Flanderian
Practically Family
- Messages
- 833
- Location
- Flanders, NJ, USA
The balance of May 1945.
Indeed!Re: May 1945. Wait. Fishing while wearing a tie? The past is a different country. We will never quite understand it.
Re: May 1945. Wait. Fishing while wearing a tie? The past is a different country. We will never quite understand it.
Indeed!
At one time many workman would even wear a tie under their smock or overalls while laboring.
Agreed, it was a very different place. And that period's thoughts and norms around dressing were incredibly different than today.
I know I've mentioned the before, I had a grandfather (born ~1890) who was very poor, but still he wore a suit and tie or sport coat and tie everyday of his life. And, I assure you, he wasn't snobbish at all (the exact opposite), it was just how he knew to dress. He lived in a horribly rundown apartment building and some (not all) of his friends into the 1970s also dressed that way.
Heck, in addition to Flanderian's point, think about gas-station attendants who (some even into the 1970s) wore ties or bow ties.
For me, attempting to dress well is in large measure indicative of respect for ourselves, and others.
Your mention of gas station attendants brought back a vivid mental image of Louie Zahn in his grease smeared coveralls, and often hands, with a neat shirt and tie beneath. The owner, and mechanic, of our neighborhood Esso gas station didn't make his living on the seat of his trousers.
I remember we had a roofer, in the '70s, come to our house once to give us an estimate. He was dressed in a sport coat and tie, but quite reasonably, showed up for the job dressed with his crew in work clothes. He did some work for us over the years and, when he was just coming by to "talk" about the job or something, he was always dressed in a tie and sport coat, but when he worked on the job; work clothes. As a kid, I always thought it was a way of him making a statement that he was a businessman as well as a workman. A lot of that was still going on in the '70s.
Now, today, my plumber, who shows me pictures of his new cars, houses (regular and summer) and quite-frequent vacations, shows up in his work clothes all the time. I have no issue with that - the norms are what they are and I don't expect anyone to do anything more than the norm - and I'm glad he does so well (I never feel he's showing off, he's just enthusiastic about his stuff). I do laugh, though, as if you saw this guy on the street -I'll just say it, he looks pretty sloppy and kinda shabby - of course, many workmen look fit, successful, etc., not this guy - you'd wonder if he even had a place to live. Meanwhile, the last time he was over, he showed me his beautiful new stone driveway he just had installed.
Sigh . . . !
Different priorities. I respect that, but feel sorry for him - not out of contempt, but pity for what I feel he's missing.
What I find interesting is that he has beautiful and pin neat cars and homes, but even the pics of him at his house and with his cars has him dressed no differently than when he shows up at my apartment to do work. Clearly, clothes just don't matter to him.
Some really good stuff in here. It took me years to "discover" this, but a medium-price suit well tailored will look much better than an expensive suit not-well tailored.
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