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?

A lot of those photos would have been people on holiday, as someone upthread said, people didn't have as many clothes, so you would have your work clothes and your "good" clothes, casual clothing as we know it didn't really exist for working people. So if you were on holiday at the seaside you wouldn't want to wear your work clothes so you would wear your best clothes so you looked smart and felt grand for a week.

This, absolutely.
Even as a child in the late 60s / into the 70s, you'd have school uniform, 'Sunday best', and your 'kicking about the garden clothes', not the gazillions of clothes my dc have always had.

It also used to be seen as very important to have well polished shoes. And a clip on tie was seen as very tacky. I wore a tie everyday to school and had to learn how to tie it myself.

For some women, looking good was their job. If you had help in the house, children at school and playing independently outside afterwards, groceries delivered, and your husband earned the money, you would have time to look impeccable every time you left the house to do a little shopping or voluntary work. I get into my clothes at 6.30 am, get the children ready and out, start my long commute, work in the office minimum 10 - 6, get back at 8 or later unless I'm doing something else as well and get back nearer midnight. Who wants to wear longline shapewear and high heels for that long? Can you, day in and day out, and stay well enough to keep doing it all?

Many women used to rest during the day, it was understood that they were not to be disturbed - I hypothethise because they had taken their long bra and girdle off because it would kill you if you wore it all day, and they needed a break before emerging in it again for tea / dinner

Another point is that the typical look of the film star/model used to be highly polished and groomed. 'Scruffy' clothes were a statement of rebellion - rather than something you would see on the catwalk as a style statement.

I was brought up in a poor working class family in the 60s, we didn’t have very many clothes, but the ones we did have were better quality than a lot I see now
Both DM and her DM, knitted, sewed and crocheted some items
We did have Sunday best clothes and party/occasion wear
Now I’m in my 50s I probably dress smarter than when I was younger, spend much more on quality items, wear heels or smart flats and a lot of dresses
It’s just a style I suit and enjoy wearing
I don’t possess any sportswear other than swimwear

Yes that is why things like punk were so shocking because you had pretty young women making themselves look scruffy deliberately.

Not ironing? Seems to be very popular on MN .

Life is so much harder for younger ones now, may be that why they wear cheap rags

Trouble is, those rags aren't always cheap - the hands-down-the-trousers lads at our bus station today were in designer labels from head to toe. They might have been fakes I guess, but the "real thing" would still have looked like something only fit for cleaning the drains

I now buy better quality clothes than when I was younger. If you don't buy many clothes,it costs me no more, in fact less, than when I used to try and keep up with fashion.

The rhetoric of the late 60s of lots of older people towards youths often included the phrase ‘dirty hippy’.

I went clubbing in heels once and was in agony afterwards. I can't walk in them unless they're kitten heels. I had to wear courts when I was in a kids' choir and climbing up the stairs of various churches in those things was a nightmare (we toured Poland and the Czech Republic and had to go into church galleries and sing a couple of songs up there).

Also, I never wore Versace or whatever because I couldn't afford it. I was one of the few kids in my high school who wasn't obsessed with labels.

Agree that scruffy clothes can be very expensive. I used to work in a creative agency and most of the men wore scruffy black denims and T-shirt's that cost a fortune. It wasn't lack of money that made them look scruffy.

I agree OP. I never saw anyone leaving the house and walking around in their dressing gown and slippers until recently, but I've seen it three times in the past year - the most recent time today! People who can't even be arsed to get into their clothes are a wholly new thing to me. Utter slobs.

You do know that women in the past in working class areas would nip out to the shop in a dressing gown and slippers?

There was always a range of levels in societies in all areas in the UK and probably all over the world.
I saw the photos of Glasgow and there were other cities mentioned. I had relatives in Glasgow years back and they did not look like those children or adults and their houses did not look like any in the photos. I have seen photos of my Glasgow relatives from about 1880 through to about 1980s. Those photos on this thread are not representative of what I have seen.

I do think people were better dressed in the past. I have looked at photos of family members and wished those clothes were packed away somewhere. I doubt if I am slim enough to wear them if they were available to me. There seems to have been a type of photographer who would be around holiday destinations who would take photos of people walking around. It is from these photos that I see how well dressed people were on a daily basis.

I'm so glad we're all free to wear whatever we please without all these stupid social conventions. Heels hurt my feet. My Fitflop leather clogs probably look 'scruffy' but they cost a fortune and keep my plantar fasciitis in check.

I agree

Neither my mum nor my gran had much money or many clothes but they both had a great sense of style, “took pride in themselves” and aspired to be “well groomed”. That meant well polished shoes and everything ironed, they mended their clothes if hems came down or seams unstitched and had their shoes reheeled. They both looked amazing well into old age.

The children in those photos were living in slum areas. Those photos are very representative of those times. Of course if your family were better off they would not look like that.

I should probably explain that this thread touched a nerve because I have a lot of issues with how I look, and because my mum was constantly having a go at me as a child for not caring enough about my appearance. I got bullied a lot over it as well by other girls. I tried to get into make-up just to be 'normal', but I hate it. I like wearing it for gigs, even though I end up looking like a raccoon, but I don't see the point just to go shopping. I'm not going on the pull. I mean, I could go round dressed like a prom queen every day, I have got nice clothes, but it's not me. I can't force myself to be more feminine just to please some strangers. And I do wash and tie my hair back, I'm very conscious about hygiene.

Another thing you saw a lot of in the 60s and early 70s was women at the local shops with a head scarf over hair in curlers.

Most people only had photos taken at weddings or on holiday. You are right, photographer used to walk about holiday destinations asking people if they wanted their photo taken. People were always dressed up when they were doing this. I have photos of my grandparents taken on holiday. My gran looks very glamorous. She did not look like that every day.

Phil I think the pressure in the past to look a certain way was horrible. I am glad that now we can choose how we dress.