I watched a movie, called "The Namesake" about a Hindu family living here and working to adjust and adapt to the culture here. The father of the main character, upon bringing his bride to live with him here was attempting to explain to his new bride things that she might not understand about living here, and said something of the nature that "our coolies dress better than college professors here" about how we tend to dress here.

I remember as a kid, that people did tend to dress better. I always remember my dad, big smile on his face and arms swinging his briefcase, coming up oak Avenue from the bus wearing a suit with a hat, a fedora I think. My mom I remember with the white gloves on special occasions, and she had a pill box hat like jackie Kennedy. My grandparents, aunts and uncles were always it seemed dressed in shirts and ties and dress pants with dress shoes. Around the house my mom and all the women usually wore dresses with aprons over them. It just seemed a more elegant era....of course, it might just be in my mind. Did it same that way to any of you??

We were not rich by any means, and all of our combined families had grown up pretty poor during the depression and war....do you suppose they simply appreciated being able to dress up more than we ever would think possible. I remember the depression stories and the living through the war rationing stories, frankly, my Dad had the best growing up poor stories I ever heard. I remember them because if I asked for anything he felt that I did not need I would get a full dose of them.

I can remember when I was young that women started wearing pants more, but dressy pants. I remember during the hippie era when the dress code just seemed to evaporate. When I started in school I was always dressed in a white shirt and tie, (Which I did not care for.) at least for assembly days, unless it was pretty hot out. The dressing up part began to fade away int here somewhere, by high school it was blue jean, sneakers and T-shirts.

It was a big deal for our parents to dress us up for photos, especially at Easter time...it usually meant a trip to Robert Hall's on Hylan Blvd for my sister and I. I hated going there, not a single toy in evidence. To my parents it was a great privilege for us to get new clothes and there would be the mandatory photo session. I remember the suit coat with some sort of bullshit crest upon it, as if we were some sort of royalty.

My closet today, is filled to bursting and it is three times as big as the closet I had as a child. There was a lot of empty room in that closet, on the floor would be a pair of sneakers to play in and a pair of shoes for church and for going to school. It was an offense punishable by death {Or so they told me.} to wear the church/school shoes out to play. Hanging there would be the most recent Robert Hall suit, only for church and family gatherings at the relatives, (usually after church) and then two or three pairs of dress pants, identical by in different colors for school, and a bunch of white shirts with a couple of clip on ties, or a tie prettied by my dad that I could loosen and fit over my head. That was it. Any clothes to be worn during chores or play were in the drawers in my room. You simply did not substitute between those two universes. short length wedding garments with lace

I know that when I started at IS 24 is when I first began to chafe under my mothers rules for dressing for school, it was not that I had a real issue with dressing, but I had a real issue with not looking like an asshole in front of everyone. {Peer Pressure} By high school I was in full and open rebellion and as I could not afford the designer jeans and disco era clothing, I went the other way and wore old boots or sneakers, and my dads old world war II surplus coats and boots, that he at one time used for work when he was a mechanic at William S Archer. He never dressed like that after he went into television.

People at large, just do not seem to dress up unless they are going to a wedding, though I guess some dress for church, though I have no way of knowing that for sure. It seems as if people lost always just dress casual, often going out in pajamas and sweats. I often wonder if I should work at dressing better, my wife tries her best to change me into her father. As she puts it, he was always dressed. What do you folks think, wold you rather go back to an era when we all dressed up more, or do you prefer the casual of today?