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?

If anyone is interested in fashions of the "olden days" and what went into producing the looks that we see in photos, these two YouTube channels are really good. They esch have videos from all different eras and various social classes plus the commentary explains a bit about the clothing, how it was worn, why it was worn, etc.

www.youtube.com/user/priorattire

www.youtube.com/user/CrowsEyeProductions

Well I am a complete scruff bag, elasticised waist trousers and shorts all the way!
But I try to be kind and helpful to everyone, so who really cares. I need to be comfortable. Am currently off to the gym in my baggy zebra leggings, stripey t shirt and pink fleece...

Camomila Speaking of nice cotton dresses...I'm jealous of school girl checked dresses for the summer...nice cool cotton, knee length, sleeves so you don't get sunburn on your shoulders, buttons so you can breastfeed

Me too! They are so easy and comfy (and no ironing required)

Just dug out my 'Best of Jackie Magazine' book ... in 1975, a pair of jeans from Dorothy Perkins cost £4.50.

That's the equivalent of around £40 today, so perhaps that's where the £40 came from?

I am a scruff at times. I don't care. I am glad that unlike my gran I don't have social pressure from neighbours and relatives to dress up. And that I don't after doing housework, have to change into smarter clothes to buy a pint of milk at the local shop. I am always clean, and comfortable

This morning I threw on a pair of jeans in a rush to make it to aqua aerobics.... they were those slightly ripped ones which got caught on a kitchen handle the other day and ripped dramatically more. And I mean dramatically. They were only supposed to last me in and out of the pool, but then I got busy all day and didn’t end up changing them. I look AWFUL. If dictionaries had pictures I’d be the one next to the word “scruffy”.

Sorry OP!

I promise I make an effort for things that need it!

Mass overseas production in cheaper fabrics would have been underway by then.

Lots of women in the 30s-60s made their own clothes. And their children’s clothes. Sewing machines were a highly desirable electronic - I remember mum throwing away her treadle machine, which was operated by her pumping away with her feet, because dad bought her a second hand electric singer. She made summer dresses for herself and skirts/frocks for us. She made a dressing gown for my dad, and covers for our trendy new-fangled ‘continental quilts’ (duvets).

Fuck me, I’m turning into a right bore. As you were.

MrsIron I debated buying myself an age 13/14 to wear on holidays abroad but just couldn't do it!

Nowadays people spend hours manipulating their appearance on social media. Not only are physical photos completely adjusted, but whole lives are presented and displayed in the best possible light.

Nothing has changed. we sneer at the 'olden times' dressing up to go anywhere, but we are in the grip of the same thing, only far worse.

Scruffy? Or liberated?

Dressing in the 20s to 60s is similar to India in the modern day. Clothes made for the ‘everyman’ tend to be custom made with good natural materials and must be hardwearing as they cost a huge chunk of the average monthly or weekly wage.

Presumably there are fewer photos of less wealthy people as cameras weren't as common and films costly and faffy to print.

I'm a scruff, possibly. I'm a support work so wear jeans and trainers most days, don't have the money for hair and nails to be done, have nowhere to wear a wool suit.

Watch CTM and love the office wear the wonen wear. But I'm probably never going to work in an office.

Wow, @Venger, that priorattire link is fab. I've just watched 1740s, middling sort - imagine sweating your way through the menopause in that lot! On the other hand, much better in a cold draughty house than a pair of jeans.

Certainly in my place of work the dress code has changed over the years, when I first started it was frowned upon for a woman to wear trousers, smart skirt and blouse were the thing, men had to wear shirt and tie, now we get away wearing smart casual, and dress down Friday, any jeans will do with slogan T-shirt’s, not sure if it’s cause we are now an American company or not, have been there a long time.....

getting your picture taken was a special thing. People dressed up for it.

Plenty of street scene photos showing people dressed well, even photos of huge groups of workers leaving factories/mills. Same with seaside photos. You'd be hard pressed to see a man without a tie.

