Hats of the Depression

[scottyrocks]

Yeah, but 'nice' was just normal back then. Today its 'nice' because most people are slobs.

 

[John in Covina]

Yeah, but 'nice' was just normal back then. Today its 'nice' because most people are slobs.

Yes, sort of... Back then it was expected but still getting a new suit was a big deal for most people.
I can't go into right now but my dad used to tell a story about going with his dad to get a new suit in Brooklyn that involving real bargaining. But the thing was buying a suit wasn't like going to get socks it was important that things were right be cause it represented who you were to all sorts of people.

Today, suits are so unusual for the average man. Today a guy might wear a suit to get married in and to get buried in and not much else. The focus and importance is elsewhere. The value of dressing in a suit hasn't been passed down from father to son, taught in school or explained any where else in the average man's life.

They don't know they are dressing like slobs or if they do, they don't care.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Very well put, John. I always look at what people are wearing and go 'Do you see how sloppy you look?!' I sure as heck don't go out in a suit ever, never have the situation where I'm privileged enough to do it, but I always make sure I'm in nice, clean clothes, collared shirt, tucked in, shirt and pants starched and ironed. Years ago, this would have been the minimal expected, now people think you're 'going somewhere' dressed like that.

 

[scottyrocks]

Most of today's fashions didnt exist back then. Printed t-shirts? Athletic suits? 'Juicy' pants? Unheard of. Thats what I meant by what people wore back then was normal, for them. By today's standards, thats fancy. I when I said people today are slobs, it was in relation to what we think should be everyday attire, based on what we admire from the golden era. 'Slob' has many definitions.

 

[SGT Rocket]

Hi Feraud, I had to backtrack a LONG darn way in this thread to find the "cause" of all of the consternation.

I think that you're 50/50 on this. Everyone including the homeless had a fedora and a suit. Suits were almost all wool back then and wool pants and a jacket were nice and warm at night. I hat kept the sun off you're head, or kept it warm.

On the other hand, people were more respectful in those times. Yes we weren't the best at race relations, a woman's place was in the home etc, but going back to the respect would be a good thing, as would the self respect in at least a clean appearance.

When I left Decatur AL in 1994, people still dressed up to go out shopping on Saturday, and wore work clothes on week nights. Only "damnyankees" and other "foreigners" wore sweats and t-shirts out shopping.

We can still get it back, but I have no idea where to start.

Later

I think I agree with this. I'm surprised this thread is still open with all the politics thrown about. I was actually surprised to see an African American in a breadline with Anglo Americans. My perception of the golden era was that everything was segregated.

I would also say, that as much as I like the style of the golden era, and I wish people had more manners today, there were lots of things that totally sucked back then. Now, I don't like to judge people of the past with morals of today, so I won't here. But, just think of all the stuff we have today that they didn't back then. Stuff like penicillin, the inter-web-thingy I'm using right now, etc... That being said, I'm kind-of old fashioned because I enjoy a slower pace of life.

Also, I'm myself would love to have a smaller federal government. I just believe that my wife and I know what is better for us and my kids than someone in Washington D.C. that just sees me and my family as a statistic. I see the government trying to push a one-size-fits-all~~ of anything~~ where everyone is an individual. I also just believe I can get better response out of my local and state representatives that I can out my representatives to the federal government. This is just my experience and your mileage may very.

Also, please forgive me if I have offended anyone here. That is the last thing I would like to do. I love all of you guys and dolls and I think all the different opinions here just make this place even more fascinating.

 

[gtdean48]

Men wore suits as daily wear for work and for non work times.
People tended to not have a ton of clothes back then.
So if you were out of work -you wore what you already had.
Therefor a lot of the men are in suits.

