Why American Workers Now Dress So Casually

[scottyrocks]

Here you go, Johnny wearing a scarf hawking his own line of clothing:

Thanks for that. I believe that on the show, though, he wore a neck scarf with a sport coat, though I could be mistaken. It's been a while. haha

 

[BlueTrain]

Now, about those books: first off, though, I couldn't find the book or books about L.L. Bean's corporate history. It's somewhere. I'll look again tomorrow. I did find his book on Hunting-Fishing and Camping, published 1944, later than I had remembered.

The earlier book about your house in the country is "Your House in the Country" by Henry and Eugenia Mins, published 1940. 424 pages long. The other book is "Cabin Craft and Outdoor Living" by Conrad E. Meinecke, published 1947. It's similar to a lot of the back-to-nature books of the late 1960s. Interesting in way.

 

[Sefton]

When i was in radio twenty and thirty years ago, the only "business clothes" you ever saw were on the sales department. None of us on the creative end of things would have been caught dead "dressing for success," as the saying of the times put it, and we enjoyed snickering at those poor souls who did. The only time I personally ever had to dress in "business wear" was when I moderated news forums in venues where there was a live audience, or when I appeared on television. At this point in my middle-aged thickening I don't even own a suit that fits.

I think it's safe to say that those working in creative fields have always had more leeway when it came to dress. Radio director Arch Oboler was well known, in the 1930s, for showing up to work in a baggy grey sweatshirt, dungarees, and a pork-pie hat pushed back on his head.

Sweatshirt, dungarees, and a porkpie hat sounds like a pretty cool look, tbh. But I totally get how it would be odd in that era.


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[LizzieMaine]

Brother Oboler shows that old mouldy fig Ronald Colman where it's at. 1944.

 

[Lone_Ranger]

Maybe, in the 21st Century, the pendulum will begin to swing the other way. The new buzz term is "decision fatigue." It seems there is a practical reason after all for the dark blue or gray suit, white or blue shirt and tie...
http://www.businessinsider.com/barack-obama-mark-zuckerberg-wear-the-same-outfit-2015-4

 

[scottyrocks]

I think it's gonna get worse before (if) it ever gets better.

Those in the fashion 'in-the-know' will have us (well, not us) wearing combinations of completely unisex and non-form-fitting sacks before you know it.

 

[BlueTrain]

Nothing become dated faster than a prediction. We're living in the future when everyone will have an airplane in their garage and a car that drives itself while the family plays a board game when they go into the city.

 

[sheeplady]

I think it's gonna get worse before (if) it ever gets better.

Those in the fashion 'in-the-know' will have us (well, not us) wearing combinations of completely unisex and non-form-fitting sacks before you know it.

Rompers are already back. And now they're unisex.

 

[BlueTrain]

What's a romper? Anything like a jumper?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's gonna get worse before (if) it ever gets better.

Those in the fashion 'in-the-know' will have us (well, not us) wearing combinations of completely unisex and non-form-fitting sacks before you know it.

 

[BlueTrain]

Well, it looks like bleeding Madras finally went out of style. But the shoulder strap rank insignia has made a comeback.

 

[PADDY]

Where I work we all dress according to a smart dress code. We receive guests from ALL over the world. Our North American cousins (USA) we can spot from a distance as 'generally' their idea of a dress code is sadly old jeans; sweaty college motifed tee or sweat shirt; baseball cap; trainers, flipflops, shorts and this awful new trend to carty all your worldly HOBO goods in a back pack.. etc. Not exactly Don Draper or Cary Grant coming through the door. This is all further complimented by wandering through a 1000-year-old castle whilst looking at it through a camera/phone viewfinder or surfing FB.
NOT the greatest ambassadors for a Nation (in their defence, many Britons aren't into making an effort to dress up either). Seems to be the way our modern western world has gone...unfortunately.

To round this off and give you a laugh, an American lady approached me in our state dining room surrounded by portraits of family ancestors on the wall going back to the 16th century. Gold leafed 18th clocks chiming in the background. She waddles up to me in her jeans and baseball cap and states, "Gee you're looking a bit over dressed in here, aren't YOU!"
I saw the irony and funny side to that one!

