Fighting Dress

I read a letter to the editor today about how young men aren't dressing properly. Since I can't find the letter in the newspaper's online version I'll just have to attempt to recreate his essay:

[paraphrased]
I wear a suit everywhere. Anytime I go out. Other men don't. They wear muscle shirts. I think they look silly, they compliment my suit but I doubt they understand it. Everyone should wear a suit. All sensible men listen: Wear a suit.
[/paraphrased]

I've been a long standing proponent of abolishing the ridiculous garb we know as the suit. It's fine for those special occasions: Weddings, funerals, your execution. For anything else it's an attack on your fellow man.

Let's look at why.

Dress, like so much of our appearance, is relative. Your clothes look good if their fit is better, their style is newer, and their neatness is more uniform. Notice the use of the comparative. It's very intentional. You don't look good because you're wearing nice clothes, we're all wearing nice clothes: If you don't believe me, take a trip to the third world. You look good because you're wearing nicer clothes, that's why you stick out above the others.

So what happens if everyone wears clothes like yours? Do you still look the same? Certainly! Do you still stick out: No.

The point is, if most of us wear suits then we all have to wear suits. Otherwise you'd look like a slob.


So why don't we want that?

1. You can't do anything in a suit. They're not only restrictive of movement, they also don't remove heat from the body effectively. So, try walking 3 miles on a hot day in your suit. If you survive the heat, come talk to me. (Note: Using a $3,000 suit made of space age wool blends is cheating, but if you'd like to do that I don't mind. It's your money.)

2. You certainly can't bicycle in a suit. Which should matter to us utility riders who think the bicycle is a partial solution to our energy and pollution problems. I guess we just all have to ride the bus in our suits.

3. They're expensive. A comfortable suit costs $500. A comfortable suit in the summer costs a fortune.

4. They're expensive to clean. Anybody know what dry cleaning costs? I do. 6 years ago it cost more than a few dollars to clean a simple white shirt. I'd rather spend my money on something useful, like a weather shell.

So let's not bring the suit back. It's just one more way for the rich to rub poverty in the face of the lower middle class.