Did most everyone dress nice back in the day? (70s, JFK, USA)
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I think hats are coming back and Im glad and I usually wear hats during the spring and summer as well . I love it cause then my hair can be just combed out and put a hat on and gone .
I think in the southern states, the change came later. There was a time when a Yankee boy wandering through the south with shoulder-length hair might be run out of town for his visible liberal ways. Then either Nascar or country music took up the new style, and everything turned over very quickly, and the south turned grunge.
They dressed better than today. Heck people dressed better in the 80's than today. Kids still wearing those baggy pants and such look like a bunch of dopes.
Hollytree hit it on the nail when she mentioned people wanted to be thought of as respectable.
"Respectability" is a concept that has largely disappeared from today's world. Back then it governed much of how we behaved, including how we dressed in public. It wasn't a question of showing off or being pretentious, as some people might think, but telling the world you were a valued member of society.
To answer the original question, people did dress up when they went out in public. People would wear casual clothes inside the house or if they were just in their backyard. Women had house dresses which they would never wear in public, and clothes for outside the house were usually exchanged for the house dresses once they came back home. Part of it had to do with that clothing was more expensive and not as disposable.
I'm not old enough to know what went on before the '70s, but all the old movies/tv shows have people quite dressed up.
To me, it just looked ridiculous and uncomfortable. As a man, there's no way I want to be wearing suit, tie and hat every day to work I wear jeans and a button down shirt to work, and that's dressed up enough for me (and my employer). Off the clock, it's strictly jeans/shorts and t-shirts.
Growing up in Venezuela I got to see the other side of this
people extremely obsessed with looks to the point of spending most of their money on clothes, perfume, haircuts, etc, etc.
I have seen pictures of my grandparents dressed very formally, just to go out and do an errand. My grandmothers wore dresses, nice coat, and gloves. My grandfathers wore hats and suits (with the vest). They weren't well-off (one grandfather a butcher; the other a train worker) but there was a way of dressing in those days and a certain care and wanting to look your best, not like today. It's more laid back today and much more comfortable but looking back at old pictures I kind of wished I was around in those days. Now, if you "dress up" people thinking you are going somewhere "fancy" or interviewing for a job.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s. We dressed well and I rather liked it.
On Christmas we all dressed up. Same with Easter and Thanksgiving.
We went to Sunday School in Mary Jane shoes and dresses. My dad wore a suit to work everyday.
When we flew on a plane, we dressed nicely. It was an event.
Personally, I do not remember being uncomfortable or feeling constricted.
It wasn't until the early 70s that girls were allowed to wear pants to school.
Believe it or not, people wanted to dress up. It was a sign you were an adult and a responsible, mature person. The idea that you could be a "kid" well into your 20s or even 30s would have been laughed at. Kids wanted to be adults by the time they were 18 and in many cases they were. This acceptance for what clothing meant was very culturally ingrained that to wear something else would have felt uncomfortable and ridiculous to you.
Casual clothing also wasn't necessarily more comfortable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by denverian
I'm not old enough to know what went on before the '70s, but all the old movies/tv shows have people quite dressed up.
To me, it just looked ridiculous and uncomfortable. As a man, there's no way I want to be wearing suit, tie and hat every day to work I wear jeans and a button down shirt to work, and that's dressed up enough for me (and my employer). Off the clock, it's strictly jeans/shorts and t-shirts.
My grandfather, born in 1863, would not go to town without dressing in a 3-piece suit with pocket watch in the vest pocket and a gold watch chain. His idea of casual was to take off the suit coat. Men even wore ties while playing baseball.
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