# Clothes for a depression era



## jauburn (Jun 15, 2008)

Now that the economies of the world are sliding into another great depression, how should we prepare our wardrobe? What is appropriate to wear in the streets when growing numbers of people are in rags and holding out their hands asking for donations?

I feel bad strolling by these poor people with my $600 shoes and multi thousand dollar suits from Europe.


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## SkySov (Mar 17, 2008)

Is this a joke? I like to consider myself a liberal in social issues, but people are wearing rags because they want to. I'm willing to bet during the _real_ depression people dressed better and made considerable less money.


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## SkySov (Mar 17, 2008)

BTW didn't mean to sound snobby. Just one of your shoes costs more than an entire outfit I wear. Point was that you can dress well without making a lot of money. The people in rags probably weren't wearing suits a week ago. They were always dressed in rags.


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Why feel bad? Your spending will help the economy to recover. I think your dress should be appropriate for your condition and not on the condition of others.


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## red96 (Jun 26, 2007)

Well, this does raise an interesting point. I do not advertise that I spend hundreds of dollars on my shoes to people that I know. This Spring someone noticed my shoes, complimented them, and asked where I got them. As I am in a low income occupation (grad student), and I doubted my colleague would want or be able to spend $$ on ravello shell Aldens, I blurted out "vintage shop..." (total lie :devil to avoid an awkward conversation.

I guess the point is that as money becomes tighter for more people, lavish expenditures (in other people's minds!) a point of contention in certain circumstnaces. Nice clothing is not necessarily noticeable to most people's casual looks, but I suppose I might find myself continuing to be creative when I get questions about what I'm wearing in the current economic environment.


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## SkySov (Mar 17, 2008)

Ahh I see the dilemma there. If you think friendships/relationships can be ruined by someone knowing where or how much you spend on clothes it's probably best to avoid the subject. Everyone spends their money on different things though. There might be hypocrites. Someone could take offense, if that's the right phrase, to lavish spending on clothes when they go to Star Bucks three times a day and drive their SUV two blocks for a pack of cigarettes.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

It might be interesting to note that there is an inverse correlation between economic conditions and styles/fashions. During economic prosperity, styles and fashions tend to be the most severe and drab. (Anyone for dressing all in black?) While during times of economic duress, styles tend to become more colorful, elaborate and luxurious. It is thought by many that the high point for men's style was during the 1930's; I.e., The Great Depression.

It has been hypothesized that during economic good times, people are feeling smug and wish to display a look that embodies that. Whereas during hard times, people seek relief in cheerful color, the distraction of elaboration and the small but satisfying pleasure of being well dressed. So the good news is, we are all apparently on the brink of a renaissance of improved appearance, where clothing will again indeed matter. 

So if your fine tailoring and bespoke shoes give you pause, think of the marvelous inspiration you offer to those who can take pleasure in your appearance, and who can take what pleasure they yet can find in their own and can dream of a beautiful world in which they too shall be beautiful.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

jauburn said:


> Now that the economies of the world are sliding into another great depression, how should we prepare our wardrobe? What is appropriate to wear in the streets when growing numbers of people are in rags and holding out their hands asking for donations?
> 
> I feel bad strolling by these poor people with my $600 shoes and multi thousand dollar suits from Europe.


I think you may be jumping the gum here...in the 1930's unemployment was near 25%, now its not even broken 10% and underemployment was even worse. Recession? Sure. High gas prices? You bet. Depression?? I don't think so.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

It may not be a depression by some economic yardstick ( made in China) but if you're out of work it is. Along with flashier clothing, another indicator of time is silversmithing. Again, the more elaborate 20th C. pieces came from hard times. When you have money you can ask more.And that brings me to a conclusion. I pay cash for everything. I am going to start asking for discounts, since the merchants don't have to wait or pay the costs of processing credit or checks.


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## Victor123 (Jun 18, 2008)

I agree with sky. Besides it takes a lot of time for a persons entire wardrobe to turn to rags. A depression isn't gonna cause that.


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## PedanticTurkey (Jan 26, 2008)

Kav said:


> It may not be a depression by some economic yardstick ( made in China) but if you're out of work it is. Along with flashier clothing, another indicator of time is silversmithing. Again, the more elaborate 20th C. pieces came from hard times. When you have money you can ask more.And that brings me to a conclusion. I pay cash for everything. I am going to start asking for discounts, since the merchants don't have to wait or pay the costs of processing credit or checks.


Well, that doesn't work with Wal-Mart, but I make it a point to pay small businessmen/tradesmen with cash. For some reason, they really appreciate it, almost as if I was paying them 20-40% more. I can't imagine why!


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

One of the major reasons our economy is bad is WALMART. I fervently wish the rest of the family would take up flying ultralight homebuilt aircraft.That goes for Bernie and Arthur, Charlie hustle Hurwitz and all the other greedheads.


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## PedanticTurkey (Jan 26, 2008)

I kind of like Wal-Mart. They save me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours every year--oney I spend on more junk I don't need, and time I spend with loved ones (or dicking around on the internet). If I buy something there I don't like, they take it back without arguing, no matter what I've done to it. And they actually have surprisingly nice blue jeans for $15 and dress shirts for $18 (too bad the local ones never stock my size).


