I have a picture of my father-in-law gardening in a suit and tie in the 50s.
And then there’s the old trope about tuxedos being scandalously informal for dinner (most recently used in Downtown Abbey).
A significant percentage of men have difficulty distinguishing between red and green colors, which sometimes results in clothing choices that may seem odd (color-wise) to others.
Pink and green isn’t unheard of. It was a popular enough color combination that I recall shirts printed with both colors back in the 70’s. I had such a tennis shirt and I recall a tie of my dad’s with those colors. A whole outfit like the man described above would be noticeable but not outrageous, especially if he was from my dad’s generation on the east coast.
“There was a segment on CBS Sunday Morning this past Sunday about the evolution of work dress. In the 1950s (Madmen era) people were very formal with suits and ties across the board. Nowadays, many people don’t have a separate work and casual wear wardrobe. The experts interviewed stated that the change may be in part to the blurred line between work and leisure/family time resulting from the ability to work at anytime via email, etc. They even noted that some places have a Formal Friday instead of Casual Friday.”
What is interesting is that the shift happened after the broad use of air conditioning in offices (which didn’t come about because of people’s comfort, it came about initially as companies started using more and more electronic gear that was temperature sensitive), can you imagine going to work in a three piece suit or the kind of outfits women often wore to the office, the long dresses and petticoats and so forth?
Having been in the transition between the more formal era (ie when for many workers in the daytime, the dress code was formal), I think a lot of it may have come out of the 1960’s and the attitudes towards hierarchy and also against militarism (do I have any proof? Nope, just my thoughts). While the whole flower power kind of thing died out in so many ways, we didn’t see the age of Aquarius, some of the ideas did stick. One of the things about formal dress codes is that they are a kind of uniform, that breeds in (at least in the minds of many) being a cog in the machine, etc My first job I worked nights, so it didn’t matter, but when I switched to days back in the late 80’s, we wore jackets and ties/suits and ties for the first couple of years, and many of us commented on how uncomfortable it was, and also ridiculous, given we were in tech, not sales, and were also working long hours. It is telling that when Lew Gerstner was brought in to shake up IBM, one of the first things he did was get rid of their dress code, the old blue suit, white shirt and solid color tie nonsense they were famous for, and he said he did it deliberately to get rid of the herd of lemmings/group think mentality (on the other hand, if you ever went to IBM research labs, very different world, wonder half the genius-weirdos working there even were wearing pants lol).
Until the 1960’s almost, people dressed up to go to baseball and football games. Funniest story I remember was a friend of mine, who grew up in NYC on Third ave when it was a kind of tough Irish enclave (he would be near 70 now, maybe a little older), he said his dad would be shooting pool in a local pool hall, and would always do so in a three piece outfit with a hat, it amazed him (my friend was funny, he was in the air force in the 1960’s, at one of our "secret’ bases in Thailand were weren’t supposed to have, and they would have idiot officers chiding them for not wearing ‘appropriate’ uniforms, meanwhile they are sweaty and dirty arming the planes and making sure they are okay in 98 degree, humid heat in the jungle, so of course they were in t shirts and light pants…they soon learned, though, the ground guys have very good ways of making a pilot think twice about being uptight…:).
I have that that formal wear actually made things more egalitarian, but I think that the reason people went casual is that the nature of work has changed, our lives have blurred, and we would rather have what we wear be comfortable rather than a statement of being part of a machine or something.
Interesting. Here in Southern California, it’s definitely more casual. For football games if it’s hot you’ll see most folks in shorts and t-shirts/tank tops. When it drops below 65, we bundle up like it’s below freezing. I can’t imagine dressing up for the tailgate/game like they do at say Ole Miss.
4 - I haven't seen any men here in the west wearing red or pink pants. Must be a NE thing. But in Spain it was very popular. I'm talking in town, not on the golf course.
I went to Michigan in the late 70’s–no dressing up for games there! I really agree that it’s more a regional thing than a time thing.
That being said, there’s east coast and there’s east coast. I live on the east coast and have never heard of, or, as far as i know, seen “Nantucket Reds” in my life. thankfully. 
I live in a preppy suburb so we do see pink and green, pretty familiar with that. Hard to describe, you’d have to see the particular shades. Think shades of pickle green and maybe some shade of peony pink? The point about the shoes was that when I saw the shoes it was evident that it was not someone that was colorblind but seemed intentional.
I live on the West Coast and went to a Labor Day party this weekend with a fairly preppy crowd. Saw a couple of pairs of what I’d consider the Nantucket red pants or shorts. They are basically faded red twill pants, in the color of red pants that have faded from numerous washings.
