Suitability
“For though that thy jacket be gallant and fine, I think that my twopence’s as good is as thine” -The King and the Tinkler, English Folk Song
I’ve enjoyed a lifelong fascination with uniforms and costumes. I’ve always paid special attention to wearing the right panoply for whatever I’m doing, be it work, gym, school, costume party, or re-enactment. I rarely go without carefully choosing my outfit for whatever function. Many do not appear to share my concern. This is not to cite my superiority, but to call others to remember why dress codes and uniforms have always existed in civilization. I could lambast individualism and blame it for the decline in formality of dress. I will not. Instead, I’d like to make a fresh case for why we should pay more heed to dress codes and not hesitate to enforce them out of respect, ease of understanding, and purely for aesthetics.
After all, dressing properly is a matter of justice. Dressing for an occasion communicates respect for oneself, others, and the event. In Nicomachean Ethics, Book V, Aristotle writes on the virtue of “distributive justice” which can be summed up as “distribution of goods in proportion to merit”. This is a perfect paradigm for recognizing the fittingness of dress codes. Put in terms of attire, the just stringency and formality of dress rises in proportion with the merit of the occasion. Dressing according to that merit shows regard for oneself as much as it shows regard for others because it is an outward sign of exercising justice. As we are not simply souls in bodies, or bodies animated by brains, we should attend an occasion with our whole self, communicating our sentiments to the host with our words, actions, and outfit.
A defined dress code enforces a healthy uniformity which takes the burden of decision from an attendee. Clothes can project an element of personal individuality but not to an extent that one violates the bounds of the dress code or looks out of place. While it is fitting to express oneself with style, it is just to place conformity and fittingness before personal choice. A dress code sets those bounds within which we may express ourselves. Accordingly, the lack of any dress codes hurts us. Take for example that as black tie has given way to more relaxed dress codes at weddings, what seems to be trending is this nebulous concept of “cocktail attire”. Imagine before continuing what you think “cocktail attire” means.
Weddings labelled “cocktail attire” yield everything from sneakers/khakis/button down shirt to prosaic three-piece suits to unfortunate rented “tuxedos”. True cocktail attire (in the menswear realm) would be a muted 2 or 3-piece suit with a tie. In short, you should be wearing a day suit without looking flashy. Without attention to the bounds of this dress code, there is a wide scale of formality which makes the function look disjointed at best. This leads some guests to look overdressed, perhaps even more so than the wedding party, while other guests look unbecoming of the gravity of the occasion. Enforcing a more stringent dress code with clear expectations removes the potential for a fashion faux-pas at such an event while setting salutary bounds for personal expression.
Finally, mere aesthetics are enough to argue for attention to fashion; who doesn’t want to look good doing whatever they’re doing? Dressing well is a mental as much as a social boon. When you look your best, you feel your best. Uniformity of dress creates fellow-feeling as well. These are positive responses to aesthetics. Aesthetics represent physical expression of beauty. Humans are by our nature created to respond to beauty. I always think of a lizard sunning on a rock to imagine the effect of beholding something beautiful on the human spirit. We can unlock that spiritual boost just by dressing well. While modernism has a tendency to sacrifice utility for beauty and uniformity for individuality, previous eras show that these dichotomies are by no means mutually exclusive.
Though I discussed menswear primarily, I don’t believe the decline in formality is limited to menswear. Across the board, I think we pay too little attention to dressing for occasion. Too seldom do we keep others in mind as we prepare to leave the house. We should pay more attention to honoring with our appearance the gravity of an occasion such as a wedding where two people unify for life, or a funeral where we send someone off from this world. Likewise, we should be unapologetic when asking others to meet a standard for our own event. Our outfits should physically communicate respect as much as our eye contact, verbal sentiments, and firm handshakes. I think a collective effort to force sorely needed beauty back into everyday life starting with the clothes on our backs will have a positive effect for one and all. Even if we don’t feel our best, we can at least start looking it!
Cover image is property of the Gentleman’s Gazette, a great online resource for menswear.