Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nothing is more cringe than that, except for maybe flip-flops on men, but don't get me started. Are other sandals acceptable?
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Why did clothing become boring?
11–20 of 142 posts
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#12The industrial revolution gave us clothing for cheaper, and much more importantly, gave us a lot of other more interesting things to spend our time and energy on!
Such as more time in the office
Which is a reasonable explanation in its own right. Before office-going was common, getting dressed up to display yourself in public was a special occasion. Even in the early days of offices people dressed in fairly elaborate dress. But when you're doing the same thing day in, day out, the novelty of putting yourself on display wears off.
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#13In modern times clothing became boring precisely when Mark Zukerberg first revealed video of his walk-in closet having nothing but racks of identical gray T-shirts in it. Legend has it that from that day forward no striped or colored shirts have ever been seen in Silicon Valley. Then all socks went from white to black, oddly enough. The other clothing tragedy that happened around the same time-frame was that someone…
> Don't get me started on grown-azz men wearing bead or string bracelets. Unless it was made by their young daughter/granddaughter, it which case it is the mightiest of talismans.
That is very true. :)
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#14In modern times clothing became boring precisely when Mark Zukerberg first revealed video of his walk-in closet having nothing but racks of identical gray T-shirts in it. Legend has it that from that day forward no striped or colored shirts have ever been seen in Silicon Valley. Then all socks went from white to black, oddly enough. The other clothing tragedy that happened around the same time-frame was that someone…
Fanny packs have never been in style. The jokes about out-of-style dads wearing fanny packs have been around since they were invented.
Oh they were definitely in style. They were/are a great way to carry stuff. Just look at all the yoga-tight pants on kids today with front pockets bursting at the seams. lol. These kids would LOVE to use fanny packs, but are too scared too.
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#15Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#16In modern times clothing became boring precisely when Mark Zukerberg first revealed video of his walk-in closet having nothing but racks of identical gray T-shirts in it. Legend has it that from that day forward no striped or colored shirts have ever been seen in Silicon Valley. Then all socks went from white to black, oddly enough. The other clothing tragedy that happened around the same time-frame was that someone…
I really don't intend for this to be a personal attack, so please don't take offense, but I think it's unusual to wear a fanny pack while calling other fashion "cringe".
The difference is fanny packs have utility. Even Batman has a utility belt. I call my fanny pack my "Utility Belt" in fact. Batman didn't wear beads. lol.
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#17I think there are a couple of important things missing from this article. One is that until relatively recently clothing served a very different function to that of today.
In Europe, in our grandparents’ or even parents’ childhoods - as late even as the 1970s - housing and transport was very different to how it is now. Clothing was largely purpose-specific; people had far fewer clothes than today but those clothes had more specific purposes. For men that mean different weights of woollen suits for spring and autumn versus winter, and linen suits for summer.
Houses weren’t so well insulated or heated so you dressed to stay warm. With cars less common, you dressed for the outdoors. Hats weren’t fashion statements: they were to help keep you dry and warm.
Go back 100+ years and roads were much worse, people travelled by horse.
Capes, gloves, boots: things like this were all a defence against mud and rain and weather. If you were riding a horse you needed something like a cape with a high collar to stop your back and face getting splattered with mud thrown up by the horse’s hooves.
But more importantly, at the wealthy end of society, dressing was an indication of status and leisure. The clothes in the first picture are clearly somewhat impractical, but that doesn’t matter if your only task for the day is to sit and talk or stroll gently. If you have a team of people to dress you and look after your clothing you can wear impractical layers of clothing that seem ridiculous today. Those layers were still designed to serve a purpose - largely keeping warm - but the application and design of that purpose became exaggerated as purpose took a subsidiary role to status.
Many countries also had “sumptuary laws” which forbid lower classes of people from using certain fabrics or colours or dressing in particular ways. This meant that clothing for the higher classes was an articulation of power and status: in the 17th century you could tell instantly from someone’s style of dress whether they were a peasant, farmer, merchant, or aristocrat. That articulation of status - for the highest classes - meant that clothing was designed to show off the elements of dress that were reserved to that class of people.
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#18In modern times clothing became boring precisely when Mark Zukerberg first revealed video of his walk-in closet having nothing but racks of identical gray T-shirts in it. Legend has it that from that day forward no striped or colored shirts have ever been seen in Silicon Valley. Then all socks went from white to black, oddly enough. The other clothing tragedy that happened around the same time-frame was that someone…
I just hate shoes. I'd go barefoot if somebody hadn't filled all the walking environments with broken glass, so flip-flops and huaraches it is.
I love my 5-fingers, but they are too hot for general wear.
Don't get me started on the harm "normal" shoes do to your feet.
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#19One story for me was the way the medical establishment and the Left attacked people wearing any kind of masks early in Covid as unscientific and conspiracy nuts.
I wore one anyway and it was really hard to look different, to not conform, people treated you a little different.
Which is funny because Asians were wearing masks locally and people accepted that.
I'm happy to wear my 'chemtrail are death' t-shirt, so it wasn't the politics
Any the title is wrong "Why did clothing become boring?" it's why isn't it more intricate in the West. A lot of women will spend time on make-up in the West, why not clothing?
Re: Why did clothing become boring?
#20I think there are a couple of important things missing from this article. One is that until relatively recently clothing served a very different function to that of today. In Europe, in our grandparents’ or even parents’ childhoods - as late even as the 1970s - housing and transport was very different to how it is now. Clothing was largely purpose-specific; people had far fewer clothes than today but those clothes ha…
Well you can make the case that people don't have to dress a certain way because we are much better insulated (metaphorically and literally) from the environment. And there are of course no sumptuary laws.
So clothing can be more fun, if people want to of course - look at how music subcultures have incredibly varied ways of expression through clothing - metalheads, hiphopheads, punks etc.