What are you so dressed up for?

[Danny Ocean]

Personally, I don't consider the way I dress, to be "dressing up", and rarely get comments to that effect. In the main, the comments I do receive, are quite complimentary, although occasionally you'll get someone who asks, "funeral or court appearance?", which is a bit tiresome. :yawn:

Danny O

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I usualy wear pressed khakis & a button down shirt with the top button left open, but as soon as I throw on a neck tie & get asked why I am dressed up.

 

[Big_e]

Friends and family ask me this all the time and I always gesture to myself and say, "This is me at my casual!".
Sometimes I feel that I get my brother in trouble 'cause his wife tells him that he should start dressing nice like me.
Ernest

 

[earl]

Personally, I don't consider the way I dress, to be "dressing up", and rarely get comments to that effect. In the main, the comments I do receive, are quite complimentary, although occasionally you'll get someone who asks, "funeral or court appearance?", which is a bit tiresome. :yawn:

Danny O

Court appearance-I get that question from my professional colleagues when I show up in sport jacket and tie or suit, which is fairly frequent. Yet, we're not in a legal profession-it's just it's so dang common for men in my profession to only dress business casual except if they have to appear at a court hearing. Though they eventually stopped asking when I said it's simply my style. Now that we've got a new guy who dresses that way more often than even I do, may have to raise my wardrobe bar a tad. Earl

 

[MissLaurieMarie]

Court appearance-I get that question from my professional colleagues when I show up in sport jacket and tie or suit, which is fairly frequent. Yet, we're not in a legal profession-it's just it's so dang common for men in my profession to only dress business casual except if they have to appear at a court hearing. Though they eventually stopped asking when I said it's simply my style. Now that we've got a new guy who dresses that way more often than even I do, may have to raise my wardrobe bar a tad. Earl

Trust me, we look far better than the people in court, at least in my town. I go to court frequently (I'm a reporter) and often times am the best dressed.
In my town, people find it acceptable to go to court wearing pajama pants, socks and sandals. I find it rather disrespectful.

 

[Widebrim]

In the main, the comments I do receive, are quite complimentary, although occasionally you'll get someone who asks, "funeral or court appearance?", which is a bit tiresome. :yawn:

Danny O

I've taught in areas where if you were wearing a suit, you were either a defendant or a lawyer. Once I was visiting a good friend of mine in his Mexican neighborhood of East Los Angeles, an area still known for gang activity. My friend was wearing common attire for that locale (long shorts, long tube socks, sneakers, and I think a tank top), while I had on dress clothes with a necktie. I'm also about ten inches taller than him, and physically don't fit in the area. As we began to walk down the street, my buddy looked me up and down and commented, "Man, bro, everybody's going to think that you're my parole officer!"

 

[Danny Ocean]

Trust me, we look far better than the people in court, at least in my town. I go to court frequently (I'm a reporter) and often times am the best dressed.
In my town, people find it acceptable to go to court wearing pajama pants, socks and sandals. I find it rather disrespectful.

Hi MissLaurieMarie,

I wholeheartedly agree with you. You would think that if they had the misfortune to have to appear before the court, as a defendant, then they would at least make a sartorial effort! I have attended court a number of times, as a witness, and have always, without exception, worn a suit and tie. Having said that, I can remember that the defendants I saw, were, as you say, dressed in scruffy pants/t-shirts etc.

Rant over!

Danny O

 

[Hal]

I notice that all the contributors so far to this thread are Americans. Is this a peculiarly American topic ( I suspect that the anti-tie attitude is more frequent in the USA), or does one encounter such comments across the whole western world? I wear jacket and tie for about half the time, and noone has ever said "what are you dressed up for?" though I have had the occasional comment "you look smart".

 

[Katinka von K.]

As far as I can tell Germany is quite american when it comes to fashion. I have never seen anyone wearing pajama pants in public, but jogging pants plus t-shirt is still a very popular outfit in my area. Sometimes accentuated with a baseball cap that is to tight for your head and just sorta lays on top of it. Ties and suits on the other hand are really rare. I think most men only wear one when they have to. For work, weddings or funerals.

 

[Hal]

As far as I can tell Germany is quite american when it comes to fashion. I have never seen anyone wearing pajama pants in public, but jogging pants plus t-shirt is still a very popular outfit in my area. Sometimes accentuated with a baseball cap that is to tight for your head and just sorta lays on top of it. Ties and suits on the other hand are really rare. I think most men only wear one when they have to. For work, weddings or funerals.

This is certainly what I have seen in Germany and other continental countries, but my point (and, I think, that of the OP) is what, if anything, people say to those who dress in ties and suits. Do people ask the question in the title to those whom they see as "dressed up"?

 

[Geiamama]

I notice that all the contributors so far to this thread are Americans. Is this a peculiarly American topic ( I suspect that the anti-tie attitude is more frequent in the USA), or does one encounter such comments across the whole western world? I wear jacket and tie for about half the time, and noone has ever said "what are you dressed up for?" though I have had the occasional comment "you look smart".

