Why don't people dress smartly any more?

[MilkTrayLimeBarrel]

More and more recently, I have noticed that people in general just look scruffy whether for work or leisure. My DH is a prime example of this. He always used to wear a suit and tie or trousers with jacket and tie for work - he looks lovely in a suit - this was one of the things which attracted me to him! Now it's jeans and a t-shirt for work every day (he works in an office so it's not physical work) - and he just looks as if he has fallen out of bed! He tells me that 'nobody' bothers to dress smartly for work any more. Why have standards fallen so far?

Everyone is too busy and too tired.. Plus it is more expensive financially as well as time wise to dress like that.

Or, I should say, the perception is that it is more expensive.. Though wear for wear good quality obviously is not.. Initial outlay though.

I dress smartly, I like to put some thought into what I wear, and most of my clothes and accessories come from charity shops, so it's not a money issue. Lots of people like to look scruffy - they buy ripped jeans that cost more than unripped ones.

Also, my mother always looked smart and she was a single parent to 4 young children, had to work, had no washing machine, no car, no dishwasher, so don't tell me people today are too busy.

Less people facing roles too.

As a general rule, I find that the smarter the clothes, the less comfortable they are. That’s fine for me as I don’t often need to dress smartly. I’m always clean but I like stretchy, comfy clothes. Leggings etc.

Fashions change.

Define smart.

I don't like to dress smartly, I prefer a casual look. I like to stick it to the man.

I don't think he should be expected to wear a suit for work simply because you find it attractive. He should wear what's comfortable and appropriate. If him wearing a suit to work is a big thing for you it's kinda odd.

Where do you work? People dress smartly in my workplace, not necessarily suits, but work dresses with fitted jackets etc (well, not the men, suits for them).
Where I live people dress as though they're in Country Life, usually pretty smartly, though many wear fleeces, trainers etc because of walking their dogs. But "naicer", more stylish fleeces!

Life had become very casual people seem to prioritise comfort.

Whenever I go abroad (pretty much every country I've been to) people tqje prude in their appearances. They look smart and presentable. People in the UK look like complete slobs in comparison. I have no idea why. It never used to be like this. What's happened to the country? Its like standards in everything have declined - clothes, food, manners

That should be take pride in their appearance! Obviously my own standards of writing clearly have slipped!

I think there’s a bit of a realisation happening to people around truly comfortable clothes - why would you wear uncomfortable clothes when there’s such an array of comfy lovely clothes about?!

Agree with you. We have some ladies come in at work in what looks like loose pyjama bottoms and mismatched T-shirt’s and those are front facing roles. Probably more comfortable as pp said.

Completely agree! Standards at work are sloppy now. When I first started working (in a civil service office) we weren’t even allowed to wear trainers to enter the building! This was 15 years ago and standards of dress are declining every year!

People are even casually dressed when attending interviews now and don’t make any effort to dress nicely to go to a bar or restaurant, it’s so lazy.

My clothes are smart and comfortable, the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. I agree that standards generally have declined markedly. It's generally easy to spot the Brits abroad - they're the scruffiest ones.

Smart clothes aren’t usually as comfortable.

Do you wear a suit everyday, OP?

Suits are a pain to get dry cleaned
Ordinary clothes just go in the wash

Suits aren’t cosy or stretchy

Plus you can easily look overdressed in a suit if that is not what others are wearing

I wear scruffy clothes as I like being comfortable

I’m dressing for myself and the things I have to do (eg take dog out)

Comfortable & casual doesn't have to equal slobbish

I think it's about the poor quality of materials available in many cases. Acrylic and polyester in bloody everything on the high street.

I agree with @BeTheRabbit

Perhaps its a "rabbit" thing.

It was always my ambition to have my value at work be completely independent of what I wear. I am very happy at a technology driven company, where some front line staff still have a dress code while 'everyone else' wears what they please.

This suits me much better than the days when I had to buy business suits and have blouses ironed. If anyone tries to tell you that the costs of buying and maintaining good suits and accessories, well I do not know where they are shopping but it won't have been real quality, natural materials.

Comfort, much less cost and easy (throw in the washing machine) maintenance rocks.

The man who services the photocopiers still wears a blue and fine white striped three price suit. It seems he is made to do so by his management in order to fit in to our corporate world. WTF? I encourage him to take some photos around the office to convince them how he sticks out but ....