stay cool

  Fad and fashion. It's something I have never really taken an interest in. That may be because my parents sure didn't and they weren't about to buy me the latest in fad or fashion. As a teenager I did want to be fashionable, as fashionable as I could anyway. Still fashion wasn't at the top of the list and so I adopted an attitude about that. I told myself a lot of that fashionable stuff was just plain stupid looking. The truth is, sometimes it was. But at the same time, I did want to fit in, be cool as it was called back in the day. That's still what they say to this very day, that's how cool my generation is. Classic, ageless and cool. I notice the fashion the kids are wearing today, and I get it, it's nice to be young. It's nice when you believe you are expressing yourself, being who you are, just like everyone else. That's the funny part about all of that. Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I'm just being me. It is something that stays with some people throughout their lives and with others they just settle in to one fashion sense. 

  In days past you could tell a lot about a person from the way they dressed. That's where we get the blue collar/white collar thing from. And beyond that what they were wearing could identify their occupations. That was true with most of the blue-collar crowd, not so much with the white suits and ties guys though. Mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, farmers or whatever. It was pretty easy to take a guess and be right about 90% of the time. That is still true today to an extent. Uniforms were once a thing too. I remember the milk man, the oil delivery guy and the service station attendants. All wore a uniform of sorts. That still exists at the fast food places today. That's because they are professionals. Isn't that funny? Well, the defining of a professional has changed somewhat I suppose. You could say it went back to the basic requirement for being a professional; you get paid to do whatever it is you are doing. Today true professionals will not be told what to wear! They are liberated and casual Fridays are an institution now. Personal dress and grooming habits are no longer dictated. Call it progress. 

  Today I think people are wearing a costume more than uniforms. I think that is true with work attire of all types these days. What I mean is people are dressing more to project an image of what they perceive themselves to be than what job they are doing. You have your traditionalists. Those that wear the style of dress associated with their trade. They are dressing for success. But you might have someone dressed like a cowboy doing an office job. Maybe they have tattoos and wear a leather vest they perceive themselves as a biker, they might be an attorney. That's what I'm thinking about. We all dress according to what image we want to project, as much as we can, except those that are concerned with fad and fashion that is, they wear whatever is in style. Even then they want to be perceived as "hip." But that particular term doesn't enjoy the staying power of being cool. I have heard of hipsters but don't believe I've met any. Guess they don't hang out in Greensboro, Md. 

  It is true that our clothing, our manner of dress sends a message. It always has and always will. We get to choose that message most of the time. In the past your employer and indeed society in general, had a bigger influence on all of that. It is about projecting an image. When I worked at the grocery store as a teenager, I was expected to wear a shirt and tie and no jeans. This is a grocery store not a garage! There were certain requirements in school as well. All that has been relaxed as we have made progress. Individual expression is what we call that. What is the message you wish to send? I'm thinking for the majority of us after we reach a certain age or social position that message becomes an unconscious thing. It only comes to mind when it is time to dress for a particular occasion or event. There is formal attire and informal attire. I have heard about semi-formal as well. Then, just the other day I learned there is business casual. From what I could gather business casual is what we used to wear to school when I was a kid. What we called our school clothes. We changed out of those into our play clothes when we got home or on the weekends. 

  Whatever we were wearing it did project a message to others. It was a visual clue about us and our personal likes or dislikes. That really accelerated with the invention of the screen-printed tee shirts. They weren't the first but in the 1960's graphic tee shirts really became a thing. That hasn't changed much and has spread to putting graphics on all types of clothing. It is the most direct way of sending your message. The topics being supported, or vilified, are almost endless. I read where the earliest printed tee shirts were worn by members of the Army. As veterans some began to wear them in the civilian world. It was a signal, I'm a veteran. That could prove to be an attraction, send a certain message, especially following WW2. Then it spread to supporting bands and products. Walking billboards of sorts! The beauty of that was the free advertising and in some cases the products being advertised were selling the tee shirts to advertise their products! That continues to this very day. And the latest thing to advertise on your tee shirt or any other article of clothing is your sexual preference. 

  Yup, sending out a message for certain. The line can get blurred between fad, fashion and activism. Mixed messaging. There is support and there is tolerance. Different things entirely. Then there is tacit support without personal conviction. That's the ones wanting to be perceived in a certain manner, often contrary to what they actually believe or support. Those are the ones just wanting to be cool. Peer pressure, societal pressure or whatever being the driving force behind all of that. If you watch science fiction movies, in the future we will all be wearing a uniform. That uniform will identify us as human beings, earthlings to be exact. That will be the sole message. Although even on Star Trek different uniforms identified their occupation, their place in society. There is still a social pecking order as well. The thing is with those uniforms the message being sent will be the same. Everyone is supporting the same thing, the same mission. No more individual choices, no individual nations, no individual cultures, cliques or groups! We are all the same. Well, except for occasional aliens, they are always an issue.