Bacall and I lament the passing of dressing up. This is from CBS Sunday Morning:
There was a time when a woman really made an entrance! Remember? Skirts swished, heads turned . . . and it wasn’t for a red carpet event, either.
It was for dinner, or going shopping.
What happened?
These days, anything goes. Shorts and flip-flops are fine for any occasion. And so are pajamas.
Dressing up? A quaint and bygone custom.
Have we become a nation of slobs?
Professor Linda Przybyszewski teaches a class called “A Nation of Slobs” at the University of Notre Dame.
“My students very often are floored by the beauty of some of the vintage pictures I show them.”
Proper dressing was so important, it was taught in school, from first grade through college. And baring all, she says, is not an artistic ideal.
“There’s got to be a happy medium between wearing a burka and running around half-naked,” said Przybyszewski.
So, Giles asked, were the Sixties involved in taking us down this spiral.
“I think style just moved toward simplicity. and eventually slipped into stupidity,” said Przybyszewski.
Jared Clemmensen said dressing sloppily is an intentional “I don’t care” statement. “I see people in the dining hall, and they’re wearing pajama bottoms. I’m like, ‘Are you really wearing those? Like, are you trying to make a statement?’
Being well dressed still counts for something at OBB.