Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 01, 2015

Whoa! Dad looked like any male heart throb of his day! Way cool!

My grandpa was born in the 1920’s. I’ve seen pictures of him in the 40’s and 50’s. With the exception of his senior class portrait, he dressed like a slob then, and still does.

Respectable

I remember my dad all dressed up to go to the zoo. He was born in 1887.

Arlo’s dad kind of looks like Drabble

Back in the fifties and early sixties, if my folks were driving anywhere out of the area they always dressed up. A drive from RI to NJ was like dressing up for Easter Sunday.

The year 2015 is back on the copyright notice!

Not to mention those snappy boxers.

In all the old movies men always wore a hat suit and tie. Women were in dresses, heels and jewelery. Unless they were unsavory but even the “bad women” were in dresses, heels and jewelery.

Old pics and movies taken at ball games show men in suits and women in dresses. Times change.

My dad was born in 1919, and worked for Ma Bell before he went to seminary. He wore a necktie every day. Because climbing down into man holes and up on poles was dirty work, some fellows wore their clothes several days; he put on clean clothing every morning. Somebody on his crew once asked him if he ever did any work – in spite of being beside him every day. He wouldn’t go outside in the yard in his undershirt – throw on a short sleeved shirt before he even mowed the lawn. A gentleman.

Stylish: then – looking good, now – looking bad

I chose my current job because it has no dress code. How could anyone be creative wearing a tie?

Yeah, my Dad was like that. We girls even wore gowns to go out to dinner. No dress down friday. No pajama friday. No pajamas at WalMart. No ‘butt-cracks’ showing. Don’t get me started…

It was the uniform of the day back then, when more was well with the world…more or less…

I can remember going to church (in the late fifties, I think, when I’d been away for several months – or maybe it was the sixities) in my proper white gloves and hat, and no one else was wearing gloves or hats! The sea-change was that fast! This was Florida, too, where we had to use “funeral fans” in the summer because there was no A/C. (For the younger set, we called them “funeral fans” because they were wood-handled cardboard fans with a funeral-home address on them.)

“They come runnin’ just as fast as they can’Cause every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man.” – Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top

I still have links for my french cuff shirts that I wore to work every day. Once in a while I’d stop into the office on the weekend wearing my jeans and it felt definitely weird.

My grandfather, born in the 1880’s, who had been an elevator inspector, and part owner of a department store, wore a suit in the 1960’s just to sit around the house. The other one, the doctor, always dressed up, of course, and had a fresh carnation in his lapel every day.When I am late and rushing out the door, my wife wants me to stop and put on a nicer T-shirt, but she won’t let me wear my $5 thrift store tuxedo anywhere. It doesn’t really go with the bowler hat and sneakers, I guess. And then she talks about sending my collection of ties back to the thrift store (which I last wore sarcastically for weekly staff meetings when I was a supervisor, but still essentially a grunt laborer, at the mall). It’s all about her self esteem, anyway.

I can remember when people used to dress up when traveling by airline. This lasted at least into the early 1970s. Not now, though.

As a senior codger, I am somewhat amused (as well as quite concerned) by the amazement of today’s generation upon hearing of the customs and habits of those who lived during those not so long ago days. It was an era of dignity and self respect; qualities that seem to be sadly lacking in today’s world. Much of today’s strife, stems from the decline in personal responsibility and lack of concern for the feelings and needs of others that is so prevalent. Instead of genuine action, we substitute political correctness to cover up our feelings of shame over our attitudes.

My dad was born in 1923, he always dressed nicely to go places, always wore a nice hat. I wear shorts, tee shirts and a ball cap.

Ah, memories…..my Dad wore a fedora quite often, and yes, dressed up for most events (other than camping or fishing). I still have his fedora stored away as a memory of him. He was a wonderful Dad, and I still miss him.

I had my Dad’s old 8 mm tape reels transcribed to DVD. His old vacation pictures to Florida shows him in suit and tie walking along the beach.

I have a picture of my mom and me at an amusement park in 1954, me all dressed up in a little dress and her in a suit. I was perched on a saddle on a pony – around 18 months old.

I wear a dressy Bailey Fairbanks on rainy days; have a Bailey Switchback for outdoor work like mowing my meadows this time of year. Both are Made in USA and I don’t own any logo cap that I’ve paid for. I do not care to pay to advertise somebody else’s product or service on my person.

I always wear a Panama hat to keep off the sun in the summer and a newsboy cap to keep my head warm in the winter. Wearing season-appropriate headgear every time you leave the house – it’s just prudent (and it comes in handy when it rains and you don’t have an umbrella!).

Fedoras are cool!

My parents were amazed and dismayed that I flew all over the world wearing dungarees and flannel shirts.I figured a plane was transportation for me, not an opportunity to show off for strangers.After a while, I realized it was easy to spot oilfield workers. We all had the same basic attitude, a disinclination to be bothered to dress try to impress people who didn’t impress us..Arlo’s father would have been the exception, of course.

“I don’t understand why so many men do not wear hats.”.‘Cause we don’t wanna.(Hard hats are a different story, they are functional.)

Night-Gaunt, I’m surprised more women don’t wear hats….All women look hot in hats!

Gokie5: With the rain over and past and the voice of the mourning dove (standing in the middle of the street) heard in the land, the mornings are cool and the afternoons warm again. As a result, Sunday, the air conditioning was not on, but the box of “funeral fans” (actually advertising our church) was brought out, and some actually used them.

I remember one of my elementary school teachers (female, in the early 1970’s) wearing a pantsuit to teach in rather than the standard dress or skirt/blouse, and being taken to task in the hallway by the principal (male, much older) for (GASP!!!!) daring to take off the polyester jacket in the classroom and showing a long-sleeved blouse underneath. She argued that nothing said in the dress code she could not wear a pantsuit without the jacket. Like we kids did not know our female teachers had legs..The principal made sure that was in the teachers’ dress code handbook the next Board Meeting. Most of the staff districtwide was female, but divided somewhat evenly among the skirt/blouse or dress vs. modern attire. All agreed, the principal should not have chastised her in the hallway in front of a few innocent passersby students (me included).. That was removed a year after the principal retired (a couple of years later)..To quote the cigarette ad: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

The difference between a Smart Fedora and a Stupid Fedora is about 50 years..

There’s nothing ridiculous about a fedora. I wear one.

If I see one more eejit slobbing through Safeway, the mall, or the dental office I work in in pajama bottoms and slippers I’m going to puke. I would make it illegal to wear sweats anywhere but a gym. I live next to a middle school and am aghast at the crap I see the kids wearing. Their parents probably dress like slobs too. I think dressing nicely when you leave your home would be a nice thing to see again. Call me old fashioned. Peace.

amethyst52: OK, You’re old fashioned. The whole idea of sumptory laws (whether enforced by law like that teacher) or public pressure (like you advocate), is to make class distinction mandatory, so the Untermenchen will stay under and the rich can continue to stay in power. The weapon of costume has been taken away, but the class struggle continues by other means; disenfrangement, denial of health services, and lynching coming back into favor by the self-proclaimed ruling class.

People used to take pride in their appearance. I’m tired of going to mid-priced restaurants and seeing the guys dressed in their best tank tops and cargo shorts and the women in tights and t-shirts.