Where do you wear yours?

[Wild Root]

One of my biggest pet peeves is men who 1) don't remove their hats (or caps these days) upon going indoors; 2) eat with their hats on indoors. Does everyone else run into this everywhere you go?

Well, I take my hat off when I enter a home and when at a dinner table. Now, if I'm at a lunch counter and there is no where to put the hat, it stays on the ol' bean! I keep it on in stores and public places. I will also keep it on if my hair is in a real disarray. People I'm sure will enjoy the sight of a sharp hat then my bad hair days! I just look at old photos of such places and see how many men have their hats on and I go off of that. Taking the hat off is a way to show respect. So, when you meet some one for the first time you take it off, and when a lady speaks to you.

The one that bugs me to no end is when I see some who dance with a fedora on, no, no, NO! That's a mighty big NO, NO! You take that lid off as you enter the ballroom.

=WR=

PS. Keeping your hat on isn't a sign of sloppy dress, it's a sign of bad manors. Back to suits!

 

[Wild Root]

I used to teach in full Edwardian frock coat, etc. It didn't help.

(Stuffy English accent) Now today class we'll be studding the Napoleonic wars so, turn to page 35 in your book....

That's a neat idea but so many kids today wouldn't think so.

=WR=

 

[Wild Root]

If I was in your class, I think you would have my had attention!

I'd sure like to see a photo of you in your Frock! Those coats are really cool I think. I think JP has a few of them, he likes them a lot!

=WR=

 

[Fu Manchu]

NYC

Great picture, Mssr. Casazza!

I used to wear vintage suits all the time when I lived and worked in New York. Suits, bowties, and fedoras usually drew no special attention. My bowler, however, got looks. I had an old hunting suit with plus fours that I wore a few times - that got looks and head shakes. My vintage cape? I heard "Frodo" called at my back probably 20 times in an afternoon... I never tried that again.

Fu Manchu

 

[Wild Root]

Ah, now that's mighty nice! That is the coolest thing I've seen today! Good for you sir, I think that your kids in the class didn't appreciate what you did at the time but, in time I'm sure they'll look back and think: Wow, that was really kind of cool.

I used to wear vintage suits all the time when I lived and worked in New York. Suits, bowties, and fedoras usually drew no special attention. My bowler, however, got looks. I had an old hunting suit with plus fours that I wore a few times - that got looks and head shakes. My vintage cape? I heard "Frodo" called at my back probably 20 times in an afternoon... I never tried that again.

Fu Manchu

You wore an old hunting suit with plus fours? That is really cool! I used to wear my plus fours around town and well, that got plenty attention. Mostly positive! I guess it’s really something to see a man who is confident enough to sport 70 year old styles with out batting an eyelash. I did get called Payne Stewart some times and I didn’t mind that because for if they knew who he was, that means they’re some what intelligent.

=WR=

 

[shindeco]

I've worn my plus-twos a few times; most recently at a concert given in an historic building in Stanley Park that was preceded by a walking tour of park architecture from the first 30 years of the twentieth century. The music also came from the same time period (both popular and more serious "art" music) and they served tea, as well! People were encouraged to come in "casual or period dress" so I did both: casual period (tweed plus-twos, sweater and cap). Got lots of compliments from the older ladies in the crowd and very few stares, oddly enough! They say they want to make a regular thing of this featuring different periods in the twentieth century.

 

[ProperRogue]

Not all bueraucrats dress poorly...

If you are wearing a suit in DC you are either an intern trying to impress, a political appointee, a lawyer or a lobbyist. Civil servants sometimes make an effort, but suits are the exception, except among certain individuals of African ancestry for whom they are a statement of another kind. (I am wearing a very dark gray, almost black, double blue pinstripe today, white shirt, point collar, maroon tie, white silk in the pocket. I am a civil servant with "issues". Trouble.)

As a former civil servant - until a year ago - I have to disagree. Though I would agree with your observation under the former administration, this administration is much more formal - which is the only nice thing that I can say about the current administration. While serving as the strategic planner in the Office of the Secretary for one of the cabinet level agencies, I along with most all of my colleagues wore a suit almost every day. I spent many a day meeting with various political appointees, bureau directors, the agency Inspector General staff and represenatives from OMB, GAO, and other agencies, and a suit was very necessary. Not wearing a suit was an exception reserved for the humid summer and was generally replaced by light-weight wool slacks and a button down oxford or polo shirt. Even then, everyone kept a suit, shirt and tie with matching shoes and socks in their closet. Even then, I often wore a summer weight or linen suit. The Deputy Assistant Secretary I worked for often wore a seersucker suit.

Now working at home, I generally wear a suit when I am going to meet with clients or giving a speech or presentation - or when I want to dress better then my British boss. Really, not nearly enough.

 

[Mycroft]

In Florida politcs we don't wear suits, that's for the lobbists. We wear blue blazers and khakis. The aides and assitance wear suits, sometimes.

 

[resortes805]

hmmm....when I worked in DC suits (obviously) where everywhere...but I did notice a higher proportion of fedoras and other classicly styled hats there than any other region (except for maybe the African American community in Detroit.) Then and now, I really only wear suits for going out or if I have a meeting to go to. For work related stuff I usually just pick between the same grey repro DB suit or the 50's SB sharkskin suit that I always wear. I usually save the good vintage stuff for going out. It's funny becuase I can wear something out of 1938 in some of the greasiest grimiest rockabilly bars and nobody bats an eye, but at a swing dance (where the music is appropriately 30's-40's) the "sweats 'n' sneakers" crowd look at me like I'm nuts.

