Trend in dressing like a crazy person

[Senator Jack]

Okay, I don't know what it is lately, but I'm beginning to see more and more people who just don't seem to know anything about getting dressed. I'm not talking about being well-dressed, and I'm not even talking about dressing like a slob, I'm talking about not understanding the basic concept of getting dressed.

Seems to me that there are a lot of people nowadays who are dressing in the manner of the old crazy man from your childhood. And, still, I'm not talking about the idea of actually matching anything. All right what am I getting at here?

It started about six months ago when I saw a hipster on the street and he was wearing an 80s Izod short-sleeve pullover. I recall it being green. This was a SPORTS SHIRT IZOD PULLOVER - THE PREPPIE KIND. And yet he was wearing a wide orange 70s necktie with it. This was matched to brown courdoroy pants and FLIP FLOPS. No, he wasn't going to to a costume party. He was just hanging out. I thought, he must be feeble-minded. It wasn't the idea of his being badly matched, it was that it just went against every concept of how clothes, any clothes, go together. Like if a wild boy tried to get dressed and put his socks over his shoes because he never saw either before.

I would have brushed this off if I hadn't seen an increase in this bizarre behavior since then. Again, I don't think they're trying to create a look, or purposely dressing this way to look bizarre, I really think they just have no concept of how to dress, like a stroke victim who has to remember how to talk.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this tonight is because I went out to dinner, and in walks a kid in his early twenties or so. I nearly dropped my fork when he came in, and for sometime thereafter I couldn't take my eyes from him. So you're wondering what was he wearing, right? Well nothing too bizarre to tell the truth. Just a white shirt, a red necktie, and a brown pullover v-neck sweater. Sounds perfectly normal, right?

BUT HE'S WEARING THE TIE OVER THE SWEATER!!!!!

Yeah, the tie is OUTSIDE the sweater hanging out. HANGING OUTSIDE THE SWEATER!! (I know I'm shouting here, but while I've seen some pretty crazy outfits, this is one thing I have never seen before) But the worst part is that he was with a party of six with at least three of them being adults in their 40s. I wondered if any of them thought to tell him the tie goes inside the sweater, but then I realized that maybe none of them knew either.

Is this possible? Has anyone else taken note of this madness?

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Sefton]

I've seen this in San Francisco. The tie with t-shirt. I thought it was some punk type thing...(new MTV brand punk mind you,not the old school variety). It doesn't surprise or bother me too much. Now if 40 somethings start to dress this way I believe it might actually signify one of the signs of the Apocalypse...

 

[Bebop]

I think I know what you are talking about. It seems that alot of men are told to wear a tie to certain places and they seem to think it means that the tie could be worn with any shirt or sweater or whatever else they are wearing as long as they are wearing a tie. From there they think, " I am really comfortable in my flip flops so I will wear them and I love my pink and lime green shorts so I'll wear them." They look in a bathroom medicine cabinet mirror, see the great tie and are quite proud that they are now wearing a tie. They do look like mental patients in need of an asylum. I have a dear friend that I have known since grammar school that tucks in only the front of his shirt unless his wife happens to walk behind him and does it for him, occasionaly forgets to shave his neck but shaves the rest of his face, wears different colored socks without meaning to do so, hates wearing a belt no matter where he is going and has no idea why anyone needs more than one pair of shoes. That is only off the top of my head. I am sure I could go on and on if I sat down and thought about him. The only thing that saves him is his incredible, funny, sensitive character and the fact that he lets someone else run his highly successful business. I think it is just that some people don't have a sense of themselves. They just don't see themselves.

 

[Senator Jack]

I could see if it were a punk look, but, again, the people I'm seeing don't look like they're trying to look bizarre. There's a big difference there. No matter what style a person dresses in, I kind of know when they got it down, and I can appreciate that. And that's whether I like that style or not. I see hiphop guys around town, and you can tell which guys are leaders and which are followers. And I saw a guy last week going for an early 70s McCloud look, and damnit the guy had it. Not what I would wear, but he had it and it looked good.

No, I can't accept that it's just a style. Even in outlandish style, glam let's say, there are still the basic concepts of dress that are followed. A shoe goes on your foot, whether it's a flipflop or a 15 inch silver-glitter platform.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Senator Jack]

Posted by Bebop:

It seems that alot of men are told to wear a tie to certain places and they seem to think it means that the tie could be worn with any shirt or sweater or whatever else they are wearing as long as they are wearing a tie.

