress. Although one time I admit I blew my top at someone.

I was at the flea market (this was a few years ago now) and I was haggling with a lady over...something...I forget what....and some other nosy parking old hag butts in with something like: "What are you doin' trying to chip off the price! You can afford it just look at what you're wearing!"

What I was wearing would've been a button-down shirt, slacks, braces, waistcoat, pocketwatch and chain, and probably a hat of some kind.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but to put it as politely as possible...I told her to get stuffed. And that is like, the ultra-polite version of what I said. And no, I don't feel guilty about doing what I did. She should be old enough to shut up and mind her own business.

It sounds like it was dangerous for the "nosy parking old hag", ha ha!

I have had one encounter with a, I assume, homeless man who walked across the square and asked me for some money. When I said no he gave me a tirade of expletives as he walked away. This was at 9am in the morning so I didn't feel threatened but it wasn't pleasant. My wife, who was with me at the time, said the abuse was possibly because I was well dressed.

 

[Bushman]

Interestingly enough, but when I dress nice myself (which amounts to dressing better than the typical slob on the street), homeless men tend to pick me out of the crowd too.

 

[Benproof]

Oooh...! But the 'slobs' on the street tend to wear more fancy labels than us

 

[Bushman]

Oooh...! But the 'slobs' on the street tend to wear more fancy labels than us

I suppose, if you consider sweat pants, skinny jeans, and spandex fancy.

 

[Benproof]

I suppose, if you consider sweat pants, skinny jeans, and spandex fancy.

A snip at £710 (circa $US1000+), more than a 3 piece suit, and that's just for the sweatpants if not budgeted for going topless:
015_2c628ddc-232e-49e2-b90c-f49d66cd6e9a.JPG


The whole sweatpant suit @dressing nice a la Yeezy available here:
http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.a...=&gclid=COvtmZKsm8sCFSMewwodDG4BLA&from=gshop

 

[Bushman]

A snip at £710 (circa $US1000+), more than a 3 piece suit, and that's just for the sweatpants if not budgeted for going topless:
015_2c628ddc-232e-49e2-b90c-f49d66cd6e9a.JPG

I don't think that quite fits under the definition of fancy. Expensive, yes, but not fancy.

 

[Benproof]

Fancy?

Haha. "Ghastly" is more like it!

Teenagers queue for 48 hours to buy the first edition releases of these sweat pants! Never mind knocking the old fogey over for his pocket watch....

 

[Benproof]

Well not all robbers are oh fey with the current trends and go for old classics like Rolexes over the past 10 years:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...butt-tells-of-struggle-with-Rolex-robber.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...d-residents-to-steal-expensive-jewellery.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...-Hoppen-is-latest-victim-of-Rolex-mugger.html

This one from this year is probably more galling:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ry-wants-crowd-fund-15-000-replace-watch.html

3157048A00000578-3452594-image-a-62_1455794449628.jpg
Although he is crowd-funding to replace his stolen watch, at least one of the burglars was caught..

 

[GHT]

A snip at £710 (circa $US1000+), more than a 3 piece suit, and that's just for the sweatpants if not budgeted for going topless:
015_2c628ddc-232e-49e2-b90c-f49d66cd6e9a.JPG
The whole sweatpant suit @dressing nice a la Yeezy available here:
http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.a...=&gclid=COvtmZKsm8sCFSMewwodDG4BLA&from=gshop

'It costs me a lot of money to look this cheap'
Dolly Parton.

 

[green papaya]

people have attempted to rob me numerous times or tried to intimidate me, just waiting at the bus stop in Oakland, California

everybody I ever knew thats lived in Oakland has been robbed or assaulted , I never go to Oakland these days, I feel a lot safer in San Francisco

I dont think it had anything to do with how I was dressed, I usually wear casual clothing, no suits or hats.

people have even tried to shoot at me before on the streets, a car drove by and they fired several shots at me while riding my bicycle, but they missed.

