To wonder why there are so many scruffy people these days

[Quirrelsotherface]

I've been looking through old photographs lately, from the 20's through to 60's probably, my grandparents era. What I absolutely couldn't get over was the amount of people who were so well dressed back then! There were group photos, photos of streets with lots of people in the background and to be honest, I couldn't really pick a scruffy looking one out of any of them. Not particularly affluent areas, just everyday public. The clothes, though, look expensive and well cut, the men in hats and the women with beautiful haircuts. Beautiful coats and shoes.

Why then, these days do we not have this pride in appearance that they had back then? Walk out now in any town and smart people are really in the minority.

AIBU to wonder why this is?

In the case of the pictures both Xenia and I posted, they definitely wore them often. They were too poor to have clothes they didn’t wear.

My elderly dad has smart suit trousers from the 80s/ 90s that wash up well and look so smart. They were expensive , but well made and from a proper ' gentlemen's outfitters' that do not seem to exist in normal high streets any more. Bought to last.

I prefer being comfortable so today's more casual clothes suits me. Cheaper clothes don't last as long, but it's all most people can afford! My mum also used to wear scarves on her head ; you rarely see that these days , but her hair lasted longer between washes! People were also much slimmer years ago; most clothes look bad on me as I'm a weird shape and overweight!

Because everything has been dumbed down and there are no common values. Nobody can be shamed for lacking manners/looking scruffy because everyone has rights but no responsibilities.

Bought to last.

Brings to mind a recent visit to the Levi's shop. I've got pairs of Levi's I've had for donkey's years, including a pair older than my daughter who is in her 20's. I was surprised at the really bad quality of most of their women's jeans, really thin, stretchy as hell and don't look like they would last very long compared to the good quality ones I've owned for ages. The men's aren't so bad, well the non stretch ones at any rate.

I think being clean and smelling nice is more important than not looking scruffy. I think we owe it to those around us to shower and have nice breath and use deodorant - that affects other people far more than whether someone has see through leggings or hasn't polished their shoes! I'd rather be me, in leggings and a long top, but clean and smelling nice, than a 1940's woman in a pretty but unwashed dress!
I don't mind if people wear pyjamas on the school run or to Tesco, but I do think they should be clean ones and not the ones they slept in.
I don't understand why people wear see through leggings though, when you can get non see through ones for £8. And I do think that collapsing fuggs should be kept as slippers only.

I'd love for it to be so completely normal not to wear a bra that nobody notices or gives it a second thought - one of my great joys in life is getting home and taking my bra off!

On the bank holiday Monday I went to see Evita at the open air theatre in Regents’ Park. I was really struck by how beautifully-dressed most people were- women in lovely print sundresses and heeled sandals, young men in shirts and chinos and maybe linen jackets, older ladies in linen trousers and scarves, older chaps in blazers and chinos and even the odd fedora. Tickets were not cheap so we were looking at a fairly affluent slice of society though.

I think pictures from older generations look more formal, but then most aspects of life have got less formal:
Previous generations would have baulked at the idea of serving a meal on trays on their laps. (My auntie in her 80s said we would get fish and chips once and we were amazed that she laid the table, warmed plates in the oven and we all ate with knives and forks)
Children called their friends parents mr or mrs whereas now would use first names.
Relationships (especially parent/child) relationships seem less formal. or maybe thats just my family

@Xenia your poor great-Granny indeed. What a tough life. Your great grandad looks in that pick like he might not be wearing a tie, and possibly the collar has been detached from his shirt. Is that right, or is it just the light? Interesting contrast to the son, also interesting how they all had waistcoats in those days.

I love this one of my Dad aged about 7 with his auntie in Trafalgar Square- they must have been on holiday but he has been dressed in a shirt and tie and she has her lovely dress and court shoes on.. It would be c. 1954

I think if this were true, it would be a good thing that we are less focussed on appearances. But actually, society is just as obsessed and judgemental as it ever was with how people look and dress. It's just that the details have changed. Instead of being made to feel like a social outcast for not wearing formal clothes or gloves, people are now judged on looking old because they haven't had procedures done, or wearing 'mum boots' or the wrong kind of jeans.

I think it’s actually a tartan tie! My Granny was a lifelong Scottish nationalist so she probably insisted that he fly the flag when Down South!

