Flutterby™! : Clothes make the man 2002-07-24 15:41:42+00

Clothes make the man

2002-07-24 15:41:42+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Now that I'm in the fashion industry, and now that I'm riding the boat with all sorts of people who work in the financial district, and doing people watching, I've become a bit more conscious of clothing. This morning I had a slightly cramped seat on the ferry, so I unclipped my fanny pack, and nearly forgot it when I got off the boat. Suddenly it hit me that quite a few of the people on that boat were wearing outfits that cost several thousand dollars, it's just that the materials aren't always silk and wool.

I presume that you mean these people are wearing designer clothes. How many are wearing the real McCoy instead of knock-offs? and do they look more attractive for wearing them?

Here in Chicago you don't see many fancy labels on the Elevated or the bus. However, you do often see expensive tailored suits on the commuter trains coming in from the classier suburbs, worn by lawyers and brokers from the LaSalle St. financial hub. You also see assistants and drones in WalMart and Target stuff; they just get on at different stations.

The ultimate group is a club of businessmen from the top-ranked suburb of lake Forest who actually have a private rail car. It is equipped with much more comfortable seats, and more elbow room. they have owned the car for many years, and pay Metra (the commuter railroad) to attach it to the 7:05 from Lake Forest, as well as maintaining the car.

I haven't actually tried to distinguish the real thing from knock-offs, I'm still in the "huh, guys in beige or tan suits tend to be slightly unbalanced, guys in blue suits tend to give deference to guys in grey suits, I wonder what the guy in the tan jacket does..." stage. And of course the ferry does its own filtering, we have all of the variants, but the people dressed "down" (like me) seem to be generally technical folks.

That club car thing seems like a very cool idea. I wonder what the economics of that are, probably less expensive than maintaining a luxury car for the same commute.

Pictures, Dan. We need pictures. Oh, and be sure to include a snapshot of what you are wearing that day ;)

Personally, I'm enjoying the transition from homeless and unemployed to full-time academia. And I'm surprised that academia is a step down from homeless in terms of dress. It's a good step up in terms of odor, fortunately (managing odor and general cleanliness, I've found, is much more challenging that finding a place to sleep or food to eat - plenty of shelters, parks, and food lines but nobody gives free showers).

Dan, I love ya like a brother but when I think about you and fashion my head starts to hurt.

ebradway; do you have gym/locker rooms/showers on campus? I'm planning to avail myself of these when I start attending and riding my bike to school again.

Somehow Dan and fashion seem - oxymoronic - I wore suits for ten years - and blue jeans for 15 - I have considered going back to suits - the women my age may react more positively - but I love my van - would they mix? And should I blow money on a nice car that matches my suit - and what have I become then? Ultimatly nude in the sailboat in the South Pacific (we told

Dan to retire and travel - he ignored our words and look where its taken him!) seems like the best dress code.