My father would put on a coat & tie to wear to his dental office to take it off & put on a dentist's smock. He was alone in the car to the office.
At lunch, he'd change back to the coat & tie to go either home or out for lunch. Change again after lunch & back to the coat & tie for trip home.
He was a "professional" & that is how one dressed. Even when he did yardwork, it was not in tshirts & jeans.
My maternal grandfather was a farmer & rancher. He wore chino slacks & button shirts = never knew him to ever wear blue jeans, always a hat tho. Think Indiana Jones without the leather jacket & an Open Road.
When I joined the workforce after college in the early 1980s, we wore suits & ties every day.
At the beginning of the 1990s we went to "business casual" in the office, suits & ties in front of customers, their site or ours.
Now, my office is business casual, blue jeans on Fridays, suits for customer site visits & sometimes when they visit our offices.
After work, I am mostly a jeans, boots & tshirts, always a hat tho & been that since those early 1980s.
Kids today wear mostly long cargo shorts & tshirts going by my 21 yo & his friends. Getting him to dress business casual is like formal attire...

I will add that my wife is VERY pleased when folks compliment my son on his manners & politeness. His grandmothers had a lot to do with that as well...

 

[Tiller]

Most of today's fashions didnt exist back then. Printed t-shirts? Athletic suits? 'Juicy' pants? Unheard of. Thats what I meant by what people wore back then was normal, for them. By today's standards, thats fancy. I when I said people today are slobs, it was in relation to what we think should be everyday attire, based on what we admire from the golden era. 'Slob' has many definitions.

I can define slobish dress quite easily, even with today's standards. The problem is that to some dressing slobbishly is an individualistic right and only a tyrant would dare to look down on you because of it. To get a bit more "PC" I understand that the homeless and down trodden have more things to worry about then style.

If it's 5pm and your walking around at your local grocer with messed up hair, a jacket around your t-shirt, a pair of pj bottoms that show of your love of Mountain Dew, and a pair of crocks, your dressed like a slob. More over you look damn lazy, and I want to ask "I'm sorry is life keeping you awake?" When I worked at the mill (when I was 22-23) I worked shift work all the time, but despite how tired I was I still had the self respect to actually take care of myself. I brushed me teeth, took a shower, and wore clean clothes anytime I was out of my house. In the past this was seen as what was expected of an adult who had the means, today not so much.

Generally any look that requires you to wake up, and instead of dealing with personal hygiene on any level, you simply walk out of the door for the rest of the day, your dressing like a slob.

Now I know that alot of people don't like people to take such a stand, but since it's been brought up already by some yes I do look down on people who have the mean's but not the motivation to take care of themselves. Laziness shouldn't be considered a positive personality trait, and it's not something I admire on any level.

My maternal grandfather was a farmer & rancher. He wore chino slacks & button shirts = never knew him to ever wear blue jeans, always a hat tho. Think Indiana Jones without the leather jacket & an Open Road.

My maternal Grandfather was a farmer, and owned a lumber company, but he was the same kind of man. He NEVER wore blues jeans, he always wore green "Dickies" work pants. He never owned a pair of jeans, not even a pair of overalls. My understanding is that he adopted the green Dickies pants when he worked as a mechanic for a local garage in his early 20s, and he simply always wore them when he was working afterwords, no matter where he was. Whether farming in the field, milking in the barn, on sawing lumber in the woods.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Whenever I go to work, my Dickies pants have creases ironed in, shirts, too. I wear nice work boots, hair is combed with pomade, even tough I know I'll have my brain-bucket on all day. I'm always clean shaven, showered, groomed, etc. I think that's what should be expected. Show that you at least care about yourself and how you appear to others.

 

[frussell]

Funny, I have similar memories as Mr. Dean above. I don't believe I ever saw my paternal grandfather in anything other than a suit or slacks my whole life, unless he was in a hospital gown. His big idea of casual dressing was to remove his suit jacket to ride around on the tractor shredding the fields at our farm. I caught him many times under a car or our old army jeep with his pinstripe suit pants, white shirt and tie still on, covered with oil and grease. My other grandfather was a dyed-in-the-wool cowboy, so he was never caught without a Stetson, a fancy neckerchief or bolo tie, and sterling belt buckle, whether working outside or in a city council meeting, in which case he would put on a western blazer of some sort. Even in jeans to ride, he always looked sharp, a cowboy gentleman. He continued this trend here in the desert even when he was the ONLY one in town wearing a hat of any kind. It became his trademark. Hell, for the first 10 years of my life, I thought his name was "Hat," as that's what I had called him when I learned to talk. Sharp dressers both, each in their own way. Frank