Althouse: "Avoid the gruesome pitfalls of overdressing or underdressing."

February 3, 2012

"Avoid the gruesome pitfalls of overdressing or underdressing."

"Simply dress like you are going someplace better later."

22 comments:

rhhardin said...: Grue (crane) is French slang for prostitute.; 2/3/12, 12:01 PM
edutcher said...: She sounds like she's mad at any woman younger than her.

WV "hanzon" What Ann likes best about Meade.; 2/3/12, 12:09 PM
prairie wind said...: Ha. I kind of like the advice. Looking at what I'm wearing today, I think adding an oversized bejeweled cuff would have been a great idea.; 2/3/12, 12:15 PM
ricpic said...: This is a problem that doesn't apply to hippies, who wear a flannel shirt for every occasion.

But seriesly, the problem of dressing appropriately disappears when you stop worrying about what they dictate and start concentrating on wearing what makes you happy. One more instance that proves the founding fathers were right.; 2/3/12, 12:16 PM
kjbe said...: OH says to dress like your boss. His mom said, always wear a belt.; 2/3/12, 12:19 PM
tim maguire said...: I dress just a little bit better than the people around me.

ricpic, this is office wear. Wearing what makes you happy would be a mistake for most people.; 2/3/12, 12:21 PM
coketown said...: Men are blessed to have only 3 categories of circumstances for which they have to dress. Women need twelve outfits to cover the range of what men can accomplish with slacks and a collared shirt--and still, ten times to one, people will remark how nice the gentleman looks before complimenting the lady, if at all.; 2/3/12, 12:36 PM
ricpic said...: tim maquire - I hadn't read the article. You're right that dressing appropriately for the office puts constraints on self-expression. Though this only holds for those with career advancement concerns. In which case I agree with the author that beige, in combination with navy or black, is the safe way to go. I still think that for those who are there for a job and not a career dressing for their own pleasure is just as safe.; 2/3/12, 12:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: Try a sport coat, slacks and a tie. Then if you arrive overdressed for the event/group, you can take off the tie. And if still overdressed, then you take off the sport coat. But always wear nice polished shoes and long pants.; 2/3/12, 12:38 PM
tim maguire said...: I kind of miss the days (not lived by me) when men wore suits all the time. When the Rat Pack wore tuxedos whenever they weren't wearing a white bathrobe. The age of fedoras. People today may have lots of expression, but they have little style.; 2/3/12, 12:41 PM
Patrick said...: I somehow got talked into watching the English soap opera "Downton Abbey" (hint, there was a wife involved). Those fellows, even the servants seem to have had some pretty rigid dress codes. Dinner, tea, hunting, wartime/non wartime. Sheesh.

I'll say, though, some of it looks pretty good.; 2/3/12, 1:08 PM
One Particular Harbor said...: Everyone around here dresses down for everything. Jeans are appropriate office attire for all but the most conservative offices. Everyone looks, well, kind of drippy. Even 4 star restaurants allow people to show up in jeans and tee shirts, and let young men leave their hats on.

I am lucky to work from home and can work in PJs if I want (I don't), but even I make an effort, maybe because it is too easy to be a slob. It's a slippery slope, and next thing you know you're skipping showers.

Women should dress like ladies. Old fashioned, but there it is. You can find beautifully tailored trouser-jeans, add a white blouse and that jeweled cuff, a pair of heels and look like a lady. It's still jeans and a shirt, but the details make all the difference.; 2/3/12, 1:15 PM
Carnifex said...: If you dress like you're going someplace better, later, then by definition you're over dressed for the first place. fail on the logic of the argument.

On the other hand, I don't need to see what you sleep in when I go shopping, or what color you boxers are, or whether your 14 year old daughter is "juicy" or not. Please use a little sense and decorum when you dress.; 2/3/12, 1:19 PM
Patrick said...: If I had to make a fashion rule for men, I'd say no baseball hats. I think I feel almost as strongly on that as the Professor does about shorts. If you're not playing baseball, and under 18, no baseball hats.

I violate this rule myself, but I'm getting rid of most of them.; 2/3/12, 1:26 PM
Mr. Forward said...: I usually dress like I'm going to flop around in the mud later.; 2/3/12, 1:40 PM
Sigivald said...: Coketown said: and still, ten times to one, people will remark how nice the gentleman looks before complimenting the lady, if at all.

Complimenting the gentleman is much less likely to be considered harassment, or potentially so.; 2/3/12, 1:40 PM
Mary Beth said...: Mr. Forward, you dress for su-sex?; 2/3/12, 1:47 PM
rhhardin said...: I pioneered Bermudas at work as well as in airplanes, in the late 60s.

You're never overdressed with Bermudas.; 2/3/12, 2:00 PM
Mr. Forward said...: Su-sex? Just downhill from Downtown Abbey.; 2/3/12, 2:01 PM
chuck b. said...: Remember when Gretchen was on Project Runway and I said, "No one wants to wear brown!" and all the women here said, "Fuck you, Chuck. I like brown."

I want to know how much brown you've added to your wardrobe since then.; 2/3/12, 2:05 PM
deborah said...: What's the latest with the chick who married the farmer?; 2/3/12, 5:24 PM
HT said...: Vast improvement over Robin Givhan!

Kudos for finding someone with some sparkle.

I loved this sentence, "Career advancement, and the horrid additional responsibility which comes with it, are both highly overrated."; 2/3/12, 8:05 PM