I am so glad you have raised this.
I have noticed how during WW 11 the girls who worked in factories especially in engineering jobs had immaculate hair.
Yes a lot had permed hair but in film of WW 11 the girls looked well -'glamorous'.
Ok they didn't have FB to distract them or TV and had plenty of time for personal grooming but even so!
Went to a local pub the other evening in a very decent location and frankly the clientele looked like they had been dragged through a hedge backward. It was a Saturday night and people did used to pull the stops out on Saturday, but not anymore.

Oh I remember 'those days'. When I was a young child (late'50s-early '60s US) Mum & I would go to our local shops in slacks or capris. If we were going shopping 'in the City' (Los Angeles) she would wear a dress, stockings, and nice shoes and I would have to wear a dress. BUT if we were visiting relatives in San Francisco, she'd wear a dress, stockings, heels, hat, and gloves if we were going just about anywhere. And I'd be wearing 'Sunday best'. At family holiday parties the men all wore suits and the ladies 'Sunday dresses'. The girls wore dresses and the boys wore nice trousers and button up shirts.

I'd say this all started to change in the early '70s. By the mid-70s no one dressed up to go to 'The City', even SF. Same for family parties. Some times I actually miss it, but most of the time I'm so glad to be able to be comfortable.

I blame the hipsters...

I think it's a British thing. DH and I commented that both in Italy last year (predictably) and in Berlin this year people looked better turned out than at home. As a PP said, the British (myself included) don't really know how to dress. More fashion than style.

Depends where you go - business district, everybody smart, fairground - not so much.

I think it is easier to look smart in autumn-winter as a good coat covers everything up!

My mum was born in 1923. When she was going out somewhere dressy, she wore heels, stockings, her 'best dress' (of which there were 2 - a summer cotton and a winter wool one with a velvet collar. She had one winter coat that she wore every day and a few hand-knitted cardigans. When she wasn't going out anywhere special she 'wore up' dresses from 3-4 years ago, usually with a wrap-round apron over the top and quite often slippers instead of shoes.

Catch her on a 'going out' day for a photo and she looked like a film star. Any other day, it'd be unlikely there'd be photos. Photos of the 40s and 50s aren't an accurate repersentation of what the working class wore.

Don't forget that underneath those smart 40s and 50s outfits were awful underclothes, especially for women. Corsets or roll-ons, suspenders, badly fitting bras that thought breasts were shaped like rocket nose cones, knickers with elastic that was liable to give up the ghost and loose its grip (!), and unless you were well off stockings had a tendency to do a Norah Batty , or ladder if you touched them. Lots of stuff made from nylon, full of static and little electric shocks!

I went to the recent Mary Quant exhibition, and even the early underwear she designed was grim by today's standards. A roll on for a swinging sixties girl Mary? WHat were you thinking! I can remember when tights started to appear as a fashion item, they were very expensive, and had baggy crotches that did nothing for your self confidence. MQ stuff improved very fast, she did make manufacturers sit up and smell the coffee, but todays stuff is light years away from how it used to be. Thank heavens.

One thing I have noticed is that up until probably the 1990s, clothes were much more age-defined - you'd be unlikely to see a woman in her 40s wearing the same style of clothing as a woman in her early 20s. There was a definite over-50s style too (beige, beige and more beige).

Personally, I think it's good that that's been eroded, and no one bats an eye-lid if someone middle-aged or older dresses in a youthful style.

However, it does mean fewer twin-sets and the like, and a more casual vibe across the age-groups which might account for the OP's observations.

I was roundly criticised on another thread for suggesting the OP could look at women wearing great clothes at “society” weddings and Royal Ascot to get inspiration regarding what to wear to a wedding. We have these images at our fingertips so when, on the odd occasion, we need to look smart, it’s s good way to look at what type of outfit might work. The High Street copies these clothes so why not check them out for ideas? I was laughed at and ridiculed but it really is saying, we will wear what we want whether it’s appropriate or not. Older people didn’t do this. Women knew what hat to wear. What shoes looked good with a Dior style midi dress etc. It was second nature. Now women want to wear what they want whether it’s suitable for the occasion or not which is a shame in some respects because most days we do wear what we like and no one is looking at us - except the OP of course.

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon, even photos of the 'lower orders' show them in much smarter clothes than is normal now. I have photos of members of my family from 1900-1930: railway employees, clerks, nurses, farm workers, and all of them much more smartly dressed than is usual now.