Yes. Exactly. That's exactly what I thought seeing this kid tonight, that he just didn't know, and the adults didn't either. He did look neat - well-dressed even - it's just that the tie was outside the sweater, as though he said, 'I bought this new tie and I want to show it off so it's okay to wear it outside the sweater.'

Don't get me wronng on this one. It's not my usual raillery of people dressing like slobs when they go out. I'm just confused by this current rash of bizarre cosmic conciousness.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[whistlebait]

I am sure the kid probably thought he looked good. And I would imagine that he thought he was being clever and different. Not that it is okay to do so though.

 

[John in Covina]

Strange scene. take two. CLAP!

TV! He saw it on TV, I am sure of it. Out here young ladies up to their late teens walk around shopping in pajama pants. All sorts of people go out shopping to the mall or the market wearing bedroom slippers, men & women.

The concept that "I should not be inconvienienced in any way" is the lead element. I don't want to dress appropriately for an event, I don't want to take my hat off for the National Anthem, I shouldn't have to. The lack of appropriate behavior is destroying basic values. In the 60's there were warnings about "Permissiveness" and it is coming to fruition.

Last year I went to a funeral, and did not know that the family consisted of mostly "Backwoodsy to trailer park" transistional types, with a wild stripe of "outdoorsman". The weather was styfling hot, but I worn dress pants dress shirt and a tie, a jacket would have killed me it was so hot.

I get to the funeral home and I am the only guy wearing a tie for this group. Most worn sneakers, one guy showed up in his cleanest gas staion uniform, guess he was either coming from or going to work. I saw Mohawks, and strange color hair, many were studded piercings, bare mid drifts and jeans showing their tattoes was the girls under 30, and a whole crew of teenagers set up just off the end of the casket in a huddled group drinking their big gulps, while talking in hushed tones ocaasional loud giggling. All of the males under 25 were in shorts and surfer wear. I am still amaized nobody brought in a boombox. The idea of dressing for a funeral was truly foriegn to this group, most showed up dressed like they were in high school and had not been awake while dressing. Some of the kids had game boys. Many of the adult males were the dipping snuff types with their handy spit can. Nothing says sympathy like a fresh can of skoal.

It felt like a somber frat party, accept few of this crowd was going to pursue higher edumacation after getting their GED. All that was missing was livestock and corn squeezin's or a keg.

The worst thing about it was, I am not exagerating.

Sincerely,

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

A dismaying commentary on our times.

Every time I go anywhere I am apalled at the lack of simple good taste and the inability of the general population to look at least presentable.
We are becoming a nation of The Tragically Casual. Someone, somewhere wants most everyone to adopt these "styles". What I generally notice is people that to my eyes, dress as though they were still in their junior high school gym class uniforms, only about 10 or 12 times larger. Enormous tee- shirts and short or long pants of equal proportions. It's almost a sports look,........or, err,..... a sports wannabe look? Maybe people who are very obviously non- athletic, think that they look athletic while wearing athletic clothing?? I dunno,.....I wish real style and good taste would come back, and that the so-called "Grunge Look" would just go away!
Whoever dreamed that up was truly an evil genious. They are getting wealthy selling sloppy, ripped, faded old garbage that one would expect to find in a dump, to people that have been convinced that they look cool wearing it! A bizarre paradox in that people will pay big bucks to look like a penniless bum.

 

[Robert Conway]

Did anyone see pictures of Reagan laying in state? 100,006 people walked past the casket. The vast majority of them looking like they were headed for the beach. Belly shirts, mini-skirts and shower shoes. Now, I didn't agree with a lot of Reagan's policies, but damn it, he was the president. Put on a shirt and tie and suffer a little in the summer heat with a jacket.

But back to your encounter. Does this look familiar?

View attachment 1139



Good grief.

 

[Sardou]

Seems sensible to me . . .

Since the soup/sauce/gravy will inevitably find the tie anyway, one might as well use the tie to protect the sweater!

Sardou

 

[herringbonekid]

look at it this way....if Clark Gable had worn his tie outside his sweater back in the 30s we might all be doing it now.