Well certainly I've never heard any comments about ties, or rather the men around me that wear them haven't. Most of my male friends wear suits and ties, occasionally with a sweater too if it's cold, to work in office jobs and I can't say that it's really that rare here. Several of my male friends even wear long-sleeved shirts with ties and pullovers for everyday casual wear and rarely get a second glance.
However I get comments and questions ALL the time when I am doing the school run. Many, if not most of the other mothers all wear leggings, ill-fitting jeans or what look suspiciously like their pyjamas. I don't go all out glamour everyday but I always wear a skirt, normally with a blouse or a cardigan, and I'm never without red lipstick. I have lost count of the number of times I've been asked "what are you all dressed up for?" or "where are you going?". I just say that I don't own trousers and this is just the way I'm most comfortable. When I'm in my full vintage garb, I rarely get asked however I just get looked up and down.

 

[Katinka von K.]

This is certainly what I have seen in Germany and other continental countries, but my point (and, I think, that of the OP) is what, if anything, people say to those who dress in ties and suits. Do people ask the question in the title to those whom they see as "dressed up"?

Sorry, somehow I forgot about that part .
My boyfriend sometimes asks, although he knows that I do it for me. Apart from that I´ve never heard or experienced it myself. My friends only comment in a positive way, like "great hair" or "nice outfit". I guess strangers assume that you´re working in a bank or some other place where you simply have to wear such clothes and don´t ask.

 

[Doc Average]

My work colleagues assume I'm on my way to a job interview! I usually just let them think that... I recently told a particularly nosey individual that I was showing my respects to the recently deceased Tony Curtis (Which was true! I was wearing a nice, pink 1950s tie by the way.).

However, the strangest comment I've had recently was from a very close friend. She knows me well, and knows my love of vintage clothes. We met in a bar to go on to a local Lindy Hop night, and she asked me why I was so dressed up... She said I looked like I was on my way to a wedding.

 

[MissLaurieMarie]

Here's another reason why I dress up - when I learn at 3:30 that I'll have to meet with the Premier I won't look like every other 20-year-old but will actually look like someone he could see as an equal - or so I hope.
Here I am in action (heehee)

And then after that someone asked me if I was "part of something" or if I always dressed like that. I told her I always dressed like that. Then she replied that I looked very nice but I had on too much lace.

 

[moonmatrix]

Last time someone asked me such a silly question, my sarcastic mouth opened w/ the reply, "because my pajamas/ yoga clothes were in the laundry". I do not wear pants unless I am watching my neice, and this has been the case since I was a teenager and I am now 35. People need to stop asking silly questions.

 

[Pompidou]

A side note to this that I've heard come up now and then, only regarding men, is that being well dressed leads people to question your sexuality - that good style is the sole domain of the homosexual, more or less. It's happened to me from time to time. At first, I didn't question it, just figuring, "I'm not exactly some Rambo image of masculinity, so whatever," but eventually I'd ask what led to such an impression, and I got, "Well, you're always dressed up to a T." I would consider myself the middle ground between well dressed in the general public and well dressed here, so take that as you will. Business casual is my day to day - no ties and no blazers, though. At least people think I look nice. A compliment is a compliment.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

This reminds me of about the biggest burn I've ever received. Someone was asking about the fact that I'm always well groomed, dressed nicely, etc, etc. They in a round about way got to the straight/gay question and when I replied with an "I'm not gay", they said that they didn't think so because most gay guys have six-packs and I've got a keg.

A side note to this that I've heard come up now and then, only regarding men, is that being well dressed leads people to question your sexuality - that good style is the sole domain of the homosexual, more or less. It's happened to me from time to time. At first, I didn't question it, just figuring, "I'm not exactly some Rambo image of masculinity, so whatever," but eventually I'd ask what led to such an impression, and I got, "Well, you're always dressed up to a T." I would consider myself the middle ground between well dressed in the general public and well dressed here, so take that as you will. Business casual is my day to day - no ties and no blazers, though. At least people think I look nice. A compliment is a compliment.

 

[Widebrim]

Last time someone asked me such a silly question, my sarcastic mouth opened w/ the reply, "because my pajamas/ yoga clothes were in the laundry".

Good one...

 

[Espee]

To attend a "Sgt. Pepper" show at the Orange County Fair, I wore a paisley necktie. I seemed to have the only tie on the entire grounds. Well of course it was "fun time" and in the middle of summer. When I happened to stand next to a golf cart, people started asking me which gate led to which attraction.
I think I was the only one who looked somewhat vintage at the Harold Lloyd screening at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton. Most of the rest were elderly folks in windbreakers (slackers!) As one of them left afterward he looked at me and said, "We'll be back sir!" as if I was involved with the event.
Before attending the "1941 Burlesque Show" at the Warner Grand in San Pedro, I rode one of the replica Pacific Electric Red Cars which runs nearby. The conductor asked me if I was part of the show.
And I don't even have any wide lapels...
I've had elderly ladies say "You look nice..." and I wonder if the next comment would be "my grandson wears a baseball cap sideways, and my son doesn't even tuck in his shirt anymore."

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I never get those comments. But if I did I wouldn't be snobby about it. I think the last comment I got was from the bra-fitting lady at VS lol I had on my long 30s dress (handmade) and my hair was bleach blonde and "done" at the time. She just complimented my look and told me it reminded her of "the 50s" (which I thought was adorable!) I told her it was actually the 30s I was emulating and she said to me "Oh, like Jean Harlow?" Then as she proceeded to measure me, she had to start over. Her reason? She said "I'm sorry I have to do this again -- I can't stop looking at your dress!"