Dressing Up In the Old Days (update: July 29, 2008)
One often hears accounts or reminiscences of the old days, when ladies would put on their lipstick just to walk from the house to the mailbox to check the day’s deliveries. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for air travelers to show up in first class in their sweats, lugging around a big bag of Mickey-D’s, and reeking up the whole cabin. Well research historians will tell you it wasn’t all like that in the 1950s. However, my point is, people at least made an effort.
With the evolution of the me generations in the 80s and 90s, the dress code is all about personal comfort these days. There’s no longer any consideration for public presentation. And if one needs to dress up, well, there’s always the POLO Ralph Lauren t-shirt with a big fat jockey logo on it. That’s class.
What interests me is the effort and time it took in the era gone by. Do people need to wake up a few hours earlier to groom oneself and dress properly simply to walk around the house? I still believe it’s a worthwhile effort. I’ve conducted experiments where I simply trudged around all day long in my underwear vs. getting dressed properly, bright and early.
In the latter, I retrieved the mail in high style.
In the latter, admittedly, I had problems getting the mailman off my doorstep.