 

[Senator Jack]

Poseted by Robert Conway

Does this look familiar?

nickcannon.jpg

Thanks for posting that, Robert. It certainly clears up the idiocy I saw last night. I suppose if the kid had gone the whole way I would have realized he was just trying to go for a bizarre look. But to be neat, with combed hair, and black trousers, and a dress shirt, and a sweater - and then to just have one item off - it seemed like he just didn't know any better.

Certainly I've seen a lot of different styles during my years, especially having played in punk/indie bands and having been part of that scene for a long time. I've seen hundreds of kids who tried to do something different and I shook my head at them knowing it didn't work. Ever see the reverse mohawk? A noble experiment; doesn't work. Never has, never will.

Perhaps it comes down to the fact that everyone, everywhere, tries to look like pop/rock stars these days when they're not. Back in the punk days, I'd stick to either the mod jacket and tie, or motorcycle jacket, ripped jeans, Ramones look. I had a friend who insisted on wearing a blue brocade smoking jacket and beret when we went out. Very Johnny Rotten. It never looked right on him - it either didn't fit his look or it looked like he was trying too hard. I knew even at 15 that he wasn't getting it right. Not everyone on this planet has a knack for looking cool. The guy in the photo certainly doesn't.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Quigley Brown]

Can I still wear this out in public?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

No, I can't accept that it's just a style. Even in outlandish style, glam let's say, there are still the basic concepts of dress that are followed. A shoe goes on your foot, whether it's a flipflop or a 15 inch silver-glitter platform.

A shoe goes on your foot.....a tie goes around your neck...

I assume the person was also wearing trousers on his bottom half (as opposed to the top half) and that the Izod shirt covered his chest?

If so...then your argument that there are basic concepts of dress, and he violated them is not a strong argument.

Anything past ...<item> goes on <body part> can be defined as a Style. The fact that you wear your tie around your collar of your shirt...well thats a style. So he wore his on his sweater.....its still around his neck, no?

So , you didn't like or approve of his style, and thats anyone's perrogative, just like its his perrogative to wear what the heck he wants, unless he is in public and displaying nudity or a restaurant without his shirt and shoes

 

[Senator Jack]

What movie about the future had people wearing two ties? Now it's going to drive me crazy.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[lenj]

Looks

Funny thing is - the person who dresses well is the one who gets the odd stares.

lenj

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Funny thing is - the person who dresses well is the one who gets the odd stares.
lenj

That's so true and ironic. I was wearing a suit, a double-breasted overcoat, and a gray fedora and a young lady wearing Ugg boots and a rabbit fur vest gave me a funny look. Another young gentleman did the same, with a bandana tied around his head like Axle Rose.

Generally, I have found that it is better to be the best dressed in any situation.

 

[Senator Jack]

Originally posted by Miss Neecerie:

So , you didn't like or approve of his style,

Again, it's not about liking or approving the style. If a biker gang came into a restaurant, or even to a funeral, I woundn't expect them to dress in anything other than biker garb. That's their 'look' and I respect that. If they came in wearing tutus just to be bizarre, I would say it doesn't work. And if it's mainstream America (now there's the key) that has taken to biker garb with tutus, then it's really not going to work

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Again, it's not about liking or approving the style. If a biker gang came into a restaurant, or even to a funeral, I woundn't expect them to dress in anything other than biker garb. That's their 'look' and I respect that. If they came in wearing tutus just to be bizarre, I would say it doesn't work. And if it's mainstream America (now there's the key) that has taken to biker garb with tutus, then it's really not going to work

Regards,

Senator Jack

So mainstream america cannot have a trend? or a look ? Even if the 'look' is stupid or silly, its much the same thing as any other social group having a look. Just because it doesnt work, in your opinion, doesnt mean that he agrees.


Issues to do with self identity and how you reflect it in dress, are fairly difficult to call. What if that guy or kid, doesnt seem himself as mainstream at all? He sees himself as a trendy hipster who is stretching the boundaries of what 'mainstream' tolerates.

Much like people who dress in vintage do...or people who wear biker garb...or any other subgroup.

d

 

[Solid Citizen]

In Quigley Fashion

Quigley,

I think your double tie statment could become
a fasion trend!

SC