The General Chat Room

[ahinton]

NO it's not necessary to dress like a 1950's office worker to do that job
let people wear what they like it's NOT the same as a performance

If you are ill and in hospital you might notice that the person who is the real expert is the one NOT dressed in a uniform

Putting on a suit doesn't make you work better, believable or more 'serious'.

(we are going to get the nonsense about shiny cars next, you mark my words )

Yes, sure, except that it IS a performance - of sorts - not that all MPs are blessed with equal thespian talents...

[ahinton]

"Moses invests
but only Buddha pays dividends"

That reminds me of Sorabji's barb about "musical appreciation" which he once described as trying to get the best rate of investment return from Beethoven...

[MrGongGong]

Yes, sure, except that it IS a performance - of sorts - not that all MPs are blessed with equal thespian talents...

It is
BUT maybe we would be better served by less bad acting?

[ahinton]

It is
BUT maybe we would be better served by less bad acting?

I don't doubt that for one moment, but the taxpayer is not expected to fund a House of Commons Audition Panel and there'd probably be something of a hue and cry if one was to be introduced; moreover, constituencies do not customarily audition candidates anyway - i.e. the selection process involves no "MP or not MP? that is the question"...

[MrGongGong]

I don't doubt that for one moment, but the taxpayer is not expected to fund a House of Commons Audition Panel and there'd probably be something of a hue and cry if one was to be introduced; moreover, constituencies do not customarily audition candidates anyway - i.e. the selection process involves no "MP or not MP? that is the question"...

I do hate the bland conformity of the suit which seems to be on the rise at the moment.
I sometimes go to schools where the VIth form have to dress in this daft way because some idiot has told them that people will think you are intelligent and take you seriously if you wear one... bonkers and unnecessary

[french frank]

Mind you, if you believe that you might return to original thoughts, you could always save two versions.

Or use a Mac with Time Machine?

[Serial_Apologist]

I do hate the bland conformity of the suit which seems to be on the rise at the moment.
I sometimes go to schools where the VIth form have to dress in this daft way because some idiot has told them that people will think you are intelligent and take you seriously if you wear one... bonkers and unnecessary

While I agree, suits as nowadays habitually worn by TV show hosts and/or their guests really do look slovenly. Standards have slipped - and this doesn't mean one should conform to the black suit look dictated to the sixth formers when applying for a job. Any job. This wouldn't have happened in the sartorially liberated 60s I tells ya. You either wore a suit with tie - only removing said tie at the same time as jacket in a warm indoors - or dressed casual: which could mean T-shirt/jeans casual or button down shirt (open-necked or with tie), sports jacket (hardly findable these days in retailers, or very limited in design scope), etc etc. Wearing suits in high summer really was only for city types, hotel/restaurant managers back then.

[vinteuil]

... in my seriously suit-wearing days (1977-1994) it was often a three-piece suit. *

Sadly I was never able to find the four-piece suit which TS Eliot (allegedly) preferred...

[ * an advantage of the three-piece is that you only need to iron a triangle of shirt, the rest being concealed behind the weskit... ]

[french frank]

I suppose I take the view that it either matters to me/the individual what I/they wear - or it doesn't. In fact, both the 'dresseruppers' and the 'dresser downers' do agree: it matters. But whereas one side says, 'You should wear this', the other side says, 'I want to wear this'.

For me, I accept the rules of any dress code, and if I find myself unable to conform to that code I remove myself from any occasion where I am expected to do so. I do not expect others to change their dress code on my account, nor do I think that code fundamentally 'wrong'.

[MrGongGong]

For me, I accept the rules of any dress code, and if I find myself unable to conform to that code I remove myself from any occasion where I am expected to do so. I do not expect others to change their dress code on my account, nor do I think that code fundamentally 'wrong'.

My point really was that in many places there seem to be more 'dress codes' than before, and its not always appropriate or necessary to have one in the first place.

[BBMmk2]

I'm still playing catch but hopefully all be resolved by the end of the week! The publisher I am working with, saw the funny side of this!

[BBMmk2]

Managed to get those barlines sorted!(Thank you Ferney) Thank goodness! Will be working on terra nova today!

[P. G. Tipps]

My point really was that in many places there seem to be more 'dress codes' than before, and its not always appropriate or necessary to have one in the first place.

Even when I was a boy in smart short-trousers I was frequently appalled by the shabby dress of teachers, both male and female. Surely young pupils embarking out on learning and hopefully a fruitful and rewarding career are entitled to a bit of respect never mind a good example?

As far as I'm concerned people can walk around naked in the middle of winter in their own time, if they so wish, but in the workplace there should be a recognised dress-code for employees.

Mind you, that does not mean I approve of these silly first-name badges that service-staff are often obliged to wear. The Chairman of The John Lewis Partnership, no less, wanders around his shops with 'CHARLIE' emblazoned on a lapel.

Well, he is best-placed to judge, I suppose, but, these days, basic common as well as dress sense would seem to have flown out the proverbial window?

[jean]

When I was at school it used to annoy me that our teachers (except of course for the music teacher, Mr Laurence H. Davies) felt free to go about bare-legged in summer.

It wasn't their shabbiness that bothered me though, but the fact that we weren't allowed to do the same - we had to wear socks or stockings.

(But with the advent of seamless stockings and tights, it was very amusing to have the Deputy Head peering closely at our legs to try to make out whether they were properly covered or not.)

[french frank]

Surely young pupils embarking out on learning and hopefully a fruitful and rewarding career are entitled to a bit of respect never mind a good example?

Where did the idea come from that what you wear shows respect for other people? Listening to them carefully and responding thoughtfully to what they say, yes.

I presume I'm unique in the entire universe but I can spend three hours in someone's company and if, after parting company with them, I have some reason to try and recall what they were wearing, 99 times out of a 100 I've no idea. Total non-recall. I wouldn't for a moment associate what they were wearing with the amount of respect they had for me. Or for the occasion. I don't know where the idea comes from. I just thought it was a matter of personal vanity to dress up.