quote: Originally posted by: LMonet "This is a really great discussion! Anyway, here's my : I have absolutely no problem with Juicy or jeans or even dirty sweatshirts for that matter. The real issue is APPROPRIATENESS! It doesn't matter what you wear, as long as it is appropriate - age-wise, situation-wise, body-wise, etc. If you lead a casual lifestyle, by all means wear casual clothes. If you lead a professional lifestyle, then wear professional clothes. It is when the line between what is and is not appropriate gets blurred that there is a problem. "
but imo this is kind of what she's getting at. my interpretation of her argument isn't necessarily that wearing jeans to nice restaurants is wrong, or we should all don corsets and circle skirts. i may be reading way too much into it, or re-phrasing her argument, but it seems like she's saying the line b/t appropriate and inappropriate has become blurred by the cost of specific items. instead of people saying okay i'm going to "x" social function and wearing these items that traditional (old-fashioned) social mores would deem as appropriate, i'm going to wear whatever i please. and it's okay b/c i paid a lot of money for these things. which to me is a legitimate concern.
if we relate it back to the jeans issue you can look at it like this. jeans have now become more socially acceptable for every occasion, so now we end up paying a shitload of money for something that a decade ago wouldn't have cost nearly as much.
this is a great thread! there are just so many intricacies in the discussion, you know?
lmonet--with regard to what's "appropriate"-- isn't that a relative concept in and of itself? i mean whose to say what's appropriate and what's not? while there are certain activities that can more easily be defined as casual (e.g., grocery-shopping) or formal (e.g., appearing in court), most activities aren't nearly as black and white. like dinner at a restaurant for example, whose to say what's appropriate in that situation? isn't appropriate-ness (think i just made up a word :P) an ever changing concept?