Athleisure is overdone imo

I spent time in London and now being back in the US the trend of athleisure in and out of the corporate world in the US is crazy. The Lulu 'slacks' that everyone wears, leggings at the airport and even to nice restaurants, etc. Why aren't people more proud of how they dress and carry themselves in the US. Like for men, real slacks, sweaters, coats instead of polyester and vests. For ladies dresses and pants and skirts instead of leggings, etc imo is way better

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Controversial

There are quants at Citadel & HRT that wear birkenstocks, shorts, and a t-shirt to work and they make millions. who gives a fuck what anyone is wearing if they can perform on the job? it's like the guy that goes to the club in an expensive outfit just to lose out on girls to the guy in converse and zara.

 

I dress well and have similar complaints about society being slobbish (even at the airport), but my point is that today society is more focused on outcomes than appearance. yes, maybe the 50s and 60s were great when seemingly every white collar professional wore a suit, but today 90% of those people are out-earned by onlyfans girls and our society respects money more than class (i.e. Kardashians are worth billons).

 

Ngl it really does kill the vibe nowadays when I go to the opera or ballet at Lincoln Center and see half the audience in athleisure. Same applies to nicer, romantic restaurants. 

I can see the comfort argument from men bc a full suit does seem like it would be uncomfortable for 12+ hrs at the office, but I genuinely find women's athleisure to be uncomfortable (the tight yoga pants that ride up your crotch, the compression pants). I think it's actually easier on the body to wear a dress that flares out at the legs for breathability, and so much easier to take on and off. Makes zero sense to me why women would go out of their way to both feel more uncomfortable and look worse when there are dresses out there that are more flattering to the body and more comfortable than leggings. A flared A-line dress will make you look more hourglass-shaped and have a bigger but than any leggings ever will, and there's zero friction on your legs, so the argument about making your body look better doesn't even hold.

 

Fr there’s a time and place for various dress but feel like influencer brain rot culture took over. I would never imagine wearing work out clothes or hoodies to a steakhouse but there they are

 

I think your point is fully valid, however I dress for comfort whenever I am dressing for me. 

What I mean by this is when I am in the office (or even WFH) I am dressing to represent myself professionally (which in this case is indirectly for me, I suppose), as well as representing my team and my company. Therefore, I always make an effort to dress up, unless I have strictly internal calls. I do admit I think Lulu ABC pants are probably fine if you're only in meetings via zoom, but whenever I'm meeting with our C suite or other execs in person, I always have a proper dress shirt and set of slacks on.

When I'm at a nice restaurant, I'm usually there for my wife, or my close family. I dress up to represent them well. Dress up is a broad term, but 1-2 Michelin stars means a button down / slacks, and 3 means ill work in a blazer. Still feels dumb as hell to dress up for a dinner lol, but I do want to at least show respect.  

However, the rest of the time, which is ~30% of my waking hours, you will catch me in an oversized T shirt and jeans. I get no joy out of dressing up. I don't want attention from strangers, especially in any way that would indicate Im wealthy (Im not for the record, but any moron with a W2 can buy a designer fit and appear wealthy). Don't get me wrong, I like to look presentable, but I have found when you are in pretty good shape you can look good wearing most outfits, and to me it is just insane to prioritize "fashion" over comfort. 

 

Brother I'm 6'5 225lbs with a hockey ass and lulu pants are the only thing that fit me off the rack and don't make me look like I'm getting drafted to the NBA in 2006.  I've had 10+ custom suits and no matter the quality I'll still blow through them in a year or two.

Just because I'm not dressing like Fonzworth Bentley doesn't mean I don't take pride in my appearance and how I carry myself.  

 

Dude, you need a good tailor for the height alone, trust me. Off the rack is next to impossible for suits - do MTM where an old dude who knows what he is talking about is doing the measuring. And do not get anything that is skinny fashionable, it’s a recipe for disaster. Nice fitting but with some rook to maneuver for suits is critical.

Off the rack is possible with slacks.