 

[Edward]

I've only ever once been phyiscally attacked in the street for "looking weird", but I was in semi-drag, and it was in Liverpool, where no sane person would go by choice anyhow! Very occasionally I get a bit of abuse on the streets - if you can call it that. Mostly it's middle-aged white folks who think it's funny to go "ha ha ha! You're wearing hat!", and that's about as clever as it gets. I did once tell a street performer in Covent Garden that I was Jewish (I'm not), because he thought it was funny to suggest that in a long coat and a fedora, I "look[ed] like Rudolph Hess". (I wasn't bothered - my point was more that it was a stupid thing to say when I could have been anyone). I rarely get hassle in vintage, though; I had far more insults back when I used to be out and about in full goth wear, drag, or w.h.y.. The last time I was physically assaulted was in January, but that was because I was standing in the guy's way when he tried to get onto the bus without either queuing or paying, and I was stood in his way at the back door. Judging by his eyes, he was too high to actually be able to move fast enough to do me any damage (confirmed when he played the old "I'd hit you if you didn't wear glasses" card moments after claiming he wasn't afraid to "end [my] life" on a bus full of witnesses, though he eventually backed off when he ran out of steam. I was more angry at the lady who got off the bus behind us to say we should have ignoredc him and cleared the way for him to get on, beause that's how these people get away with it. There's little more annoying in life than nimbys who then later on want to whing about their fares going up).

I have had one encounter with a, I assume, homeless man who walked across the square and asked me for some money. When I said no he gave me a tirade of expletives as he walked away. This was at 9am in the morning so I didn't feel threatened but it wasn't pleasant. My wife, who was with me at the time, said the abuse was possibly because I was well dressed.

Possibly. Some folks will also use whatever they can to their advantage - I remember being accosted by one guy begging in King's Cross Station years ago. When I told him - truthfully - that I'd already given the last of my change to a Big Issue seller, he, being of a differing ethnicity than myself, proceeded to loudly accuse me of not giving him money because I was "a racist". I assume this must have been a tactic that had worked in the past on people who'd given him money at that point as they were embarassed.

Well not all robbers are oh fey with the current trends and go for old classics like Rolexes over the past 10 years:

I have a fake Rolex I bought in a downtown Beijing street market. If this ever happens to me, I intend simply to hand the watch over calmly, and then amuse myself by thinking about what's gonig to happen when the thief tries to fence it.

 

[Capesofwrath]

I was stupid enough to buy a Rolex a few decades ago, and I was nearly mugged for it a couple of times. After a few years I took to making sure it was covered up in the more insalubrious areas of North London when I walked through them. Once one summer I was walking my young Doberman through the woods near where I lived in Enfield North London when I noticed a large young man suddenly appeared behind me walking in a very purposeful way. He wasn’t there before so must have been hiding in the bushes and saw my watch. The dog had gone on ahead so he hadn’t seen him. But I called him back and he appeared round the bend and looked inquiring at this geezer who promptly vanished.

The dog was young then and maybe would not have done a lot but he looked the part. Even if he was still a juvenile delinquent as young Dobermans tend to be.

 

[Edward]

If I were to get a dog, it would be a Rottweiler. Lovely, soppy things most of the time, but they certainly have the 'look' (and the defence-of-master attitude) should it be necessary.

 

[Fading Fast]

We have a Springer Spaniel who doesn't look particularly threatening and is a gentle soul unless he or his people are actively threatened and, then, he's 50lbs of fighting fury.

 

[Benproof]

The only Springer Spaniel I ever had was so incredibly stoopid, in the dark he would run in the opposite direction away from strangers when we went out for our usual evening runs. He was even more terrified of Dolly Parton's hair do lol

Unfortunately the teenage brained adults around here tend to go around with at least two pit bull terriers, which they can barely restrain, and like to use the terror of the dogs chomping at the bit as they fight against their weedy selves for control, as a strong visual deterrent. They are less likely to get mugged and do the mugging

Not sure what to think of fake Rolexes. The symbol that it has become asking for trouble, not that I know anything about watches. I prefer inaccurate obscure hard-to-find-another-of handwound mechanical watches which offer the perfect alibi for arriving late

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Interestingly enough, but when I dress nice myself (which amounts to dressing better than the typical slob on the street), homeless men tend to pick me out of the crowd too.

In L.A.'s Skid Row it's the people who don't look homeless that you have to watch out for because, more often than not, they're gang members who operate in the area though they live somewhere else. The gangs consider Skid Row neutral territory for the purpose of drug dealing and similar activities.