i am not the only one on the Exercise thread who has noted - a good way to kick start yourself on exercise is when you deliberately buy functional clothing that serves your particular exercise purpose (whether that’s running, yoga, tennis, biking, etc) and make an effort to “reserve” that clothing for exercise - a uniform of sorts that tells you you have an intent and a purpose, instead of just whatever old ratty t shirt and shorts are in your drawer from the last time you painted the house. Maybe that’s another way of coming at the gym- shorts-for-dinner conundrum.
Wow, Puzzagirl, I was typing pretty much the same thing and then saw your post when I refreshed the thread on my screen. That is my philosophy about exercise clothing as well.
I don’t think people who do serious exercise are in their ratty paint shirts. Exercise wear is much more comfortable and attractive than it used to be.
Personally, what I like about stairs, running. rows, push ups, hiking, etc. is that they DON’T require specialized clothing (maybe decent shoes for running). If I had to worry about getting expensive, specialized gear and spending the time researching it/shopping for it, I don’t think I would have started exercising (maybe I would have, but it would have probably taken me a lot longer). Also, for my shirts, I prefer the feel of cotton - I have one wicking shirt, and I just don’t like how it feels. I don’t know if I am considered a serious exerciser or not, but that’s my take. But then again, I am the person who hiked the Grand Canyon, with a 35 pound pack, in sneakers.
acollegestudent, I read your prior posts about not liking the feel of “wicking” shirts and was going to suggest that most likely what you got was a cheapo pseudo-tech tee. There are plenty of those out there that don’t do what their makers claim. The stuff you buy at Walmart or Target, or even some Nike things can have this awful plasticky feel.
@BunsenBurner, do you have one you can recommend? I am actually open to trying one, because everyone seems to rave about them. I am not going to replace all my shirts all at once, but if they are really that good, I might get more as time goes on.
The problem with the one I have is that it makes me feel cold, and you’d think you want that in 80-degree heat, but it’s like an odd, uncomfortable cold - it’s kind of hard to describe.
Only 35 lbs?
(Sorry, you left that opening.)
I used to run in cotton. @acollegestudent But when cotton gets wet (and I run in the rain and sometimes manage to sweat), it doesn’t dry quickly and it feels yucky, heavy. The newer fabrics dry out quickly, and feel light. Plus, some of them look good enough,you can wear them in place of a casual,feminine t-shirt. Or maybe I’m the only one who does that.
I like SOME of the wicking clothing but REALLY dislike some of the others of them. I guess it depends on how the fabric feels while you are wearing it and how well/poorly it actually performs. I have a tank top I bought at Costco or Ross that wicks perfectly & I like layering it as my bottom layer, so I can end up just wearing that if it gets REALLY warm. I have some polos that just don’t feel great once they are wicking. They seem slicker than the ones I prefer. I also have thermal tops and bottoms that wick and I like those. I don’t have serious exercise clothing and I guess I don’t do serious exercising. I do have great walking shoes that I wear most of the time around town and for travel.
"Only 35 lbs?
(Sorry, you left that opening.)"
Ha! That’s a heavy pack, to me.
acollegestudent, I like to run in Lulu’s no-stink Silverescent shirts - when it is cool enough to wear a tee. If you prefer baggier fit, try their men’s tees.
and here is an example of their men’s tee:
Maybe @HImom was mixting the people up w the Heaven’s Gate cult, all wearing idenyical track suits and Nike sneakers. The spaceship in the tail of Hale Bop is coming to get them.
I love this thread! Brings to mind my mother, born in 1918 who said, “Americans are constantly shopping and continue to look like crap.”…I often wonder what the difference is between casual and just plain lazy. The other day we were in the breakfast room of a decent hotel, and this nice looking man sat down in a dripping wet tee shirt (obviously just went on a run) and I personally found it to be gross. We live in the Southeast, and when I see teenage/college girls walking around in thong bikinis on the street walking the dog or whatever I think its inappropriate. I have a daughter that age and I don’t think its appropriate…there’s something about dignity thats been lost somewhere along the way. I am 59 but obviously raised with all of the Woodstock “up the Revolution” BS of the 70’s but I never bought into it!
Maybe the revolution would have been taken more seriously if the kids at Woodstock dressed better?
I used to leaflet, occasionally, for a vegetarian group. They would always ask volunteers to dress “nice” and “neat” and more “mainstream”.
One day, a college-aged kid posted photos of himself leafletting for this same group. He was wearing a tee-shirt that said “Unf*** the World”. smh.
Great message, no doubt about that, just totally inappropriate for the task, and mainly because it did more harm than good, imo.
