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I am an Autistic woman, 70 years old. As is common with many Autistics I have Proprioception, also known as kinestthesia. As is also common among Autistics, I have sensory issues and most clothinng causes me physical pain.[I have been a nudist for decades and lived for many years in a nudist resort in Colorado, Mountain Air Ranch]
As an Autistic and Disabilities activist I often need to address neurotypical groups. I always have a fashionable friend pick out my clothing and help me with my hair and makeup. Shoes are a nightmare because I have to watch my feet and can't really feel where I am walking without the aid of my bare feet and toes. I will dress great because that is the only way people will truly listen to me. Afterwards, I throw up and immediately take off the clothes looking for bruises and gashes in my skin from the clothing which are never there.
When speaking to a group of fellow Autistics I wear whatever is most comfortable, complete with holes and stains because I want to be at my best to convey what I need to. I know I will be listened to and found beautiful.
If you were to see me right now you would be horrified at my appearance but I am comfortable and in no pain, other than neck and shoulder from a recent fall caused by "tripping on air."[the dysthensia]
I have many Autistic friends who do not have proprioception and [fewer] sensory issues. We get together and talk, and not one of us can figure out the "need' for not looking like a 'slob' and following fashion trends.
i wouldn't wear what I am wearing now to attend a funeral or wedding [non-nudist wedding] but can not understand how following fashion makes for greater compassion, intelligence, less judgement, or actually any good reason. I show I care about people by baking them cookies, sharing what I have, listening when they need to talk, getting excited about there perseverations and accepting people for who they are. I don't see how fashion and makeup can increase those abilities.
Next time the subject comes up, I would love to explain the "whys" to them if you could give me a hand. Thank you.
I don't know, I think each era had some attractive fashions. Like anything else, it comes down to the taste and class (class as a character trait, not an economic class) of the person choosing their apparel.
For instance, I love the boho floaty, lacy feminine styles of women's tops from the 1960's and 1970's, brought back for a while in the 1990's. I also loved the maxi dresses, the tall laced up grannie boots, and, believe it or not, the men's vested three piece suits from the 1970's. There was something sexy about those! Also, there was not a thing wrong with panty hose. I know that's an old woman's thing these days. But I think they made great legs look even better. They weren't so bad. Pop a hole? Just dab a little nail polish on that thing and keep moving.
The 1980's were a little difficult to navigate fashion wise. I cut many a laughably large shoulder pad out of a sweater or blouse or two. Fortunately, I was thin enough then to wear the super tight jeans, acid washed and all. There were no "casual" days at work. Not in office jobs. The guys wore shirts and ties, women dressed in business suits and "career" pantsuits. I liked dressing up for work. It helped me to separate my "work life" from my "home life" where I would relax in softer casuals like sweat suits and Gitano sneakers.
Truly, my favorite era of fashion is the 1920's. I look back at my grandmother in her twenties dressed to the nines in 1920's attire with her cloche hat pulled smugly down over one eye and I think she looks cool beyond belief. They dressed up just to meet for lunch at the local drug store.
But yeah, these days, we have just about given up on fashion and style. People with pajama pants and flip flops slopping around, people who are way to heavy or way too old wearing stuff that is way too tight, green and bue hair, tacky tattoos, guests in jeans and t-shirts at weddings and funerals, all just a part of the decline of class, grace, and manners. And effort. Dressing well takes not money, but effort. I know people think it doesn't matter. But I think, psychologically, it does have an effect in a fairly significant way.
Agree. But it's interesting. If you go to say...Italy, they don't dress like slobs. They are very stylish and they dress very simply. They might pair a simple black dress with a scarf and some nice shoes. They don't have massive closets full of clothes like Americans do either.
Agree. But it's interesting. If you go to say...Italy, they don't dress like slobs. They are very stylish and they dress very simply. They might pair a simple black dress with a scarf and some nice shoes. They don't have massive closets full of clothes like Americans do either.
I agree to an extent but it's also really hard to classify things so largely. Especially in the US. I know many, many people who dress exactly like you are describing, who are Americans living in the US. Most of my friends live in NYC, Chicago, LA, and other large cities have smaller dwellings, smaller closets and they dress like you are describing: high quality basics that they can mix and match.
So, yes, if you are visiting main metros in europe, you will see that, but you'll also see that in our cities here.
But also, if you look around, even in an Italian metro you will see people in athleisure, or non 'fashionable' clothing. I also guarantee you will see some younger people who look like they just rolled out of bed.
Now, if you're more used to living in a suburb or a much smaller city in the US and then you are trying to compare yourself that to Milan..yes, you will see a difference. But it's not much different than that smaller suburb to NYC or LA
All based on my personal/anecdoctal experience of course.
