Proper manners in general have slipped exponentially. Kids play tennis at Forest Hills West Side Tennis Club, famous for its strict all-white dress code. Its okay to be heavy now, even if that weight gain resulted from a bad diet. It doesn't cost hundreds or thouands of dollars to wear clothing that doesn't look as though it functions for bedtime wear. Every damn time I go to a restaurant, there are numerous bozos who sit there with their idiotic caps on their hollow heads. Th Do a search on Freddie Mercury, and one of the first auto-fill suggestions that Google will give you is "freddie mercury teeth." Slob Nation: Why Do So Many People Today Dress Like Hobos in Public? I just don't understand why females dress like slobs. I'll usually wear jeans/shorts/chinos with a plain well fitting T-shirt or polo and a nice pair of shoes for casual wear. Stars like Jonah Hill, Shia LaBeouf, Post Malone, Wiz Khalifa and Justin Bieber dress like dorm-room slackers, supercharged with AmEx black cards. Ironically, I think that this is where most of today's confusion originates in the problems that are upon us now. Basic common sense, and yes, it seems like most people dress without it now. I believe that people feel better about themselves, perform better, enhance their credibility and create their own good luck by looking their best.Thank you for an interesting and important post, Pam! Also agree with Bill on the tie thing, at least in socal. The only people that I know who dress acceptable are the elderly. The guys were better but not by much, dress shirts, clean dress pants/kakis. I am a woman&I too,hate that disgusting,hairy homeless bum,ungroomed look. Classy, wouldn't you say? So while you can hold on to your crop tops and ratty band tees, you may also think twice about where and when you wear them. As Maher pointed out in his on-air editorial, if you can afford $17.99 pajama bottoms with the Budweiser logo on them, then you can afford the $11.99 jeans at Target. Part of looking like you care about yourself,is taking care of both how you dress AND how you take care of the only body you have. You can blame the bloated, greedy corporations like Wal-Mart and Amazon for contributing to a culture of mass exploitation, and mass production all for the obese masses to consume without thought. Today, I still go out in public wearing decent-looking clothes. Well, I have absolutely nothing against same sex people, since I am one. Am I shopping at the grocery store or in the hood? It seems sadly apparent that the average "american male" has been bereft of a culture in which fathers would show their sons how to at least form a necktie. Everything looks like rags now, cheaply made with the least amount of fabric and no linings. ), I have seen too many men dressed inappropriately in fine restaurants and other venues that call for some professionalism: baseball caps (a huge no-no when worn indoors, guys--remember that scene from. My theory about the dress culture getting out of hand is due to the influence of music culture. No wonder everybody from Patti LuPone on down is complaining that nobody knows how to behave anymore: If you dress like a child, chances are youre going to act like one. But now I'm starting to blame the so-called fashion gurus for the problem of people being so poorly and slovenly dressed and having no sense. I just don't get the whole "grunge" look. People seem to have no thought about etiquette anymore, and go out as they are and think nothing of it. Women look like hell aside from the FAT, poorly dressed, bad attitude, no makeup face, greasy hair, body odor, fifty earrings in their ears. Even then there were much better choices and styles in menswear and home furnishings, etc. I wear classic hats but I'd never leave one on my head at at table, though I would look much better than the morons with ballcaps if I did. The same decomposing society that allows grown men to walk around in tattered clothing and prison tattoos permits them to be big, fat, disgusting pigs, and then calls the few who still notice how wrong this is "fat shamers". Even working class people (which I am) used to take pains to dress as best they could for special occasions, such as church or going out to dinner. Also, I've never understood the appeal of bulky hooded sweatshirts, particularly on women. We get very nice clothes. These teachers dress like slobs. There isn't much if any emphasis on style these days. A young male yesterday that came in wearing flip flops, tank top, shorts and it was 40 degrees. What does "dress like kids" even mean in this context? I know that their were people like this in the 50s and 60s but it was kept hidden from mainstream America and I know, smoking is not attractive but it was a product of the time period (people didn't know any better). Is this what America has given as an example to the rest of the world? Plus,laziness&lack of class,does indeed play a role in it. Tell this to the same idiots who make stupid faces on snapchat or like to bullshit there lives on Instagram. They even go so far as to consider formal clothing stiff and boring. Extreme? Good piece, Pam--I honestly think about this almost everyday (from an office perspective). One cannot help but wonder where are morals and standards are heading to and it's quite sad to see America this "dumbed down". There are these weird stretchy spandex dresses women wear that look so terrible. I believe it started