George Will's War on Denim

Columnist George Will is mad. Hopping mad about denim and how America's fashion sense is going to hell in a hand basket.

He and Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Akst have joined forces in declaring jeans (and American obsession with blue pants) as "destructive" in an entertaininglylyrical prose that I imagine was quite popular when Will was a young man, i.e. back in the days of President Taft:

Long ago, when James Dean and Marlon Brando wore it, denim was, Akst says, "a symbol of youthful defiance." Today, Silicon Valley billionaires are rebels without causes beyond poses, wearing jeans when introducing new products. Akst's summa contra denim is grand as far as it goes, but it only scratches the surface of this blight on Americans' surfaces. Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults ("Seinfeld," "Two and a Half Men") and cartoons for adults ("King of the Hill"). Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote. In their undifferentiated dress, children and their childish parents become undifferentiated audiences for juvenilized movies (the six -- so far -- "Batman" adventures and "Indiana Jones and the Credit-Default Swaps," coming soon to a cineplex near you). Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.

Link - via The Zeray Gazette


"Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" — people who play video games — are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote."
Ha ha, oh wow. I'm not even going to click through to the article because I imagine it's much of the same. How about this: "the sin of lookism — of believing that appearance matters" hasn't gone anywhere, Will. Why do you think the billionaires you mention wear casual pants? To look casual, of course! Appearance still matters, and it always will. Where Will is caught up is in his own belief in what "nice" looks like. Will thinks you have to wear traditionally formal clothes to be presentable. Is he wrong? According to Will's own article, popular culture says no.
And guess who gets to define fashion. Not you, Will. We do. If everyone else is just fine with denim - if all the "childlike adults" are exercising their ability (and responsibility!) to define what being an adult means to them - they do not, and should not, care what you think.
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i'm not seeing how blue jeans are any different, really, from dress pants. same weave most of the time, same fibers- just a different colour.

does he think billionaires have to parade about in dress pants, smoking jackets and silk cravats?

and to push the point a little further-
so denium is one of the staple fabrics of our time, so what?
everyone in ancient times wore pretty much the same style of dress, made from similar fibers- what's so wrong with wearing something popular, and relatively affordable?

so yeah, Sassafras- i agree.
get off my lawn, you stinkin' kids.
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I'm glad that, as a society, America has largely dropped the notion that it is a social requirement to wear uncomfortable clothes. Especially ties and high heels, which serve no other purpose than to make daily life a little unpleasant.

Down up the suit! Up with denim!
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I read something once to the effect that each generation's work clothes are the next generation's formal wear, and similarly one generation's casual wear is the next's work wear.

So, in the 50s, a tuxedo was formal wear, a three-piece suit was something that even non-management wore to work, and a polo shirt and slacks were for the weekend. A few decades later, a tailored suit is considered formal, with tuxes largely relegated to wedding rentals and the Oscars, polos and slacks are "business casual", and jeans and tshirt are what you wear the rest of the time. Jeans making the transition to work wear doesn't seem out of line with this progression.

Me, I'm looking forward to the absurdly expensive blue denim formal wear of the 2030s.
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Don't get so upset - he's just ramping up his tactics for Andy Rooney's job. Rooney is going to fall over one day very soon, and George has wanted that job since he was about 12.
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The person who wrote this article is a man. He has never had to wear panty hose, he has never had to wear a slip and a girdle. He has never worn high heels. In short, he has never experienced the true discomfort that his "dress code" would impose on half of America's populace. I will wear pantyhose, pearls and heels to the grocery store when he does.
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I kind of see where he is coming from. Appearances do matter. Like when it comes to a job interview or a first date.
I however envision him as one of those old guys who wears a pair of Dickie's coveralls, around the house.
Which is the standard uniform of the old cantankerous geezer.

@ Jae - jeans may be economical, but they are not as well constructed as they used to be. Levi's used to be the thickest, well constructed denim jeans I swore by.
They have since switched to a thinner denim, and cheaper thread. they no longer hold up to the punishment that they used to be able to take.
Just hold them up to the light and you can see how thin a material they are.
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Does Steve Jobs really have to wear a tux every time that Apple rolls out a new version of the iPod? When we're young, we're told what to wear and what to do. This continues throughout our lives to some degree until you stop working or become rich. Wearing what you want means that you've "arrived". Does Steve need to wear jeans to tell us that he's rich? No. George Will is an idiot.

A few observations:
- the microfiber slacks I'm wearing are far more comfortable than any pair of denim pants that you or I will ever own. Jeans do not automatically mean comfort and dressing nice does not mean uncomfortable.

- Jeans are NOT like dress pants, but just a different color. That's like saying a camo canvas gunny sack with holes cut in both ends is the same thing as a strapless dress. Very different materials and designs (no Dockers or Dickies are not dress pants). Try again. I'm guessing you think you could swap out your tuxedo pants for a pair of black wranglers? But they're the same color!
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As I noted in comments on WaPo, George Will looks and dresses exactly the same as when his mother first got him ready for his first day of kindergarten.

This is a supposedly adult man who wears a bowl haircut and bow tie.
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He lost the last shred of credibility for me with this statement "— people who play video games — are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote."

Sitting in front of your TV is not terribly stimulating, rather your brain is barely interacting at all past the channel switching on your remote. A good videogame stimulates and challenges your mind and reflexes. Oh, but of course when he says videogames he thinks every game out there is a zombie shooter gore fest. *sigh*
I wonder how many games he's played? I say we make him prove himself by playing an MMO and see how long it takes him to get anywhere.
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I can see where he's coming from, but there are MANY cuts & colours for jeans. The fact is places that impose a dress code these days are all 'smart casual' and you'll find that denim is acceptable (minus the ripped denim), so you'll never ever bring it down. What he should be disagreeing with is the alarming stereotype seen these days in which teenagers and 'skater boys' &c. wear jeans that are hanging halfway down their thighs with the rap style stitching and random metal hanging off everywhere. I'll echo the call of every generation 'STUPID TEENAGERS'.
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Dude the Haunted Mansion during Christmastime is so good now it's not even worth going on that ride in the regular season.

The Nightmare version is just leaps and bounds above anything else in the park around Christmastime.
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You know you're an über-fogey if you get slapped down by Lileks. That's a bit like watching your maternal and paternal grandfathers arguing about something.
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Sad to see George Will venture into such frivolous fare. I stopped reading anything from a Newsweek columnist after one of their guys took up whole pages just to bitch about how much of an abomination those Croc sandals are.
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My office is undergoing an extensive remodeling. This means that every day we must conduct our business to the sound of hammers, the smell of paint, and the sensation of gentle showers of sheetrock particles. We've been told that we can wear jeans or casual wear while the remodeling is in progress.

Thing is, I've never been much of a jeans wearer. Even back when jeans fit at the natural waist (what's called "mom jeans" now), I had a hard time finding jeans that didn't look stupid on me, in my opinion. So one day I wore regular office clothes, and all day had people telling me, "You know, you can wear jeans." *shrug*
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