When shopping for slacks:
- do squats in the changing room, load up the pockets and test the flow of the fabric around the ass (is it tense now, no go).
- learn some sewing and get a sewing kit with quality safety pins (got one in my briefcase at all times).
- look for potential weak points where fabric is fraying before putting them on.

Only two sources I trust, Glenn Beck and singing woodland creatures.
 

i love america and most things about it but unfortunately america doesnt have a dressing up culture/style so the only way they feel and look hot is with leggings, but brotherrr in europe its different, girls in europe look hot asf in so many outfits that arent dresses or leggings: linen, jeans, fucken anything hahah. its about how you style, being fit and culture=dressing up/nice feels good.

 

Dressing up is nice for the first hour you're sitting down until the rest of the day when you wish you were wearing your Lulu's and quarterzip. If I'm going to be a cog in the machine for at least 14 hours in the day, I'll at least choose comfortable clothing to put on while compiling a deck no one is ever going to see.

 

I prefer traditional menswear / sartorial clothing. But the problem is that it's seen as an expression of wealth / power / class in a way that's usually considered tacky in the US right now

There's also an element to which looking like you're trying with your outfit in general has been considered lame over the last couple decades, and combined with a conformity is cool / phobia of being "cringe" type attitude you're going to get lowest common denominator outfits

At a certain point though you just have to wear what you like. I played offensive line in college and have a large frame, so the shitty joggers and plastic quarter zips everyone prefers to wear just don't work for me relative to the sturdy and cohesive silhouette of a sport coat + midrise trousers

 

I think theres a couple things that defines the modern push to athleisure/styling:

  1. I think people see suits/dresses as an uptight, older person thing. One of those, 45 year olds named Joe Smith being addressed as Mr. Smith going "Mr. Smith is my dad, I'm Joe", yea, but you're a 45 year old man whose Mr. Smith.
  2. I agree with above if you're hot you want to show it off, probably is very few people should actually being wearing revealing clothing, but everyong things they are attractive.
  3. It's a downpush from billionaires. Meaning, no one wants to look rich now because that's seen as a bad thing. That's why Elon, Zucks, Bezos all have to wear t-shirts in public when the can afford new gucci shirts everyday, they have to downplay their wealth, hence every one else dresses the same.
  4. I also think it's a reverse flash of wealth as well, in that, I'm so rich i don't have to dress up. Sometimes ideas flip like that, it's how back in the 1800s women wanted to look as pale as possible because it meant they didn't work in the fields, now everyone wants to be tan because it signifies that you have a lot of leisure time to travel and lay outside.
  5. I'll agree, it is more comfortable.

 

I view it as part of the business cycle. Something similar is happening in tech. There are notable amounts of people who are more comfortable navigating a locked down mobile OS instead of a traditional PC OS and file structure. 

IMO the adoption of athleisure is just a modern extension of a longer trend. Over generations there has been a broad atrophy in public sentiment on how to shop for and maintain a formal wardrobe. Athleisure is easy. It gives a broad cross-section of consumers a low barrier to entry to participate in culturally relevant trends. Athleticism isn't even the focus as long as the core audience can be perceived as on trend, or at least rarely out of season.

 

I agree, I’ve also started pivoting away from athleisure type dress for work, and other lifestyle choices that I’ll call adjacent to athleisure, like work from home, Trader Joe’s and other ready made meals, doordashing and ubering excessively, shoes with white soles, over sharing on social media etc. I think all of this stuff is so bad for us, I find way more happiness and satisfaction in putting in effort and struggling a bit along the way.

 

A lot of the style will depend on the culture of the company. One piece of advice, never underdress an investor/client.

Does it bother me when people don’t dress up, no. Do I look better by putting on slacks and occasionally wearing a sport coat, yes.

Two statements I saw on this thread:
‘I bring the money I will wear what I want.’
‘I can do the job, who cares what I wear?’

The people who are dressing nicer can say the exact same thing while appearing more respectable. This results in people taking them seriously. If your boss ever calls out the office for how they dress, you want to be the example of how to dress. This happened to me a month ago.

Only two sources I trust, Glenn Beck and singing woodland creatures.
 

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