Casual

[Swark]

I like elegant clothes as much as any man here (although not so much for style and look as for the craftsmanship) but sometimes, quite often in fact since I'm only 18, I just throw on jeans and any random t-shirt. Would this be an affront to the elegant man or a just something we all feel like doing from time to time?

[RWS]

I don't like wearing an undershirt in public, even if it's colored, and less if it's advertising. As for jeans, they do have their place: if I'm pitching in on a friend's farm, for example, or cleaning out my own attic. But, then, I'm no longer eighteen.

Swark, I think (and have more than once posted as much) that one should consider one's environment among other factors when deciding what to wear; so jeans and undershirt could perhaps be most suitable in some circumstances.

[NCW]

I am also quite young (a student teenager, in fact), and while I do not own any jeans myself, there are times when it is just inappropriate to wear a hat and tie. Elegance is all well and good, but the two things you want to most avoid are giving the impression of flaunting wealth or class, and making others feel embarrassed or disquieted.

As a rule, dress as you like, but never more than notch up in formality than the next best dressed person in the room. If you feel jeans are appropriate for the occasion, then do not make a fool of yourself by dressing to satisfy the stringent regulations of the last century. (On the other hand, if you are at university, you will probably never again in your life have so many formal functions or have peers so well dressed, so take advantage of it.)

[whyescalar]

Mate, do what makes you feel comfortable at your age, earn the shoulders in your jeans and tee that will carry you when you gain your first real job, first real love, etc.

[Costi]

Elegance is not an on and off switch - if it is there, it is there all the time. Elegance is not a disguise, either, so we don't get fed up with dressing well and let it all go every now and then to relax - we are comfortable in our elegant clothes that we chose to suit the context. That is not to say that jeans and t-shirt represent an abdication from elegant dress in any situation, but this dress is grossly abused today in many inadequate situations. If one browses the LL a bit it will soon be apparent that there are many options to dress casually without resorting to hat and tie.
Lastly, bespoke clothing is not an object of worship to be admired in itself. A Stradivarius may have taken the craftsman many tens of hours to make, but it is no better than a toy violin in the hands of a second rate fiddler.

[Swark]

i feel that i should point out that i am not self conscious or worried about a lack of elegance because i like to dress casually i just wondered how you all feel about other people's casual dress and your own.

[RWS]

Swark, casual dress needn't entail blue jeans and undershirt, as Costi pointed out. Contexts will vary, but, here in the States, when I see a jeans-wearer it's likely to be a workman at his tasks or someone well-to-do attempting to look like one of the masses (well, not quite, as the self-conscious display, evidenced through the unworn and well-pressed denim, is clearly the wearer's pride). The decorated undershirt almost always is just silly: why should a human being wish to turn himself into a walking billboard, or to afflict all and sundry with a shopworn, second-hand, failed attempt at humor?

Others may have different reactions, as do I at times (pity, for example); but those are my usual reactions.

[Lance]

Whyescalar - Wonderful adage, good advice.

[Luca]

I can sympathize with someone who is a young student in perhaps the most informal society on earth coming to grasps with elegance.

As a very minor suggestion, I would say: maybe substitute that t-shirt for a polo shirt or even a casual shirt. It's just as easy and loose but it certainly looks better.

Also, jeans or, say, a pair of chinos. Again, similar comfort, both are quite casual but the latter are more faltering and elegant, typically.

Just trying to give some practical suggestions, rather than "all or nothing"


- Luca

[Swark]

well i suppose i like denim for it's durability i did alot of climbing and running as i grew up and my "hang out" for a summer was a building site that hadn't yet started work i have a very urban upbringing where suits are either stuffy or for rare occasions so i would say i want to hang on to the clothes im used to as well as starting to wear the clothes that i love for their elegance. so i suppose it is all about small changes and dressing in context with the occasion.