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## chatsworth osborne jr. (Feb 2, 2008)

*silk hat, white gloves, spats, ebony walking stick*

If you are worried about the street urchins, ride in your gilded carriage.

Seriously, the great unwashed are oblivious to the keen detailing and high cost of finely tailored clothing. Only fellow cognoscenti will recognize it. And I know I'm surprised to learn what people pay for their unspectacular trendy 'fashion' items.

I totally agree with Flanderian on people dressing well to cope with and/or hide depression. I know I reach for a brightly colored watchband on days when I'm in a malaise. Bring on the natty accessories an bold colors: I want the ragamuffins of the near future to look splendid!


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

yes, jack london work beasts love the occassional submarine sandwiches in lieu of health care, and a pat on the head like a loyal dog is a good sign the stab in the back isn't coming yet. And selling chicom junk that would make John Dos Passos roll in his grave is ever so much nicer than that nasty stuff now on Antique Roadshow. het american worker has been cuckolded and castrated. And on top of this we aren't even allowed to dress like real men anymore, but in this uniform of studied medicrity. Well, **** them all.When the last fragmented parts of the US working class wakes up to this class war by people who's only difference from communist totalitarianism is the spelling of their grotesque distortion of another system it will be ugly. I must ponder a tie clip or waistcoat so it doesn't blow in my face while aiming.


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## S.Otto (Aug 14, 2007)

Harsh words from some of you. I'm guessing y'all never studied economics.


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## SkySov (Mar 17, 2008)

I thought we were discussing clothing? Please tell how this deals with economics.


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

Lawdy mizz Scarlet, I don't know nothing 'bout no economics. Mebbe Cap'n butler Sir will come round with the buggy and drive us home to tara.


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## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

I wear Aldens when I go to the soup line.

Being caught in this devastating new depression, I am studying how to hop trains and hobo in my Sunday best, because I shall shortly have no home and need to wear my finest constantly.

....-_-;

This thread started is ridiculous. So am I.


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## arnaud (Apr 10, 2007)

S.Otto said:


> Harsh words from some of you. I'm guessing y'all never studied economics.


...or possessed an ounce of - or studied, on this Independence Day - Common Sense.


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## jauburn (Jun 15, 2008)

SkySov said:


> people are wearing rags because they want to.


Is that a joke--you think people wear rags because they want to? What kind of an insulated comment is that?


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## jauburn (Jun 15, 2008)

rgrossicone said:


> I think you may be jumping the gum here...in the 1930's unemployment was near 25%, now its not even broken 10% and underemployment was even worse.


The Great Depression did not happen overnight. Just as now, there were folks after the stock market crash who argued vehemently that things would be back to normal in no time. Unfortunately we now have more negative crosscurrents in the market than were even around before the Great Depression.

https://www.nationalexpositor.com/index.php?news=978

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/30/cnbis130.xml

https://www.internationalreporter.com/News-3832/Job-opportunities-deteriorating-in-America.html

"America is leading the way, diving into deep recession as a collapse in consumer confidence induces the great unwind," he said. Edwards compares the economy with a pyramid scheme that is poised to crash to earth and interest-rate changes can do nothing to avert it. 
He thinks Wall Street and the other main markets have a lot further to drop, and will end up 70% below the peaks of last year. That would imply a level of just 500 for the S&P 500, which was at 1,280 on Friday, and 4,500 for the Dow, compared with Friday's closing level of 11,346.

https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4232875.ece


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## edhillpr (Apr 19, 2007)

I have photos of my grandfathers family from central Florida cattle country in the thirties and fourties. I'm always impressed at how neat and well composed my dad's father looked. He was a farmer and a deacon at his church. Even in the photo of Grandpa Hill sitting on a horse, with a pistol on his hip, he looks better than two thirds of the folks I see at most restaurants today. 

My mom's father combined forces with his brothers to build a small cargo ship in late 30's British Guyana. At the start of WW2, their vessel was seized and then sunk by the Nazi-sympathetic Venezuelan government. My grandfather went on to manage one of the larger lumber suppliers in the British West Indies.

These were confident and self sufficient people who dealt with the depression without whining and looked good doing so. Whenever I have trouble, I think of how they dealt with such difficulties and I realize that my life is not so hard as theirs. Their strength of character is an inspiration to me.

Surely, we can deal with this passing recession and high gas prices. No one can fault us for looking good as long as we bear our fortunes with dignity and determination.


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

Keep your social commentary in the Interchange. 

Considering we're not even in a recession it's probably a bit premature to worry about a Great Depression. And I believe unemployment is around 5.5%.

Jauburn, perhaps you should start making plans by giving up all those mounting Internet bills.


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## Asterix (Jun 7, 2005)

Kav said:


> It may not be a depression by some economic yardstick ( made in China) but if you're out of work it is. Along with flashier clothing, another indicator of time is silversmithing. Again, the more elaborate 20th C. pieces came from hard times. When you have money you can ask more.And that brings me to a conclusion. *I pay cash for everything. I am going to start asking for discounts, since the merchants don't have to wait or pay the costs of processing credit or checks.*


I do that already and the merchants do give discounts. :icon_smile:


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