The dressing-down trend of America in general and Seattle in particular (office, radio)

[Ira500]

I don't carry a backpack, don't wear socks with sandals, don't eat rice cakes

Me neither. You'd have to pay me good money to eat ricecakes.

[kcda]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

"When I was in Seattle last week I was surprised at all the people downtown wearing dreary looking clothes. Dull colors, like the weather is most of the time I suppose."

Have you ever been to NYC? Most people are wearing dark colors: lots of blacks and greys and subdued blues. Its just a more urban look.
I prefer it to say, a bright pink tank top and white capris with flamingos on them. I sooo need to get out of the South.

No, but have lived in Tokyo and other large cities so I'm familiar w/the urban look. The people in Seattle wore dark greys, moss, black, brown baggy looking clothes. Not homeless looking as someone else mentioned but more like they were hiking right in the middle of the city. In Tokyo they may wear dark muted colors but they are very stylish and well cut clothes. Our second day was a bit chilly so my sister-in-law handed me a baggy blue fleece jacket. So much for my cute summer outfit but it was a necessity as I forgot to pack a sweater.

[got_rain?]

:d lmao!!!

Originally Posted by destructoman!

when i was comparing today to the 20's and 30's i didn't necessarily mean that i thought everyone should wear a suit all the time, but have some fashion sense, even if it's carhart head to toe.

Things that bother me:

A) north face- nothing says "i'm a boring white ***hole with disposable income than a north face jacket. Worse than rei.

B) white guys who wear straight-leg blue jeans with dorky white running shoes. Nothing says "i'm a boring middle aged straight white guy with no sense of style whatsoever" than this!

C) luney tunes shirts - if you wear a luney tunes shirt and you are over the age of 12 you are either 1) total white trash or 2) a hot ghetto mess.

D) uggs and the other furry boot things - makes the chicks who wear them look like "eskimo hookers".

E) this new trend for boys to wear tight girlie jeans. The worst is when they wear them tight at the legs and have them loose at the waist so they sag, turning their style into a bast ard child of 80's punk and homey-g wear.

F) studded belts - they were edgy 10 years ago kids, now they are just cliche.

G) converse chuck-taylors. I know, classic shoes and i used to love them until the became the nike's of the indie-rock/punk crowd.

Hmmm... Thats all i got for now... Feel free to add to my list anyone

[cobolt]

I remember my first trip to Seattle and feeling very out of place in regards to dress. I felt so clean and neat and out of place, like June Cleaver in a world of Kurt Cobains. And I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans but it's like they weren't ratty enough and my shirt was tucked in. It's like people dress as though they just dug their clothes from the bottom of the hamper. Whenever I get out of the area, I get the reality check that there are still places where people don't dress like they're living on 100 dollars a month. How refreshing.

[seattlenextyear]

I wonder where in the country you could find a city of June Cleavers. Remind me to stay away.

[seattlenextyear]

Actually, this reminds me of a story. Someone bought us something called an "iron" for a wedding present a couple years ago. They claim that you put this device on clothing and it heats it up. I'm not sure why we'd want to do that, it seems like a waste of time. We haven't taken it out of the box, but my husband thinks that perhaps we could try making paninis with it sometime.

[jenlion]

Hahaha!

I used to try to use a regular clothes iron and a curling iron. Both left me with horrible burns. For years. You think, With just a little more practice, I'll get better, I can do it. The scars on my forehead will fade. The scars on my hands will heal.

But no. Some people should not be allowed to operate these sorts of devices. I am one of them. Same reason I dropped chem II -- fascinating, but I am simply too clumsy to handle 18M anything safely. I do not want to be the in-house eyewash tester. Pick another major.

A damp towel in with a wrinkled shirt in the dryer for a little while will do wonders. I had great hopes for that spray-on wrinkle remover, but it wasn't such a wonder spray after all. So, now I'm just more careful about what I buy. Nothing that requires ironing -- must come out of the dryer looking just right. Now that husband is at MS, and I work full time from home, no more dry-cleaning, either. Perfecto!

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Destructoman!

In order not to hijack another post with my theories on Seattle fashion, I thought I'd start my own thread here.

Think back to the way people dressed in the 20's and 30's Pressed suits, derby hats, suspenders, shined shoes. Even poor people dressed with a sense of pride. Even in the 50's if someone dared wear sweatpants in public they had darned well better be jogging! I think the Boomers ruined it for style. Allen Ginsberg said something like (and I'm paraphrasing) "the sixties was the decade that America took off it's clothes". William S. Burroughs responded something to the extent of that he was ready for America to put it's clothes back on! Obviously the word "clothes" is alluding to more than just actual clothing, but I think the idea is still germane.

Think of the way people dress now. What comes to my mind is an over-abundance of corporate labels, track pants, flip-flops, overpriced outdoor gear, socks with sandals etc. My theory is the United States is turning into a nation on slobs. And though this "dressing down" is part of a general overall trend in the United States and Seattle is by no means the only culprit, it is a certainly a big one.

No place besides Seattle or Portland that I know of do you see men with ponytails wearing socks and sandals in fancy restaurants. Women dressing like mountain climbers to go to their day jobs, yuck! It's like every day is casual Friday in this city! Apparently I'm not the only one that feels this way about Seattle fashion:

seattlemanmid_2.jpg (image)

Now I know we can't all go back to wearing pressed suits and fedoras but jeez people dress with some class every now and then!

Seattle is a laid back kind of place in comparison to most cities. People get things done, but the laid back culture is part of being on the West Coast. That might explain why people dress the way that they do.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by cobolt

I remember my first trip to Seattle and feeling very out of place in regards to dress. I felt so clean and neat and out of place, like June Cleaver in a world of Kurt Cobains. And I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans but it's like they weren't ratty enough and my shirt was tucked in. It's like people dress as though they just dug their clothes from the bottom of the hamper. Whenever I get out of the area, I get the reality check that there are still places where people don't dress like they're living on 100 dollars a month. How refreshing.

Tee-shirt tucked into jeans = square!!

[CityGirl72]

Ouch Shirts tucked into jeans? My son tucks his shirt in - and I immediately UNTUCK him

Do you wear cowboy boots with a blazer and jeans too (jk)