 

[Wild Root]

I can wear something out of 1938 in some of the greasiest grimiest rockabilly bars and nobody bats an eye, but at a swing dance (where the music is appropriately 30's-40's) the "sweats 'n' sneakers" crowd look at me like I'm nuts.

You know what man, I know what you mean. What I do is look at them like their nuts. Some one asked me if I was a beginner once because I dress up for dances. I told the kid that I was swing dancing when he was in Junior high!

I get attention (positive that is) from the ladies and they always will appreciate a guy who takes the time to dress nicely for a swing dance.

=WR=

 

[Clyde R.]

Unfortunately, I'd have to go along with B.Bob...marryin' and buryin'. I wore a suit for the first time in quite a while last Sunday for a funeral. I have really strayed from my "inner dandy" as I was always pushing the envelope as a teenager, wearing sportcoats with jeans and trousers even in high school. I managed - somehow- to pull it off and NOT get written off as a hopless nerd somehow and even be voted Best Dressed back then.(Having pretty and popular girlfriends probably pulled me from the brink of geekdom )
Since then I've gradually fallen in with the slob culture. OK, not completely...I still own a tuxedo for Pete's sake! My job mandates a uniform, and the area I live in is pretty unsophisticated clothes-wise. This limits my freedom for sartorial expression somewhat. Sigh...
I will endeavour to return to my roots, and embrace that "inner dandy" more in the future. This lounge will probably help. To thine self be true, right?

 

[geo]

I just finished reading a book about the Spanish civil war. Under the Republic, which was run by communists, socialists, anarchists and worker's trade unions, people didn't wear a jacket, tie, hat or collar, because they would have been shot if they did. The suit was seen as a symbol of capitalism and the bourgeoisie. There were protests when the Republicans formed a government and the union leaders who became government officials started wearing white shirts and ties. Republican soldiers wore a uniform without a jacket, and the worker's militia wore blue overalls.

 

[geo]

Both sides were bad. Hemingway said in 1938 that he was disgusted with both sides, and he used to be on the Republican side. Franco's side was called fascist, just as the republican side was called Red, but Franco's side included the monarchists, army officers, the clergy, landowners and industrialists. I found it interesting how wearing a suit identified the wearer with a certain social class, and I think it still does today.

 

[Lincsong]

Blue jeans and a bowling shirt that says;

Generally the help/servants should be dressed one degree more formally than their employers/patrons. For example, a butler might be dressed in a stroller or cutaway when the master of the house is wearing a suit. Or waiters will be wearing black tie when the patrons are wearing suits. Earlier in time, of course, dinner guests would be wearing tailcoats while the servants would be wearing knee-britches, and powdered wigs.

Thus in theory, the help won't necessarily be better dressed but rather just more formally dressed. Today this is still true although the help is usually dressed more than one degree more formally although both patron and servant is likely to be slopplily attired.

the person's name just doesn't go in a formal restaurant.

 

[Robert Conway]

One of my biggest pet peeves is men who 1) don't remove their hats (or caps these days) upon going indoors; 2) eat with their hats on indoors. Does everyone else run into this everywhere you go?

Don't get me started.

I had brunch a few weeks ago at the Beverly Wilshire, which is a rather fancy hotel here in L.A., and sitting two tables away from me and the girl I was with, was some clown in jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. The icing on the cake were the shower shoes; and he insisted on sitting with his chair pushed back from the table, with one leg crossed over the knee.

I tell ya, some people.

 

[Wild Root]

Don't get me started.

I had brunch a few weeks ago at the Beverly Wilshire, which is a rather fancy hotel here in L.A., and sitting two tables away from me and the girl I was with, was some clown in jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. The icing on the cake were the shower shoes; and he insisted on sitting with his chair pushed back from the table, with one leg crossed over the knee.

I tell ya, some people.

AHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA, AMEN BROTHER!!! Oh, I see it all too often here! I'll dress up nice and go to a nice place to eat and there, you'll see it, a member of the X-Games or some joker of the description you just gave. I tell ya, those flip flops or Shower Shoes you mentioned are on the top of the tacky list of foot wear in my mind! Well, those "UG" boots so many chicks are wearing today also get my nerves all bent. Why can any body just put on a nice clean button shirt and a pair of Khakis at least??? And maybe a pair of real shoes and not those horrible Birkenstocks or any sort of sandal? Why do people insist on showing their bare feet in nice restaurants??? It makes me sick.

I feel with you bud! I really, really do!

=WR=

 

[Bogie1943]

I wear one of my vintage suits to work everyday. More and more lately I have been wearing my vintage suits and vintage casual looks. I just got tired of dressing modern all the time. I know people look at me weird and sometimes girls laugh, I laugh back because I could care less. I've got my gal and she loves the fact that I dress nice, who could ask for anything more....lol, I could not resist, run on sentence, lol. Anyhoo, I am just trying to live my life in the era I love the best I can. I keep adding more and more golden era things to my everyday life, from deco furniture, to well just everything.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Jacket and tie today and jacket and tie tomorrow... I dress down on days where I require utility clothing.

 

[Senator Jack]

Kee-rist. Just get dressed already! Forget about what the slobs think. Forget about what's appropriate. I dress every day to go to my clients and every day they have to ask "What are you dressed for?" I have places to go,things to do, people to see. What's it to you?

A GENTLEMAN SHOULD ALWAYS BE DRESSED AS THOUGH HE'LL END UP SOMEPLACE FAR MORE INTERESTING THAN THE ONE HE JUST LEFT.

And, yes, you can quote me on that.

Senator Jack

 

[Mycroft]

Well put, Senator :clap have a drink on me for that one: :cheers1:.