SP of Secretly Skint recently posted on the subject of modes of dress in Snowy Day . She made the point, and has since emphasised it with more posts, that she was eschewing all forms of dress other than jeans and things which went with jeans and has gone even further and cleared out most of her other clothes. She did retain a few tops to turn into smocks to go with the jeans. Personally I think that the first wedding or visit to the opera (when in the UK) might be a little bit of an issue. Not that it would be in provincial Napier nor rural Lewis.
Until a couple of years ago I had never worn nor owned a pair of jeans. Things have changed as I mentioned in Jeans and now I wear jeans a lot and either dress them up or down as need be. Obviously, though, like SP I live in 25+℃ a lot of the time so wear shorts and polo shirts a great deal of the time.
SP also mentioned that she was now at the clearing things out stage of life. I've been there done that and got the blog posts to show for it. However she and I differ in one fundamental issue: I like to dress according to my mood and therefore I like choice. I have lots of different moods. It follows that I have lots of different clothes including, in Scotland, lots of Colourful Clothes from which to choose.
Looking back on life I find it amusing (and rather sad and vaguely embarrassing) that when I was a young man I used to go hiking and climbing in a collar and tie. Now I never wear a tie (shame 'cos I have lots of very interesting ones) unless it's a very formal occasion or at the start of an event where it soon gets discarded.
One of the lovely things about living in New Zealand in general and provincial New Zealand in particular is the informality of dress. For example when we go to the ballet or opera there may be people in formal evening dress and there may be people in shorts and jandles. Neither will feel out of place. Personally I tend towards the more rather than less formal (but I still wouldn't wear a tie).
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I too like variety when it comes to clothes and (unlike many of my peers) there are still very few events to which I would wear jeans.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall hearing the term jandles before.
I actually think that I've mis-spelt it there and it should be jandals. Leastways that's how I spelt it when I posted about them at Jandals.
DeleteI live near Seattle, which is one of the most casual places on earth. A clean pair of khaki pants and a plaid cotton shirt pass for dress-up gear here. And I must confess that a lot of the time, I wear jeans myself. Yet there are times when my soul yearns for an occasion when denim is not part of the dress code!
ReplyDeleteLike all things, Carol, there comes a time when anything gets boring or too much of a good thing. When I first came to NZ I dressed casually all the time for everything. Now I like the variety and freedom to be casual or a bit less casual as the mood takes me.
DeleteI was a professional violinist when I lived in England...not to have to be togged up is just bliss for me.
ReplyDeleteSP
Ignoring the fact that mention of you being a professional violinist makes my heart flutter with admiration I too used to get togged up every day for work. One thing I learned very early on in my career was that appearance (and first appearance in particular) really does matter in government and I always wore expensive work clothes. It is a tribute to my tailor that the suits I wore when I retired from government service in 1995 are still the suits I sometimes wear today for funerals and weddings. Mind you they never get worn apart from those occasions.
DeletePS When I had my big clear out, all my long, black, orchestral dresses went to the charity shop...wonder who'll wear them in very rural France!
ReplyDeleteSP
You might be very surprised!
DeleteThe decline of tie wearing is very sad, I'm a big fan. I have bought T. many ties from LIberty of London and he loves them too so puts up with people considering him to be formal, and wears them whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteAs for rock climbing, hm... well, I suppose a red woolly one worn with a twill shirt might do for climbing, with tweed plus fours, etc. "Period drama" style.
I climbed in the days when one wore moleskin plus twos! If they got wet they were like cardboard and took a week to dry. The warm, windproof, lightweight, quick-dry climbing trousers of today would scrunch up and fit in the pocket of my moleskins! That's completely irrelevant to wearing a collar and tie (nothing unusual in me making irrelevant comments) but it does set the scene.
DeleteI remember your tie collection! That makes it sound like I was around while you were wearing them, which I wasn't... But you posted on that too once. (Possibly it was on Soaring through the World?) Actually I think on early photos of the Beatles even they are wearing ties and suits and looking rather neat (I can't imagine why my dad would have found them longhaired and scruffy which I recall he did). My youth was a few years later though and then it was jeans and hippie style that ruled. If it wasn't jeans then it was long skirts in thin Indian cotton fabrics. I've never let go of the jeans since ;) But I do have other things in my wardrobe as well and I would not wear jeans to a wedding (unless I knew everyone else would). I've never owned a proper evening dress though because I've never been to any event that required it. I think we come close to the NZ dress style here, for the theatre and such you can really wear anything. Except for the Nobel Prize ceremony perhaps but there's no great risk of me being invited ;)
ReplyDeleteI must try and find that post Monica. I can't recall it although given the collection of ties that I have I can see why I would post about them!
DeleteGo to Soaring Through the World and write 'ties' in the search box and you'll find it. There's a post of mine on the same theme which probably helps "tie" them together in my memory (ha)...
DeleteI like wearing a tie - it makes me feel dressed! Mind you - I only do it about three times a year so I suppose that means I'm undressed the rest of the time.
ReplyDeleteI think the modern term is dressed down but I may be wrong.
DeleteLike you, SP's post about wearing jeans, and jeans only, made me want to write my own blog post about clothes, but so far I have only some bits on it in the form of mental notes. I shall write it up soon, though, and will link to both your post here and SP's inspirational one. And now I am going to click the links you have put in your post and see where they lead me!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to that Meike. Given your posts so far on your dresses it should be very interesting.
DeleteI like a man in a tie. But I expect they feel rather tight around the neck, so I understand most men's reluctance.
ReplyDeleteActually I'd wear ties more if it didn't look so totally out of place most of the time here in NZ. They are not in themselves rather tight but unfortunately most of my shirts now feel a tad tight round the neck if I button them up. They never used to!
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