Dressing up has become more rare, but our clothes speak volumes about who we are and what we value.
A while back, a married couple asked for the time of the morning service at my church, promising to show up the following Sunday. They did, and enjoyed the service, but an observation by the wife surprised me.
“Everyone’s dressed up,” was the essence of her comment. Even the ladies, she noticed, were wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants, something she seemed to think was refreshing. Apparently, I’ve been in my own church bubble for too long to realize that dressing up for special occasions and places is no longer a thing.
It’s a pity that it isn’t. Because the way we dress is really a subtle message about how we see ourselves and others.
Clothes, English philosopher Roger Scruton once said, are worn to preserve our modesty and protect our body from the elements. But that’s not the only reason we wear various bits of cloth cut in different shapes and patterns.
“People live in their clothes and, therefore, see their clothes not in terms of any narrow sartorial [tailoring, style] function but in terms of the aims and accidents incidental to their lives. Their clothes come to represent them, in the sense of heralding the nature which they wish to claim as their own.”
Scruton offers the example of a denim suit of clothes, which many claim to wear because it is “functional.” Yet as Scruton explains, “The ‘functional [denim] suit’ acquires its character not because of its utility (for it is not particularly useful), nor because of its cheapness (for it is far from cheap), but because it both expresses a certain outlook and, in the course of doing so, anticipates the experience of the person who wears it.”
What kind of experience and outlook does denim give the wearer? For the average American, I would guess it gives them a rugged, down-to-earth, independent feel—perhaps even a sexy persona (remember the Sydney Sweeney jeans ad that caused so much ruckus a while ago?!). This is all fine—that is, if we’re out working in the yard, riding horses on the ranch, or hiking on backwoods trails.
But what if we wear that same denim suit of clothes to a corporate job interview, church, funeral, or wedding? Do we want to walk into those situations with the carefree, simplistic attitude that denim clothes project onto the wearer and those who observe him?
Probably not … yet we do this repeatedly in our culture today.
