The Slobbification of America
By Beth Hanning
A few people sent me a meme recently placing two NFL coaches side by side. The two coaches were legendary Dallas Cowboys football coach, Tom Landry, next to current Miami head football coach, Mike McDaniel. Now for those of you who are not football fans, Landry wore to each game: a shirt, a tie and either a sports jacket or a trench coat, and a fedora. This guy looked sharp from the sidelines. Now the coach of the Miami Dolphins does not wear a suit jacket and a tie. He wears khaki cargo pants rolled up around the ankle and switches it up with different hooded sweatshirts or hoodies. The headline for the meme was “The decline of America in 2 pictures of NFL Head Coaches.”
I could not agree with this more. And it is not just the recent coaches or NFL coaches only. I remember the days of coaches looking suave on the sidelines. Now sometimes, you see coaches in a half-zip hooded sweatshirt.
I am from the old school where attire mattered. I remember crying because I had to wear a dress or a skirt to Mass each and every Sunday. To this day, I do not wear jeans because I could hear my mother in my head. I clearly remember the late 1970s when my brother’s Easter outfit consisted of a suit with shorts and not pants. I remember having a temper tantrum about how unfair the world was that he got to wear shorts.
I feel like my grandfather Bill Walsh was similar to Atticus Finch. I cannot remember ever seeing him “dressed down.” He wore a collared shirt to the beach. And always a sports coat and a tie to Mass.
My daughters are 25 and 30 and the text I sent in early December was: “make sure you have something nice to wear for Christmas Eve and Christmas.” Last week was the text: “make sure you have something nice for Uncle Timmy’s BCAC dinner dance.”
Now this does not just go for adults who should be role models. But if the adults do not dress nice, what chance do we have of the children?
To get back to old school, these are some tips I have:
I do not care how much your jeans cost, do not wear them to a Broadway show or the Christmas Spectacular. Dress up! Going into Manhattan for a show is a SPECIAL occasion, make it appear so.
Do not, I repeat, wear slippers or “Yeezy’s” to work, if you are an adult, or to school, if you are a student. They are rubber slippers, as are Crocs. And UGG slippers are just that: slippers.
Please, for the love of God, can we stop wearing pajamas as clothes? They are for BED and BEDTIME, not school time (the same as slippers!)
Some people say it is not the clothes that matter, but I disagree. Have a good week everyone.
