The devolution of our society through fashion in just two pictures.

[AtomicEraTom]

Haha, you always crack me up, Michigan!

Tom...when they make your head stone, (a very long time from now)...it may just say something very mild but to the point...."Here is Tom, he was a fine, pleasant human, liked by humanity".

Then of course, someone may leave a small note under a rock, that says, "the party just started, and we're having fun"!

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Sure, give that a go in my neck of the woods, and let me know what happens, if you are able.

I would love to....of course some may just keep the fish and thank me for the meal! hahahah lol!

 

[Pompidou]

This is so very true. People that look like trouble can be trouble. It is something identifiable by others.

As people who are most inclined to look like the gangsters and criminals of generations past, we can identify with this. One of the reasons we're so cool to a lot of people is we look like Al Capone and Co. One day, our great, great grandkids will be imitating our modern day gangster style, and the Fedora Lounge of the future will have a parallel thread, though what the comparison photo will be is beyond my comprehension. I just find some irony in poking fun at a generation of modern wannabe gangsters in a community most likely to be identified as dressing like Al Capone (to some dismay, if posts are any indicator). We're all gangsters. The only difference is suspenders.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

As people who are most inclined to look like the gangsters and criminals of generations past, we can identify with this. One of the reasons we're so cool to a lot of people is we look like Al Capone and Co. One day, our great, great grandkids will be imitating our modern day gangster style, and the Fedora Lounge of the future will have a parallel thread, though what the comparison photo will be is beyond my comprehension. I just find some irony in poking fun at a generation of modern wannabe gangsters in a community most likely to be identified as dressing like Al Capone (to some dismay, if posts are any indicator). We're all gangsters. The only difference is suspenders.

I do wear suspenders at times!

 

[Edward]

Me too. I more often wear braces, though.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Me too. I more often wear braces, though.

Well, I guess I also wear both. Just is more of a common thing for me to call them "suspenders" in general.

 

[Edward]

Well, I guess I also wear both. Just is more of a common thing for me to call them "suspenders" in general.

Ha, no I'm just having a bit of fun with the language difference. Here, braces are what men wear to hold up our trousers, while "suspenders" are what ladies use to hold up their stockings. I've done a lot of Rocky Horror across the years.

 

[TidiousTed]

Me too. I more often wear braces, though.

I use braces quite often too. Ive got a lot of clothes after two grand uncles and a lot of the suit trousers are made for old fashioned braces ready with buttons and all. Got several set of old fashioned braces too. My girfriend likes me to wear white shirt, vaistcoat and those old fashioned trousers, so to make her happy (and because I like it too) I wear that quite often when sort of half dressing up in the summer

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Ha, no I'm just having a bit of fun with the language difference. Here, braces are what men wear to hold up our trousers, while "suspenders" are what ladies use to hold up their stockings. I've done a lot of Rocky Horror across the years.

It is ok...haha lol!

The Rocky Horror was a very big deal here in the USA and I tend to think it is still a popular thing to do for some. I recall seeing a group of people waiting to go into a walk in movie to participate and the way everyone was dressed was very impressive.

 

[Edward]

It is ok...haha lol!

The Rocky Horror was a very big deal here in the USA and I tend to think it is still a popular thing to do for some. I recall seeing a group of people waiting to go into a walk in movie to participate and the way everyone was dressed was very impressive.

Yeah, it's not at the peak of its popularity the way it was by the mid Eighties, but still a big cult deal across the US. As well as the diehard fan community, it has become a rite of passage that a lot of kids go through for a year or two. I don't know if it's entirely what we'd call innocent fun, but there are a lot worse things they could be doing!

 

[bunnyb.gal]

^^^ (off topic) They still do Rocky Horror screenings here? Midnight ones?

(back on topic, kind of) I'd rather see a man dressed with suspenders of either kind, than dressed like an overgrown toddler.

 

[Edward]

The last weekly show in the UK closed down in August 2001; they're a lot more sporadic these days - and much less common at midnight. In reality, though, the film was never as big here in the UK as in the states. The stage show, on the other hand (which, of course, came first), is practically mainstream.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I think what gives much an attraction to it, as almost a "cult" thing in nature, was in fact how the audience may dress and have their own "participation" to the story of it. To even go and see those that are participating in that, was an attraction all on it's own and you could observe the amount of careful costume and make up efforts that the majority of people would put into it.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Those kind of harmless fun rituals are so lacking these days...I even went to see Rocky Horror with my mum once (who had a bit of a crush on Frank N. Furter!). So right; it was so much part of the fun to see people dressing up and participating.

 

[scottyrocks]

We did this at a local theater for years. Midnight show Thursdays. I'd go occasionally. People dressed up, bag of toast, rice, umbrellas, etc. Fun times.

 

[scottyrocks]

I think an even more salient point is what kind of a screwed up culture is it when consciously "looking *bad*" as in dangerous, menacing, and criminal is considered mainstream?

I think there is always an element of society who enjoys looking 'bad,' whether in a past or present fashion. In the '50s, '60s, and even in to the '70s. it was the greaser look, and today it's the waistband around the knees/sports jersey/sideways flatcap guys. And let's not forget the semi-ubiquitous biker look.

Before the late '50s, it seemed that bad guys dressed like everyone else, regardless of their position in society. No one played dress up. If you were a bad guy, you were a bad guy in what you usually wore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the difference is that the "bad" look was pretty much a fringe thing until the last twenty-five or thirty years or so. Now everybody wants to be an "outlaw." And in some parts of modern society you're penalized for *not* having that view.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hmmm....
So pants hanging down around the knees as they walk like a duck..hand grasping crotch....untied sneakers....baseball caps on backwards or sideways....are looking 'bad'..like at 'outlaw'. Marlon and Dean are probably rolling over. However...much of the attitude behind the comedy would kill you with no regret.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

In the day, my parents were part of the outlaw crowd. In his teens, my father was a greaser, in the 70s. In the 80s, my mother and him were both very hardcore bikers and were part of a rough and rowdy crowd. I just don't see the draw.

 

[Pompidou]

In some places, people walk around with little more than that ever-famous fig leaf, and think nothing of it. In other places, they really see a draw in bundling from head to toe in robe after robe. There's so much variety in what people like to wear that I don't see much reason to worry about the draw. Clothes are only as meaningful as we want them to be. No matter what I wear, I rest assured somebody thinks it's a horrible choice, and I wouldn't have it any other way.