The Michigan Review

The Way You Wear Your Hat ...

by Lee Bockhorn

If clothes make the man, as the saying goes, then the clothing of today’s college students is producing some interesting specimens. A quick visual tour of the U-M campus will reveal various strands of “grunge,” “hip-hop,” sorority-chick and frat-rat cool, and an incredible array of outrageous hairstyles, exotic tatoos, and garish makeup. Today’s youth view their outward appearance as a primary means to “express” themselves, and have elevated this notion to a “right” which must be vigorously defended; witness the inevitable outraged reaction at any high school which dares to institute a dress code. Yet, looking at present fashion trends one wonders exactly what it is that people are trying to express.

Things were not always like this. Go rent a movie from the 1930s or 40s, or, if you’re not inclined to believe Hollywood’s perception of reality, find a newspaper photo of downtown New York or Chicago during the same era; you’ll see that everyone dressed up — and this was a time when people didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on clothes. People simply cared about how they looked. On college campuses, students and professors were actually required to wear coats and ties or nice dresses to class.

The average student today might chuckle at the thought of wearing a coat and tie to class, but there is a reason why this was once the norm. It was not, as we might think, intended to induce “conformity” or stifle the “expression” of students; rather, it evolved from a basic belief that one’s choice of clothing for any given occasion reflects the import and gravity one assigns to it, because outward appearances do matter. Just as we choose more formal architecture for buildings intended for higher purposes — we do not use the same design for the Capitol building and a McDonald’s — we choose more formal attire for occasions we wish to imbue with more meaning and significance. Thus, we do not wear ripped jeans and tank tops to a wedding, just as we do not sport tuxedos and evening gowns to a monster-truck rally. In the case of universities, students and professors once wore formal attire to signify, if only subconsciously, that they believed the activity they were engaged in — the pursuit of knowledge — was a serious undertaking. Today, we attend classes looking like slobs but dress up to go to a dance club, which suggests a disturbing inversion of priorities. Our esteemed professors are no better, as the tweeds and wingtips of their predecessors have been unceremoniously dumped in favor of Birkenstocks and bermuda shorts. In light of this demonstration of an apparent lack of commitment by professors, it is no surprise that many students spend their class time doing almost anything (drooling, Daily crossword puzzles) besides paying attention. This is not to say that seriousness of intellectual purpose goes hand in hand with formal attire. I have personally had some tremendous teachers, from grade school through college, who came to class looking more like they were preparing to paint a house than to share wisdom. Nevertheless, I think it is safe to generalize that students will be apt to take more seriously a professor who chooses to dress respectably for his classes.

Ultimately our sartorial deficiencies reflect our overall nonchalant attitude towards life. In this era of “whatever,” our brains are as slovenly tailored as our bodies with all sorts of slip-shod, overworn, and ill-fitting ideas. One could have the “chicken or the egg” argument all day about whether the ideas influence the clothes or vice versa, but there’s no question that casual clothes are conducive to casual minds. One day, it no longer seems to matter what a person wears to school or work; it’s “just clothes.” The next day, it no longer seems to matter what a person does or thinks, no matter how abhorrent; it’s an “alternative lifestyle.”

The loss of good sense about dressing for the occasion is thus an extension of an overall decline in what I like to call the “little decencies” — those small but significant practices which a civilized society uses to distinguish itself from the beasts of the field and sea. You may have heard them referred to as “good manners.” And contrary to prevailing opinion these days, no matter how ingenious a society’s laws or constitution, or how prosperous it may be, if it lacks these intangible yet essential graces the descent to barbarity is swift and certain. If you doubt that dress and manners can be this crucial, consider two examples: first, school uniforms. Almost every school district in the country which has adopted uniforms has seen a concomitant increase in academic performance and discipline. And in New York City, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani has overseen a dramatic decrease in crime largely by clamping down not only on obvious things like murder and robbery, but also on the seemingly “harmless” crimes like jaywalking, subway turnstile-jumping, and public defecating, which, when taken as a whole, produce an atmosphere of disorder which allows crime and brutality to flourish.

Even disregarding the societal benefits, well-honed dress and manners make life pleasant in many other ways. Who doesn’t enjoy being addressed as “ma’am” or “sir,” or hearing the words “please” and “thank you” when asked to do something? And as for all of you gentlemen out there desperate for female companionship, there’s a reason why the Cary Grants and Fred Astaires of the old Hollywood were obsessed with dressing well: there isn’t a man on earth who doesn’t look his best and most appealing to the ladies in a well-tailored suit. Any woman who isn’t a radical feminist also still appreciates the little gestures of a man opening a door for her or standing when she enters the room (yes, men actually used to do that). And speaking of the fairer sex, if you ladies out there would trade in the “let-it-all-hang-out” look for more modest yet still attractive outfits, you might not need to spend so much time beating off frat-boy ogres with a stick (or at least, you’ll only attract the more refined and discerning ogres).

So there you have it — a call to arms, so to speak, for all of us to start dressing and behaving like we do give a damn about what other people think.You can call me a dreamer, or perhaps just a fashion tyrant trying to impose his WASPish sense of style on the heathen masses. But I don’t think it’s farfetched to hope that one day students will trade in the baggy jeans for well-pressed pants; the J. Crew flannels and dirty white baseball caps for a smart tie and French cuffs. And maybe, just maybe, the change of clothing will coincide with a change in attitude, and the “whatever” mentality of today’s students will give way to a belief that there are some things in this world — even clothes and ideas — that still deserve to be taken seriously. MR

This article was published in the 7 October 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 17, Number 2).
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