I liked to dress in a way that said, Hey, I’m a normal middle-aged woman, just like you, or your wife, or your aunt… and i happen to be a vegetarian. Want a leaflet?
His tee, imo, said “Hey, I’m a kid who is so inexperienced with dealing with real life situations and people, that I don’t even realize it’s inappropriate to wear this tee-shirt in public. I could also care less if your small children see me in it, or what anyone thinks of me, in general. and I’m a vegetarian. Don’t you want to be like me? Here’s a leaflet.”
Sigh.
One of the reasons I stopped leafletting was because kids - and adults - showed up a lot, dressed sloppily, and often did not know how to talk with people, either.
That seems to be the opposite of what at least one other poster has written (that she was more bothered by the shorts being gym shorts than how short they were).
My observation over the last few days are that lots of people do wear athletic wear even when not actually exercising. However, very short (2-3" inseam) shorts seem to be uncommon outside of some areas where women exercise or play sports (men generally do not wear shorts that short, usually preferring those that are closer to knee length). So it seems that most people do agree with your viewpoint that they prefer not to wear very short shorts, but athletic wear (e.g. yoga pants, longer shorts, knickers/capris) is not exactly rare outside of exercise or sports venues.
Also, some athletic wear is not too different in appearance from other clothing at first glance.
Just went to a roof-top wedding in NYC this weekend. Bride and groom were in their early 40’s and quite successful. She runs her own pr firm and her friends are quite trendy and in the know in terms of NYC nightlife, etc. One or two celebrity fashion models in the crowd. The invitation called for black tie and what people showed up ran quite the gamut.
Overall I’d say that more than 75% of the men wore tuxedos with either bow ties or formal ties. The other 25% wore good black suits with formal ties.
However, many of the women accompanying the men in tuxedos, did not really wear what I would consider formal clothing. There were some lovely short and long dresses, but they were not evening wear (let alone black tie.) Much more color than I would have expected from a very NY crowd. Lots of patent leather or leather shoes vs. fabric or shoes with sparkle.
Most of the women wore expensive clothing, but I would say that only 60% of it looked like formal wear clothing and less than 35% wore long. And some of the long dresses I could see worn in the daytime as a midi dress.
The older crowd–parents, older relatives and friends–were all dressed for black tie. Very fashionably and since many were quite skinny and had facelifts, they were wearing styles that I would have expected the younger crowd to be in.
I was surprised that more women didn’t dress to match the level of their husbands/ escorts.
I STILL cannot “see” the problem with athletic clothing for non-athletic things - as long as it covers the body decently, is clean, does not smell and is fitted appropriately and perhaps is coordinated (just as you would do another outfit - so,not wearing a hot pink striped shirt with hot green plaid skirt…)
Should we criticize someone who is exercising but does not have appropriate exercise clothing?? There is an older man who runs around our campus every morning. He is small and slim. When it’s warm, he runs in tennis shoes and a pair of long Docker type pants with a belt. That is all. No shirt. Do I look at him and say, “why are you running in your dress pants? Where’s your shirt?!” - no, I say “go Dude, you are out EVERYDAY running and keeping fit!” He looks happy!
Shorts too short? I get it. Tank top too revealing? I get it. Yoga pants showing every crease of your underwear with midriff exposed on top. Not appropriate. Fancier restaurant where you are in the minority for being CASUAL - of course, don’t wear your exposed sports bra!
But what defines “casual”??? Why are your khaki shorts and polo casual but my capri yoga pants that are not too tight and t-shirt and 1/4 zip Chicago marathon dri-fit pullover that is clean and coordinated not “ok” for casual???
Ok, abasket, if you were taking your 17-18 yo girl to orientation in an east coast urban area (not Hawaii, not the beach, the market, etc,) and knew you’d be calling friends of friends,probably meeting up, would you say, “Two pairs of gym shorts are fine, honey?”
Cuz that’s where this started.
My 19 year old daughter would wear those dratted Nike shorts everywhere if I didn’t call her out on it. Just the way I think and maybe its a campus thing, but all of life doesn’t happen on a campus. Vent vent. …always have to say, “did you bring a pair of black jeans at least?”…err…
I remember visiting my husband’s family in Boston, and the college age cousin was wearing those gym shorts as the hosting family’s house. Just thought it was a bit LOWBROW and if we were having family over I"d ask my CASUAL daughter to step it up a notch. Not a Lilly dress, mind you (haha) but maybe at least a pair of real shorts and shoes would be a nice touch as well! shoot me now…or the time we were invited over to a couple’s house for a drink in our new town who we’d never met. The husband answered the door in his socks and my husband was turned off. Casual does offend people sometimes…just does…maybe if someone’s raised in a more formal house that’s just the way they see things.