If you describe the socks, I’ll be able to tell you which one of my sons you saw out and about.
I have to disagree with Tatin (post #3). I spent some time in Spain a few years ago, and especially in Madrid, I could always tell the Spanish from the US tourists. The Spanish rarely wore sneakers – just nice leather shoes or boots. No sweatshirts or casual jackets – leather or cloth coats. I’ve always felt that Europeans dressed nicer than Americans.
I’ve really seen an evolving dress code for Broadway shows. Used to be people got dressed up. Now, you see torn jeans and T-shirts.
Now it’s workout clothes, or “athleisure.” Yoga pants everywhere.
I am on the east coast. I have 2 sons. One doesn’t wear anything more exciting than black or grey sweats, black or blue jeans, and very standard colored dress pants (grey, blue, blue). Other son has many different colors of pants, and many pairs of shoes and funky socks. The socks are quite the thing around here these days.
@tating,
I’m surprised that you couldn’t pick out the Americans in Spain. I have heard (from my friend who visits Spain quite often and his Spanish wife tends to leave America for Spain for 3-4 months each year) that the way you pick out the American is that it is anyone who is wearing athletic shoes.
A book came out in the 60’s about the changing American class system. Wish I could remember the name; it was on my dad’s shelf and I read it more than once. The gist is that clothing used to send the essential social signals of class but that fell apart as the richer started to dress down rather than up. The change was also portrayed in cartoons: the middle managers wearing suits and the principals in slacks and a sweater. Power enabled the ability to define one’s own dress code. As I remember the descriptions included “class x” or something like that: the person wearing ratty jeans on the plane or into the high-end store might be the one who has the most money, who buys $10k worth of stuff.
One change was in the nature of shop service. It used to be that clothes told the help your class so they knew which attitude to take to you. With the unknowable class types, shop help had no clue what to do so rather than fawn over everyone they started to ignore everyone (unless obviously known to them either personally or by wealth signifiers). Note this was and is more true of younger people; older generations tend to be more worried about “mistreatment”, meaning being taken for a lower class or ignored, so they tend to dress with more obvious wealth signals.
A side product I’ve noticed is that this “ignore you” style fit the expanding world of retail: as customers from other races and ethnicities than basic white became more common, the “ignore you” style let the shops include them.
And another side product is that dressing up came to be seen as something done by older people, which makes it less attractive to younger people, when in the old days younger people emulated the style of dress of the elders of their socio-economic class - with some differences of course to signify youth.
I’m obviously only scratching the surface.
I do not know where you all live, but all of my kids have dress codes at work. D2 works for a large asset management firm in Boston. Can’t wear sleeveless, must wear pantyhose, and open toe shoes can only show 3 toes showing. D1 in NYC, also working in finance, was at one timed criticized for leaving the office after work in flip flops and having brightly colored toenails. Son must wear a tie to work.
I personally like to dress up more than down for work, going to the theater, out to dinner on a Sat. night and to travel. I love how Europe is dressier and more formal in dress and at meals. In Europe we get crystal bowls for jelly and butter and cloth tablecloths and napkins for breakfast. It feels so elegant. In the US we get jelly and fake milk for coffee in little plastic containers and paper placemats. It is so cheap and tacky. I am talking about places that are on an equal level financially.
Those kinds of dress codes seem so dated to me. My clients - all Fortune 50 companies - are all uniformly business casual and have been for years. I only have 2 suits in my closet at this point and even so I’d most likely wear them as separates. Can’t remember the last time a client wire a tie.
“Might it have something to do with our individualistic, cavalier ethos – we want to wear what we want to wear, shunning form/fashion and going more for personal satisfaction and comfort?”
No, I think it’s a regional tradition - Southerners dress up for college football and Northerners don’t. I think it’s as simple as that. No broader life meaning, just a regional distinction.
What do Southerners wear to pro football games though? To me what i’d wear to a pro football and college football game are indistinguishable - sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers, something with team colors, etc.
I just looked at Pinterest - wow, what a regional difference! It would never have occurred to me to wear a dress and boots just to clamber around a set of bleachers! I guess maybe it’s what one defines as a special event? Anyway it looks fun. Maybe I’ll get to experience a Southern college football game one of these days.
I can tell the tourists from other states when I am in NYC - especially when at the theater. Tourist’s dress like they are at the bus station.
S works at a multi-national Fortune 200 company in Boston and dress is very casual - not even business casual… Even the CEO dresses casually.
The locals do not dress much better. It surprises me that people will spend over $100/ticket and won’t put in a little effort to appear somewhat presentable.