Conformity?

Been awhile, huh? Here's some random musings for the day...

I was at my daughter's dance class today, talking with the moms of a couple of the other girls. One of the topics that came up was formalwear (I think we were talking about the Prom dress industry and teen magazines). Anyway, it occurred to me that men's formal wear is incredibly bland.

Think about it - women buy new dresses for weddings, proms, etc. Why? Rarely because they intend to ever use them again - ask anyone who's been a bridesmaid before - and these days, it's not to pass them down to their daughters on their wedding / prom day. No. It's because each dress is (supposed to be ) unique to that woman.

However, as men, we rent our tuxedos. Why do we rent them? We'll probably be able to get more use out of it than just a one time event. But we rent them because they are all the same, anyway. We don't even have a lot of choice in colours. We can have black, navy blue, charcoal grey, or black. We can accessorize with a bit more personality, but not much - a tie is still a tie, no matter the colour or print. It is tied the same, it is one of two widths (and if you wear a wide tie when fashion says narrow, or vice versa, watch out!) and must be worn to a certain length down the body. If with the primary outfit, be it a suit or a tuxedo, you stray beyond the conventional colours, you are forever branded as different. There are certain conventions you can get away with, such as a kilt, but even there you stand out. And as a guy, this is definitely a no-go. How often have we made fun of the poor schlupp who decided to wear a powder blue tux?

Such conformity is taught to guys at a very young age, and goes through all layers of our lives. While we try to teach our kids to want to stand out, be unique individuals, what we show them through things like our styles of dress and our behaviours is sameness. This is as true of the blue collar worker as the white collar. In business, you must wear a specific type of suit, of a particular cut, in certain colours. The blue collar guy wears the same (more or less) jeans, and a t-shirt. T-shirts can have some variety in them, so far as colour and print, but really there is very little else that can be done.