A nice pressed blue suit is really off putting to me.

I think it's similar to why come people are put off by clowns? Like they're wearing a mask and are hiding something.

Paranoid, huh!

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    hexagon
    ·
    5 months ago

    You get nice compliments from strangers when you wear them. They can be nondescript or flamboyant easily. They don’t signify social or economic status (beyond employment, perhaps, since it was once traditional professional attire) and most who wear them regularly are working class, not wealthy. You can thrift one for 20 bucks.

    Okay first of all, I said a "nice pressed blue suit" which should give you a clue that I don't mean something from a thrift store, and secondly a very small percentage of the workforce wear suits. They are usually white collar workers, and the expensive pressed blue suits are usually reserved for the higher paid businessmen, real estate moguls and bankers you see in the city. I always find it very telling when someone thinks most workers wear a suit. No, most workers wear uniforms and a name tag, or hi-vis. But they're lower class, so I guess they're invisible.

    You get nice compliments from strangers because they're an economic status signifier.

    Styles of clothing are neither evil nor good, and say little about the character of a person wearing them

    That's just untrue, otherwise uniforms wouldn't exist. Clothing can tell you about a person's culture, economic status, job, gender, favourite band...

    I mean, would the clothes of someone wearing an SS uniform tell you nothing about their character?

    • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      It sounds like maybe you see suits as a strong symbol of socioeconomic status, authority, power, and likely oppression. I don’t, and I’ve worked both blue collar and white collar jobs (including construction, since you specifically mentioned our vests). Also my current job is blue collar, if that matters to you.

      In my country, suits are usually worn by working class people either at semi-formal occasions like weddings or in some professional settings (white collar office workers, public-facing service or sales personnel, etc). The wealthy are more likely to wear shorts and flip flops.

      And I’m not sure why “pressed” and “blue” are so significant. Black and blue are just common colors. Pressed is not really a thing for most suits, so I assume you just mean businessy-looking. Suits can be expensive but most aren’t. Looking “nice” mostly comes down to whether it fits. A $50 wool suit off the rack looks great if it fits, and honestly few can tell the difference between a $100 and $1000 suit including me.

      TL;DR: It’s OK to dislike a style of clothing. I think “suits” is kind of a broad category — if you said “Patagonia vests” it might seem more natural to me due to the tech/finance association — but still it’s fine to dislike suits. I only object to being afraid of or pre-judging people by their clothes alone, and moreover encouraging others to do so. In conclusion, and to answer your last question, suits are definitely not SS uniforms.

      Edit: OK upon re-reading your reply, I realize there’s a pretty big age-gap here. Know that I’m not criticizing your preferences and it’s fine to have feelings about clothes. My advice is just to give people you don’t know the benefit of the doubt and do your best to treat others with respect regardless of their appearance, because many will surprise you as friends, allies, even comrades. Best of luck.

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
        hexagon
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Yeah I think you misunderstand me. Obviously I don't automatically assume everyone in a suit is pure evil. Just that they put me on edge. Talking to them can change that (although given the types of jobs that demand an expensive suit, I'm usually disappointed).

        They just have a certain "aura" about them, you know? Something fake.

    • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      5 months ago

      You get nice compliments from strangers because they're an economic status signifier.

      omg just like in morrowind so-true