Dr. Carolyn Lee reflects on a different cliché each week. Recently, in her blog “You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me,” she takes a look at contemporary advertising on television. This week Carolyn explores the cliché, dress to impress.
Learn more about Dr. Carolyn Lee on her biography page or investigate 29 more clichés in her latest book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And Other Clichès to Live By.
Dress to Impress
Back in the early 80’s, I signed up for a “Dress to Impress” seminar that promised to help me present myself as a “businesswoman.” I figured I ought to wear a blue suit. I didn’t have a blue suit, so I borrowed one from my sister. As it turned out, nearly all the women who attended this seminar wore blue suits. They also wore white blouses, and many of them wore scarves around their necks, scarves that sort of simulated men’s ties. Other than what I wore, I don’t remember anything about this occasion—except for one line spoken by the seminar leader. She was admonishing us to adhere to a pretty rigid dress code, and she advised us, specifically, never to wear shoes that exposed any “toe cleavage.” I was the only one in the room who laughed out loud at this line. I had no idea she was serious. “Toe cleavage”??
We’ve come a long way since we cared about exposing too much of our toes. Because it has been so beastly hot in Fort Worth, I have taken to walking in the mall. What a sight to behold! Most of the women I saw didn’t seem to be worried about exposing too much of anything Seeing a man dressed in pressed khakis and a collared shirt would have been astonishing. The de rigueur outfit included t-shirts emblazoned with questionable slogans, leggings that highlighted all the wrong body parts, halter tops that might be appropriate at the beach, sweatpants, jeans that had more holes than denim, shorts that were either baggy or form fitting, flip-flops, and baseball caps worn backwards. Oh, and a couple of pairs of pajama pants. Now, the clothes worn by the window mannequins offered some interesting options. Some of them were simply upgraded, outrageously expensive versions of the aforementioned T-shirts, leggings, holy jeans and short shorts. But there were also shoes with three-inch platforms, covered with sequins and feathers. There were slinky dresses, Jos. A. Banks tailored suits, cashmere coats, and tiny, pink, Michael Kors purses on sale for a mere $235. It was hard to see a relationship between the rumpled, ill-fitting, anti-fashion attire worn by the often ill-groomed people schlumping through the mall and the clothes displayed on the slender bodies of the plastic figures in the store windows.
It’s hard to say what has happened during my lifetime to anything that could be called a “dress code.” When I was in college, we couldn’t even wear pants. No, it was a skirt every day—under which I wore a girdle! I had a few outfits that were my “church clothes.” They were one notch above the standard, everyday wear. Traveling meant getting “dressed up.” I have a picture of my sister and me aboard the S.S. France, the day we sailed for Europe. The year was 1963, and both of us were wearing linen suits and heels. Can you imagine? Today, nothing is off-limits as travel ware. Unless one approaches it with a sense of irony and satire, people-watching at the airport can be downright depressing. Do those people not have mirrors? Do they just not care—at all? The standard of dress for men and women, adults and children, has reached a new low. One writer put it this way: “A nation of slobs is parading through the crossroads of America.” Wow. That’s harsh.
Some people who think deeply about these matters look at “Casual Friday” as the beginning of our unfortunate slide toward slobbishness. One writer said, “Casual Friday was something of a gateway drug, its jeans and flats and relaxed cuts asking an obvious, but also revolutionary, question: Why not be casual on other days, too?” And, if “casual” is okay in the workplace, maybe “shabby” is acceptable in the mall or the airport. But wearing jeans that are clean and pressed is a long way from parading around in clingy leggings and stained sweatpants; “relaxed cuts” don’t include revealing crop-tops; flats are not flip-flops.
I read about a woman who was watching Casablanca with two of her granddaughters. One of them suddenly turned to her and said, “Why was everyone so dressed up back then?” She replied, “Well, people used to dress that way. They did every day. We just don’t do it anymore.”
No, we certainly don’t. And why not? Are people just too pressed for time to dress up rather than down? Is wearing cut-offs and extra-large t-shirts a way of rebelling against the unrealistic rules of fashion and style? Do we no longer care enough about other people’s opinions to worry about what they think of our sartorial choices? Are we just too lazy to pull on a pair of laundered and pressed pants instead of slipping into sweats that look like we slept in them? Do we somehow believe that wearing rumpled clothing that says “I don’t care” makes us more authentic?
As I write this, I am wearing a pair of old—but clean—sweatpants and a denim shirt I’ve had for about twenty years. If I go for a walk in the mall today, I’ll upgrade my outfit a little by opting for a freshly laundered pair of cotton pants, a long-sleeved blouse I just ordered from L.L Bean, and my new Brooks running shoes (bought on sale). All of these articles of clothing fit me well and do not expose any body part that should remain covered. I will not be a paragon of trendy fashion (unless you compare me to many of the people I’ll walk by), but neither will I show up in beachware or pajama pants.
What to read after Dress to Impress?
Check out Dr. Carolyn Lee’s blogs on her website, she features a new cliché each week or you can order her new book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And Other Clichès to Live By. Want to know more about the woman behind the words? Read more about Carolyn here. We hope you enjoyed this article learning more about the cliché, dress to impress.
