Fashion (There's a Brand New Dance)

Years ago, my brother and I made a trip to Europe. We were pretty poor then (not that we're rich now) so went on the cheap. That meant that we went in the off-season in November. Yes, the cold off-season. One of the big things I noted was the difference in fashion between Paris and Munich.

In Paris the women (and a few men) dressed in very elegant and skimpy clothes. I distinctly remember this very cute—but fashionable—woman who stood waiting for the bus in freezing weather. Her teeth chattering and her body trembling from the bitter cold.

In Munich the women bundled up in heavy winter coats, scarves and stocking caps and actually seemed to like being out and about in the  breezy, winter weather. Many joining the men in spontaneous snowball fights. In other words, the women in Munich dressed practically and for the weather, the ones in France dressed to be fashionable no matter the weather.

Here in the US the same distinction about fashion applies for the difference between men and women. In other words, there's a big difference.

As noted in a previous blog, women actually dress for other women.  They know that they don't have to dress up to attract a guy. They could just as easily catch our eye with a pair of tight jeans and a cutoff T-shirt as with a fancy Parisian dress. So women don't dress for men, they dress to prove to other women that they are more fashionable—and therefore superior—to other women.

Men will dress to attract a female, but only while in the hunt. I should point out that sometimes men will also dress to prove they are superior, but that's usually in a business setting and again boils down to us being super competitive about everything—as I've mentioned before.  However, the majority of the time we dress to project an image.  Usually, that image is of a macho male. That's why the grunge look caught on so easily.  We wanted to look like tough Paul Bunyan types.

For the most part we guys don't care how we look.  That's why you'll see us lounging around the house in sweats. A female might do this too, but the difference is that if a woman knows another female is about to stop by, she'll either put on fancy leisure clothes or fashionable activewear. A guy wouldn't change his clothes no matter who came over. However, he might hide some of his beer.

You'll also note a clear difference in fashion between men and women at sporting events. Typically men will dress macho-like as mentioned above, or dress in support of their team. You know, team jersey or team-logo T-shirt. If you see a male in a suit at a game it is either because he sneaked out from work or he's going to a friend's wedding as soon as the buzzer sounds.

You may spot women in the stands at a game in team-logo wear too—but only if attending with a male doing the same.  Women

not forced to attend a game by their mate but there on their own volition will either wear very stylish clothes appropriate for a sporting environment, or will wear fashionable clothes they can use to impress their female friends who they'll meet up with at a nightclub after the game. In other words, once again not trying to entice a male, trying to impress females encountered post-game.

So fashion can be complicated. Not for the male, obviously, but for the female. Fashion is situational and will always be something to further distinguish the crazy interaction between the male and female worlds.

 

Ahhh, James Thurber!

We at The Thurber Brigade would like to apologize for this skimpy blog about a complicated issue. Perhaps we'll ad-dress (best pun we could come up with) this further at some other time. However, we strongly believed we needed to get something out there in the blogosphere as there may very well be an upcoming notorious sidestep due to The Orange Top coming to power. We also would like to apologize in advance for that one. Sorry. BTW: yes, the title is in honor of David Bowie. Beep, beep.