somewhere in the 1990sI remember a scene in the movie "Clueless" where Alicia Silverstone's character Cher mentions how boys dress "nowadays": "So, okay. They're always wearing track suits and sweats! They are supposed to be rich and glamorous and the last thing that we would expect is that they live like slobs. It gets so old, and it's just another reason why my opinion of society is beginning to drop.Im all for individuality and self-expression, and Im not suggesting that everyone needs to dress to impress when they leave the house. The people don't try to look their best because they live inside a marxist fever dream where everyone is their best buddy and everyone is so very equal. I couldn't agree with you more Pam. The Wal-Mart slob ethic is pervasive everywhere (people of wal-Mart!) The store thanked me for reporting this and said they would take care of the problem. Personally,I fail to see how any of these teens expect to be taken seriously in the real world,when they dress like dumpster divers,street walkers,and wannabe gang bangers,and are covered with tattoos,body piercings,and other mutilations.News flash child,nobody wants to see your underwear,or your scrawny (or giant) backside. It's truly revolting and frankly, seems dangerous--you're just asking for an infection. Nobody wants to see your jiggly manboobs. But I can't help feeling that there are too many dirty ingredients in the melting pot now. I thought I was the last one out there who missed the "Carey Grant" look or the beauty of Grace Kelly and I'm in my 30's! Iphones have become the "opium of the people." Spike Lee in a purple outfit and some presenter in a woman styled suit. Looking around the restaurant I noticed one woman who was at table with a Bluetooth in her ear. Especially if its in an office building in New York city we see all the people going to and from and dressed perfectly. I usually end up wearing jeans, t-shirts, leggings, sandals, sneakers, and boots because theyre the most practical and comfortable for me. It has really become pervasive, and I won't go back to eat at a restaurant that operates this way. How about the trashy women who wear bra tops with ugly tattoos showing? I refuse to look like a slob. One would think this common sense, but evidently it's a mystery to those at the management level. It was especially shocking since I expected casino-goers to be as well dressed as they were depicted in movies and on TV shows.I was wearing business casual -- dress shirt, tie, nice slacks and shoes -- and people stared at me. I'm not sure what dressing down has to do with Trump or mass shootings. Most blokes manage to scrub up well, but, man, do some women take liberties. It's laziness and stupidity not money issue. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. But really, that's essentially what we are doing now as a nation, as Pam points out. When people were invited onstage at a recent performance of Penn & Teller on Broadway, many women looked as if they had stepped out of a jazzercise class, while men ambled around in hideous cargo shorts. People should pay attention to keeping up appearances instead of rotting their minds with the unsrestricted use of technology. When people who appear in front of millions on tv don't know how to wear a suit, then you can bet that Americans have a real problem with dressing right. I think dressing is a lot of fun and it's sad that more people don't see the fun in it. It has gotten so bad now that if a man wears an ordinary suit outside of a strictly professional business he will be conspicuous, and people will wonder if he's some snob or is rich and showing off. ).When I'm "casually" dressed in a basic skirt and sweater, I'm considered "dressed up" because everyone else is running errands in their pajamas.Wellyou knowI could rant on this forever! Will the digital natives ever learn, or is this their way of expressing themselves differently than their sloppy parents, i.e. I am a former French Foreign Legionnaire, born in Norway to Norse parents, but moved to the UK after serving 15 years as a legionnaire, and noticed that the poor self admin was apparent, not only in US civilians, but also its military while I was serving in Afghanistan. Well, it seems that while the masses are eager and salivating to spend $1,000 on the newest Iphone, they are reluctant to clothe themselves properly, or don't care or know how! His pants didn't come within two inches of his shoe tops, so that his striped socks were exposed. They assume you are an old fart stuck in the past and tell you to get hip with the times. It was a privilege to wear jeans on Fridays, but now it seems we've gone to the other extreme, and in many offices the dress code is too lax ornonexistent. And what happened to nice big collars?I blame the education system where they let their teachers come to work in casual sloppy clothing and I also blame the retail business and wholesale manufacturers. The woman he was with had on shorts, tank-top, an un-zipped hooded sweat jacket and tenni-runners. Dear American men-boys: I know that you mostly don't have a clue, since you have been raised in a culture of dumb ass narcissism lacking restraint. The smell was horrendous- parmesan cheese- him and her clad in ragged, ugly clothes, playing on their iphones. Up here in the interior of Alaska, at least people have to wear appropriately warm clothing during a portion of the year to keep from