 

[BlueTrain]

When I have travelled overseas recently, I noted the (other) Americans by their button-down collar shirts. But when we were in London, I only saw one man wearing a bowler hat and few otherwise dressed up at all. Same in Germany and France. It is truly a sign of the decline of Western civilization, I'm sure.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Don't be so hard on the t-shirt and blue-jean crowd. They're wearing the only outfit in the history of the United States that can truly be called our National Costume. At last there's a way to recognize who the Americans are in a grade school Geography Day pageant.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well, it looks like bleeding Madras finally went out of style. But the shoulder strap rank insignia has made a comeback.

Well, bleeding Madras yes, but look at this from the Ivy Style website:

Exclusively available for Castaway, We teamed up with our master shirt maker in Madras, India, to offer you our most authentic hand loomed, all cotton Indian madras shirts produced to authentic centuries old standards by cottage handloom artisans. The cotton is grown & spun into yarn just outside the city of Madras, then woven on hand-operated looms, creating colorful, lightweight madras plaids. Sizes: S-XXL $118
​

But to your "bleeding Madras" comment - you are spot on as the site does note:

The long-sleeved shirts are yarn-dyed, as “bleeding madras” was considered asking a bit much from the consumer — namely, to always remember to wash the shirt separately or it would destroy a load of laundry.​

 

[Fading Fast]

Brother Oboler shows that old mouldy fig Ronald Colman where it's at. 1944.

I have nothing against jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt (I wear them both regularly), but (and I might take cr*p for this) I think Coleman's outfit is outstanding above - casual in a classic GE way.

Oh, and I saw part of a Spencer Tracey TCM documentary yesterday and in it was a picture from him at home with his family in the '30s and he was wearing jeans - with rolled-up cuffs (he was already a successful contract actor at the time). Nothing all of us here didn't already know, but jeans were worn casually (not just by workers for work) in the '30s.

 

[PADDY]

How I want my America to look

..

 

[BlueTrain]

There was a character I have undoubtedly mentioned before by the name of Sasha Siemel, who was a professional hunter in South America from the late nineteen-teens to the 1960s. There are photos of him wearing riding breeches with leather leggings, Montana peak hat (possibly a Stetson), classic khaki shirt (and tie) and wearing a gunbelt with a heavy revolver, standing beside his horse. Yet there are other photos of him relaxing in camp with his wife and wearing blue jeans (dungarees), black high top basketball shoes and a nondescript shirt. He had a certain style but probably gave it little thought. That wasn't what he was about.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Spent a number of years while I was working my way through school employed in an urban hospital, and I noticed that a lot of the mental health staff types (social workers, crisis workers, psychologists, etc.) would dress down (blue jeans, lumberjack shirts, etc.) in some half baked attempt to "relate" to those they were serving. As if that was the way to instill confidence in their clientele.

I took somewhat of an opposite approach when I worked as a public defender for over 30 years. Whenever I was in court, or even visiting a client in prison, I tried to dress in as nice a wool suit as I could afford, silk tie, freshly pressed cotton shirt, and polished wing tip or Oxford shoes. Never blue jeans and a sport coat. My view was that clients didn't need someone to "relate" to them. They wanted and needed an attorney... and I felt that even if I wasn't earning the salary of a senior partner of a downtown blue chip law firm, I could perhaps gain a bit more confidence by at least not dressing like a government payroll schlub.

And traditionally, criminal defense counsel were supposed to employ brown as "their" color of suit and shoes. Brown was supposed to convey sincerity, or so I heard. I preferred grey or dark blue, pinstripes or plain, usually with a red silk tie with small designs, and black shoes. Strictly a matter of personal taste, of course. I just preferred a more dignified image.. perhaps to go with my prematurely grey mane.

 

[sheeplady]

A romper is a shirt and short set. The shirt and short being of one fabric and one piece.

The sort of thing ladies and kids look good in... at the beach.

I actually don't care much what people wear, but a cousin (who's pushing 40 and had just left her work) turned up in one the other day... and well, I was like, "is that...a... romper?"

It was. I was just... shocked. Both that they were back in style but also one could wear a denim romper with cutesy bows on it to work.