As far as I know this wasn’t a special event like a wedding and the people in the background are just unconnected tourists. All dressed up to the nines.

A normal Sunday afternoon in the park in the late 1950s.

The post is going to be generally about women when it's women posting. There have been several comments about men if you rtft.

Lovely to see the old photos.
My great granny lost:-

1. Margaret (diarrhoea and convulsions nearly 6 months of age), 2.Mary Elizabeth (6 weeks - actue Tuberculosis),
2. Benjamin ( died at 2 months - after 2 weeks of diarrhoea and then 24 hours of convulsions),
3. Henrietta May (died at 4 months, - inherent deibility and diarrhoea)
4. Gordon (died 2 months - infantile convulsions and general deibility) all within their first year of life or at birth. I have all their death certs. 6. Isabella died at 21 years after an operation for appendicitis in hospital. She seems to have lived with her granny (perhaps because her mother had had such a hard time of all the baby deaths) for some of the time and is not on the photo.

Actually she had 9 children, not 10.

That just left 3. My granny who is the youngest on the picture was the last child born in 1892.

Yer on the other side of the family my great granny had 11 of which 10 all grew up. Perhaps she just washed her hands more so there was less infection spreading or something basic like that or cleaner water.

[I have got slightly off topic.....]

I have read the whole thread

Whilst some of it is about society as a whole and how appearances have changed, there continues to be some shameful comments about women’s appearances by other women that are degrading and unnecessary. I do hope that no one finds themselves so skint they only have one pair of £10 fake uggs to last them all through winter and can’t afford to replace or upgrade their thin leggings

Here is another one - my other great granny - she died in 1906 so it was from before then and my grandfather is the young man on the photo. Sadly we don't know the other 3 - probably 2 of her 3 daughters but not sure who the little girl is as she didn't live to see her grandchildren. I can see she has put something into her hair and also put on a cape thing to look smart for the photo. It was probably taken about 1900 as my grandfather was born in 1880 and he looks about 20.

When we were bringing our first child back to the UK to meet her grandparents for the first time my late mother apparently insisted that my father wore a 'proper' shirt and tie, You can't let her see you in your usual stuff!
I think that there wasn't the choice and variety of relatively cheap clothes, young people were dressed as mini versions of their parents. It was only in the 60s that things changed and young people were able to have their own style.

Xenia

It's heart breaking how many families lost lots of children. I transcribe old registers for an on-line site and have seen on the same page 4 young children and their mother died. We have so much to be grateful for, many don't appreciate this.

Look at the teeny waist of the woman on the right @Xenia! She does look like it’s quite uncomfortable though.

@PookieDo you can buy cheap jeans etc in Asda/Primark for about £8, there really is no excuse for see through leggings imo

@SheSaidNoFuckThat

That is exactly the problem you don't seem to be able to see. Why is "I'm not bothered whether my leggings are see through or not and it's not harming anyone" not a good enough "excuse"? Why do strangers need an excuse for wearing what they want to wear in your presence? You claim it is for their own benefit but if they are not bothered by it, it is very clear you feel they should have to dress a certain way for your sake.

I feel people should have a bit of pride and self respect and not force me to see their pink spotty knickers showing through their leggings when I'm walking behind them

@SheSaidNoFuckThat

And they are usually a horrible fit for £8. I wouldn’t wear them, they aren’t comfortable.

Whereas a mum in £2.50 leggings who is running after kids all day, they don’t take long to dry when washed, they fit and don’t show the dirt as much is probably already aware she doesn’t look so great but doesn’t have many choices in life. People don’t go around wearing see through leggings and pink pants as a ‘look’ exactly, either they are skint or they are just unaware they are seethrough. Usually people don’t tend to analyse their own bums very often

I don't find it depressing at all that people take less "pride in their appearance". Even if that's true, why is it such a bad thing? Being less judgy about superficial things is one of the few ways in which we have become more civilized.

@SheSaidNoFuckThat

No, you're only actually bothered about the second half of that statement and them wearing what YOU would be proud to wear, because if they have pride and self respect in what they are currently wearing, that wouldn't be good enough for you.

Doesn't take much to check your rear view in a mirror does it, people don't care - that's the whole point of the post