Conference quark::mennotes

    I have wondered the same thing, i.e. why are the selections in men's
    clothes so restricted.  Shirts, pants, socks, jackets and sweaters just
    about describes the whole field of selections.  Go into any clothing
    store and notice that 2/3 is women's and 1/3 men's.
    
    I have head it said that "Men dress to be alike, while women dress to
    be different."  Men establish their identity by other things than
    clothes.  The military is prehaps the paramount example of like
    dressing.  Then there are the Japanese men, who have narrowed the field
    to white shirts and dark suits.
    
    In corporate America the corporate uniform is everywhere, except for
    Fridays, which has become the day when the men wear what they would
    like to be wearing the rest of the week.
    
    My opinion:  men's apparel = boring.  Men's selections in apparel = too
    limited.  So waste money or time shopping or worrying about clothes.
    
    Just my two cents
    
    Paul

    <<Why are men so hung up on what we can wear?


Remember when you were a kid, and all the other kids in
the school yard would beat up on you cuz they didn't like
the shoes you wore ????  Maybe that stuck.

    <<Is there a demand for more freedom?

Well Boxers *are* becoming more popular...  however I prefer
the old standard briefs...

I think the emphasis on clothing for appearance is more
important to ladies than it is men...  We're (men) usually
happy with a ratty old T-shirt, a stressed out pair of levi
jeans, and some sneakers...  Stuff to make yor wife cringe
on a sunday morning....  My wife works in a clothing store, and
she goes to work with real nice clothes,,  I come to work in
Jeans, a button shirt, and a pair of hushpuppies... that's
as dressed up as I usually get...  I don't really care...
but that's just me..  

when it comes to work and the corp. uniform, I say "Paahh-LEeeeeEZE..."
I'm an engineer, I'm paid for what I can do with technology,,, what
I wear at work isn't as important for me as it is for someone who
works with customers where one really must look as professional as
possible...  

my .02
/r

    
    
    Men can't wear what they like?
    Where do you guys live? not in the city from the sound of it?
    At work people always seem to dress generic. To blend in.
    But, on your leisure time anything goes, (at least where I come from)
    Especially at night in town (Boston)! 
    New York & L.A. more hip, cool, very trendy!
    
    But I remember the school days when we all had to look alike.
    Military like!
    
    
    
    Bob

    For giggles and grins. Here in NH try going to the beach and watching
    who or what wears what kinda bathing suit. The french Canadians men
    will wear speedos, and the US male population will wear baggie pants.
    And if you try to wear a speedo, and you have a decient bod, you will
    get some wierd looks or its just as a male you might feel unconfortable
    because we tend to blend. 
    
    Dressing for men is a conforming, being a part of, and very right
    boring. I donno if I would personally dress in some wild looking rags,
    but just as a casual observation.
    
    

    Yeah, that's one that really surprised me.  Here in the UK, Speedo
    style swimming trunks are the norm.  Like, really absolutely bog
    standard.  So I was _very_ surprised indeed to hear that they were
    considered "dodgy" across the water...
    
    //atp

    My hair has been about 7 different colours, I used to wear skin tight
    (and I mean skin tight) jeans, shirts, no shirt, pointy black boots,
    sandeals you name it I even wore a kilt a couple of times. When people
    look at you just give a blank stare or maybe yell at them, who cares
    people are just people. It is all a matter of what you want to project
    and then actually pulling it off. Now I just dress in casual loose
    sporty type stuff cause I'm always on the move, not having a car, and I
    am trying to project "I'm just a normal guy" looks these days. Men are
    not limited to what they wear, MINDS are limited to what they think, I
    think.
    
    chris
    

    an article in Time mag of August, speaks of a liquire add where a guy
    show up to the beach house in a thong, and suddenly there is a problem
    with his dress. Here it is acceptable for women to wear a thong. Men
    its a no-no. I wouldn't personally. Still dressing has its boundaries.
    
    

actually it may depend on the state your in in the U.S. re: Thongs...

In some states, it is considered indecent exposure to show
'anal clevage' as they put it...

I believe Massachusettes, New Hampshire, Maine is some of those states...

Florida, for example, is different,, and acceptable...

Eitherway, these things (thongs) gotta be totally uncomfortable!

    Guys,
    	I agree with all of you.
    	People want everyone to conform to the norm.
    	Wear what looks and feels good for you, and show what you like!
    
    
    
    	Right-on, baby, right-on! keep on doing it! (Barry White-1976)

    A bunch of years, ago, (cough! cough!) I saw a cartoon in Playboy mag.
    It was a couple going into a restrant. She was wearing a very tight,
    show you every part dress, with a plung in the front down to her pubic
    hairs, and he was wearing a sport jacket, and open shirt. And the
    may-tra-dee(sp) goes,'Sorry sir, you are not allowed, your not properly
    dressed without your tie.' 
    
    

    Here in Brazil, we use a suit every day, as said in a note before, to
    look professional before the customers. But on your time off, you can
    use virtually any stuff you want, and people won't care at all.
    Of course, if you use a thong (I'm assuming that a thong is some kind
    of a string bikini for men) people will assume that you're a faggot and
    let it be. Live and let live. We man use small speedo-like beachwear
    and most of the woman (old or young) use string bikinis.
    I sign the Details magazine. I think it's such a great magazine for
    giving you ideas on how to produce yourself (most of the combinations
    shown are unusable), because we men just can combine in different ways
    what already is available for us. And that's the trick. 
    We know that women uses clothes that value up their best body parts. I
    do the same. I can't get rid of a small bellypot, so I try to hide it
    at the same time I do the maximum to show up my chest and arms that are
    in great shape. On summer, I do expose my legs, while women in shape
    expose virtually everything (this is a hot country).
    
    Ham.
    

    Almost apropos, I was very surpised to be told that in the USA (and
    other parts of the Americas?) "Speedo" style swimming trunks (bikinis?)
    are considered pretty dodgy.  
    
    In the UK they are very much the norm, but when looking through some
    "Sandals" brochures it seems that horribly long baggy shorts are what
    American males wear on the beach
    
    //alan

    What's "dodgy"?
    
    But yes, the current vogue for U.S. men seems to be baggy shorts. Most
    speedos are in the minority on the beaches I've been to. Personally, I
    wouldn't be caught dead in one. 
    
    I think the baggy shorts thing started with college and pro basketball
    players wearing these game shorts that went down to their knees. Heck,
    when I was in that kind of shape, I use to wear these tight, tight
    shorts too. I just don't think "tight" is flattering to me at my
    current physique.
    
    I'm already into finding "ugly" shorts. My uncle started me on this 20
    years ago. If I have any "image" to project, it's "Loosen up, have some
    fun - life's too short". Course, I'm obviously not on any fashion
    cutting edges.
    
    jeff

    > What's "dodgy"?
    
    Sorry, may be a UK-ism.  If something is "dodgy" it is tending towards
    some kind of unacceptability, be that social, legal or something else.
    
    //alan

    Who do American men wear baggy swim trunks and generally avoid the 
    tight, speedo types?  Every non-American pool or beach I've been at
    seems to have the men in anything but baggies.  Are Americans afraid of
    "revealing" something, prudish, or what?

    
    No, I don't think so, but it may not feel comfortable as trunks
    which is what I wear.
    Also, it could be that it takes a well built guy, to wear a Speedo...
    to show whats up front....need I say more?
    
    
    
    
    
    BR