The desire to adorn ourselves is a deep-rooted human instinct, and it’s only fairly recently that we’ve shifted towards women adorning and men dressing lazily.

Unless you’re talking fancy clothing on rare formal occasions….and even this has a limit depending on a given individual’s/family’s financial state, the people who had the means to pay more attention to fancy adornment and colors tended to be the upper and later the middle classes. I recalled the vast majority of poor farmers and laborers before industrialization were “dressed lazily/sloppily” by the standards of their times not necessarily because they wanted to…but due to the constraints of their economic circumstances. There were also sumptuary laws in certain regions prohibiting the wear of certain decorative pieces of clothing/certain materials. Dressing “lazily/sloppily” has always existed…..only difference is that there is much less rank classist prejudice against those who do so now than in the not-so-distant past….and far more widely accepted in our society.

I’m glad I didn’t live during the 1950’s and early 1960’s where not wearing a suit and tie would be sufficient grounds for a prof to toss you out of class as a boomer-aged friend experienced as an NYU undergrad in that era…..or in past eras where clothing was a far more visible marker of social class through the use of sumptuary laws where those who were deemed “too low” in the socio-economic class hierarchy were prohibited from wearing materials like silk and gold/silver thread and/or wearing certain decorative colors…..and those of higher classes were expected to conform to their strict dress standards on the pain of facing social ostracism and sometimes even punishment for offending the sensibilities of other powerful people.

I selfishly take comfort that after he is done running around in his skirt and using his high pitched voice he deepens his voice and magically becomes superman. I do not react differently from one to the other but it takes every bit of strength within me.

I appreciate your article, thank you.

And I know more than a few men who complain about how boring modern men’s clothing is, and envy women the ability to buy shirts with interesting cuts and a real range of colors. That doesn’t mean women are luckier, but I think it supports a desire for adornment as a human trait, not a specifically feminine one.

I am not very fond of impractical clothing on most occasions, and absolutely against uncomfortable clothing–but I don’t want to perpetuate the usual “boy things good and practical, girl things frivolous and bad” attitude. There is nothing wrong or frivolous or impractical about wearing colors, and not all women’s clothing is uncomfortable and restrictive.

Incidentally, I keep seeing people puzzled as to why women’s clothes cost more and use less fabric: it’s because labor also goes into them (even if it’s sweatshop labor). Women’s clothes are generally more fitted, ergo they require more labor. Fabric is pretty cheap these days compared to labor (historically, labor was cheap, fabric was pricey, and nothing was off-the-rack unless it was secondhand).

sorry, meant to say “in sneaker form/design”

There’s a nice shoe store called “Omnyodo” (google it) which has a lot of fun designs (for men and women–the women’s shoes are “identifiably” feminine, but there’s no reason a guy couldn’t wear any of them :)), and are properly made ^^ No heels or anything! So, predictably, I’ve got about four of their designs on my wishlist :)

My mother wears men’s slacks because women’s slacks don’t fit her–they’re all designed to fit a girl who’s got a specifically curvy kind of body, which my mother resolutely doesn’t have; and could care less about it. My entire childhood was with complete disregard to “gender roles” and I liked the full gamut of “boyish” and “girlish” things with the exception of sports except for floor hockey and dancing. I guess it’s not too much of a surprise that I didn’t have too many friends, but really I didn’t care too much either, and still don’t. I guess one could say I’m more mature about it now, but I still don’t pay much attention to gender roles.