I am an Autistic woman, 70 years old. As is common with many Autistics I have Proprioception, also known as kinestthesia. As is also common among Autistics, I have sensory issues and most clothinng causes me physical pain.[I have been a nudist for decades and lived for many years in a nudist resort in Colorado, Mountain Air Ranch]
As an Autistic and Disabilities activist I often need to address neurotypical groups. I always have a fashionable friend pick out my clothing and help me with my hair and makeup. Shoes are a nightmare because I have to watch my feet and can't really feel where I am walking without the aid of my bare feet and toes. I will dress great because that is the only way people will truly listen to me. Afterwards, I throw up and immediately take off the clothes looking for bruises and gashes in my skin from the clothing which are never there.
When speaking to a group of fellow Autistics I wear whatever is most comfortable, complete with holes and stains because I want to be at my best to convey what I need to. I know I will be listened to and found beautiful.
If you were to see me right now you would be horrified at my appearance but I am comfortable and in no pain, other than neck and shoulder from a recent fall caused by "tripping on air."[the dysthensia]
I have many Autistic friends who do not have proprioception and [fewer] sensory issues. We get together and talk, and not one of us can figure out the "need' for not looking like a 'slob' and following fashion trends.
i wouldn't wear what I am wearing now to attend a funeral or wedding [non-nudist wedding] but can not understand how following fashion makes for greater compassion, intelligence, less judgement, or actually any good reason. I show I care about people by baking them cookies, sharing what I have, listening when they need to talk, getting excited about there perseverations and accepting people for who they are. I don't see how fashion and makeup can increase those abilities.
Next time the subject comes up, I would love to explain the "whys" to them if you could give me a hand. Thank you.
One of my kids is on the spectrum. He really only had one clothing sensitivity...his socks. He would wear his socks inside out, because the fuzzy inside part bugged him, AND he would pull the toe part away from his feet, and then tuck the toe part under his foot. The toe seam bugged him.
One of my kids is on the spectrum. He really only had one clothing sensitivity...his socks. He would wear his socks inside out, because the fuzzy inside part bugged him, AND he would pull the toe part away from his feet, and then tuck the toe part under his foot. The toe seam bugged him.
Socks! It's incredible how such small, seemingly innocent pieces of clothing can be such potent instruments of torture.
The grunge movement didn’t help! I’m just appalled in general how poorly folks in America dress. All I can think of is Ross Dress for Less must be thriving!
Socks! It's incredible how such small, seemingly innocent pieces of clothing can be such potent instruments of torture.
For someone who's extra sensitive, I can see how they'd be incredibly uncomfortable. The elastic around the ankles can be too tight, or conversely, too loose, and the sock slips down into your shoe, and you're constantly having to take your shoe off and readjust.
Or you get those little balls of fuzz stuck to hot sweaty feet...and those are just issues that I have...and I'm not neurodivergent. For someone who has extra sensitivity, I can well believe it's miserable.
It went downhill with hippie fashion in the late 60s and never recovered. Starting around the mid 70s, everything started to look and seem disheveled and gritty. Every passing decade since the late 60s, fashion has been baggy, sloppy and unkempt. In the last 15 years we've got so many people covering up their whole arms or body parts with large tattoos. It's like people collectively gave up, stopped caring and now try to intentionally make themselves look butchered up, disfigured, and messy. It gives off a desolate and nihilistic vibe about society at large and where we're all going in the future.
During the 20th century, I think people dressed more well kept until the late 1960s...but the clean cut look you describe started in the 1920s mostly and just carried over until the late 1960s.
The clean cut look you speak of is still around, but it is just not the main fashion at the moment. Years ago men had powdered wigs, nylons and long thick beards...it was far from the clean cut look of the years 1920s to late 1960s when most men had no facial hair, used a razor cut at the barber and wore dress shoes all the time.
For women though it is along the same lines....1920s-late 1960s they worse dresses everyday.
I think what changed is that clean cut look became "square" if you want to describe it, and men started having facial hair or scissor cut hairstyles instead of a razor barbershop cut. Men and women started wearing jeans instead of dressy trousers, and sneakers instead of dress shoes as their non work clothing.
But there has and always will be people that still dress the way you describe. Oddly though even in the 1920s-1960s there were odd style choices that adults hated if they saw them on kids. Just like they do today. Such as the Beatnik style. Adults used to complain about people that dressed as beatniks.
I would say since the late 1960s "more outrageous" has been the theme and more direct in your face. fashions. Each decade it changes, but it is always the "outrageous" theme factoring in.
We are no longer inventing the wheel though, everything that has been out was out before at some point. It might have been before we were alive so we don't realize it.
I have seem styles come and go every decade. But I think since the late 1960s people are far more casual with their clothing choices now, at least in America. But nobody is stopping you from dressing however you want, as long as it is appropriate and not pushing law abiding boundaries.
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