getting 3rd degree frostbite within seconds, so one doesn't see bare body parts hanging out, unlike down in the lower 48. As I live in a German speaking country I have also noticed that formal greeting is being more and more reduced. Wow! Hi, Pam! What a shame that no one seems to give much consideration to their personal adornment anymore. I know I'm late. All this nonsense with the jeans (mining and peasant trousers) started in the 70s with the rise of the left. Almost every time I go out anymore, I see countless men who look like they reached for the first t-shirt and jeans they found on the floor, then chose whichever pair of tennis shoes stank the least. BTW I had a suit on as well! Casual fashion was just starting to become socially acceptable but not allowed obscenities in public. Now, I should add that I do have long hair (which I keep tied back when in public) and a longish beard (also kept neat and clean). Contrast this to what we are used to seeing in the US now - baggy jeans with the croth around their knees, t shirts that look about 2 or 3 sizes too large and ugly trainers that look like they were made for walking in space. The wealthier people here dress in a different way than the middle and lower middle class people. I hope this reply helps. A suggestion in one of the European books was to save all your worn-out, stained, threadbare clothes for your big European vacation, and then throw out each item after it was worn - that way, there would be ever-increasing space in your suitcase for souvenirs. This is a nation of slobs, all right, and brainless, too. Also, what's up with this new trend of people now wearing pajama pants out in public. The whole process seems counter-intuitive to me, and why do they feel too important now to complete the process for you? For every Kardashian trying too hard, you have a Steve Jobs wearing dad jeans and New Balance kicks 24/7. Indeed, there is a consignment store in my town that carries some really cute items, most of them designer labels, for really reasonable prices. I usually wear all black with a band tee. All will look ridiculous at 70 when everything is sagging and wrinkled. I can go to the thrift shop and put together a nice outfit for $10 so when my coworkers, who show up in jeans/leggings say they can't afford to look nice that's unacceptable to me. People today just don't seem to give a s*it about their appearance and the way they present themselves. I said on here a few months back in another post that every day we're another day closer to the depressing world depicted in "WALL-E" where humans are so obese they are immobile and they suck their nutrition from cups all day while glued to computer screens. Casino clientele today is definitely not the way they look in the movies!redc1c4 - I suppose you've never heard of the saying "dress the part"? \: Yes Pam, I think you are completely right when you say that these businesses are trying to save a dime at the expense of customer service and shave their labor costs. Style, low budget and comfort arent mutually exclusive. I once went to a Meetup event after work once that was held in the downstairs lounge of a nice local restaurant. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Look at what's being sold in the stores, and there's your answer. Its enough to make you long for the days when high-end restaurants had loaner ties and blazers for forgetful dudes, and you could be turned away from a club for a slack outfit. It would be an impossibility of manpower and mental power. However, whenever I go out I at least bathe first and put on clean clothes. When I do see someone dressed nicely, theyve usually added some touch thats supposed to be quirky and cool but is actually unflattering or just looks stupid. That really got 'em going. Nobody has any pride in himself/herself and nobody has any energy to look at another person either, so there is no need for pride anymore. Am I saying we need to go back to dressing like they did in the 1920s. or "Why are you dressed up?" In the 90s, after all clothing manufacturing, even ordstroms, was move to china the powers that be recognised that the quality was not very good for fashionable clothes. Shudder. His jacket length was too short in the body, his sleeves also too short. Their posture is better, too. No one at it.I honestly think my boss likes it this way though. Whatever happened to wearing an appropriate tuxedo to formal events? I came out to the parking lot after buying groceries, and a big white new SUV slowly backs into a space. Coco Chanel once famously said, "Dress shabbily, and they remember the dress. But nobody has a problem because there's no need for them to look any better or have pride in themselves; they get the work done and life goes on. I'm constantly surprised by all the jeans in the office (I guess at 52 I'm old school, but I can't bring myself to wear 'em to work. China would probably invade us if we cut them off and started manufacturing real clothing of our own again, like we once did. I feel nostalgia now for the days when I worked in a chain retail store--only twelve years ago! People have cast off classical beauty and age old esthetics for what they think is the new thing, when it really is the old abnormal. Every roll, jiggle and bump is on display. Just my 2^2/3 cents worth. Very neat and put together. Today I saw what had to be the world's ugliest lesbo walking into my local grocery store.