Dear George Will,
You're NOT fucking helping.

I thought that was the stupidest column ever, I was going to post about it. I think people do dress more casually than they should. But I think some style and more formal attire is coming back.

The column instructed men to dress like Fred Astaire and women to dress like Grace Kelly. Sure, I'll just pop over to the supermarket in my ballgown. I'm sure Grace Kelly could just send Consuela but I don't have that luxury.

"Consuela" - haha, indeed. I never leave the house without my high heels and a tiara. Actually, Russian girls in Russia do that. It's kind of ridiculous.

Fred Astaire. Cuz what I really need to make an impression is some pants men's dancing pants that come up above my belly button.

Well, now we know why Rome fell. The TOGAS did it.

George Will's next article should be how new strollers make it too easy for young infants to be seen and heard outside the home, but FYI,
Fred Astaire wasn't in formalwear all the time. During the day, his characters wore tweeds, flannel and knitwear. Watch "Funny Face" again and just look at him, not Audrey Hepburn.

Does Will wear khakis? I think that the way people dress for certain occasions is too casual, especially here in Southern California, but the fact that he didn't name living role models says something, doesn't it?

Erm, there was nothing more important for Will to write about?! "Denim is the new Satan"?

Will should stick to pure economics, where he's usually on the ball. "an obnoxious misuse of freedom"? When no one is harmed, there is no such thing as "misuse of freedom. If you don't like how someone's dressed, look away.

So would Will affirm that life is like that old Warner Brothers cartoon, where Bugs and Elmer's personalities change radically when their hats change? Will people really act better if only they'd start dressing better? Did the NBA's adoption of a dress code have any true effect on the player's personalities or behavior?

And Will completely took Burke out of context. "The decent draperies of life" was not literal. It referred to morality and what can loosely be called "manners." Burke's complaint was also borne of class elitism: he lamented the consequences of the sudden equality sweeping across France, and the loss of station for those at the top. No more kings; no more obedience by subjects; no more honor bestowed on someone by virtue of title.

One of my dearest friends is an Englishman who inherited his rank of marquis from his father. However, bearing the courtesy title "Lord" is not what makes him the finest gentleman I've ever known. It's how he conducts himself, including opening the door for other men. He could be wearing a T-shirt and jeans, a summer jacket, or a pinstriped suit with a perfectly brushed bowler. Regardless of what he has on, it's the man within who makes the clothes, not the other way around.

My reputation is one of dressing well, particularly at work, but for good reason. Running around on weekends, whether it's for errands or leisure, generally calls for casual attire, and also for good reason. Some weeks ago, TMC showed some old Astaire movie where he was riding a bicycle, dressed in light-colored pants, blazer, shirt and tie. That may have been customary attire decades ago, but there's a difference between "looking good" and "looking absurd."

I can only imagine how uncomfortably Will dresses when he travels. Once I had a flight that departed early enough in the evening that I went straight from work to the airport. We departed very, very late, and I nearly missed my connection. As I started a mad sprint through Dulles, I'd have much preferred my usual traveling friends, Levi and Nike, to my companions that night, Ralph Lauren and Johnston & Murphy.

I agree with Mr.Will. About 80% agree. There are some situations when jeans are appropriate, but the way people wear them you'd think they completely lost sense of style and function. And not just Americans; the whole world, in its love/hate relationship with US, is mimicking us, so they mimic the ridiculous along with profound.

He's absolutely right about wealthy people imitating the poor, about the phony democrats, the limousine liberals and Hollywood Communists (not his term - R.Chandler's), people who buy a pair of $500 jeans, and the fashion industry selling them a regular tomcat for the price of a rare white tiger.

A month ago I was in Miami, where specimen of the class he talks about congregate in the early spring. Walking around Lincoln Mall boutiques I saw hilarious example of this Zoo: next to a really, really amazing (and deservingly priced) Thai Silk and worsted wool French Couture, in 4-digit price range, there were t-shirts featuring our new Messiah: black cotton, with printed upturned face in loud "vivid" colors, surrounded by a halo of glass sparkles. On sale for $450 a piece. And those useful idiots were buying it by the truckload!

They deserve their fate, all I could say.

"There are some situations when jeans are appropriate"

Only some? When we head out later for a quick bite and grocery shopping, I don't think my wife will be wearing a dress. I definitely won't have on anything resembling a necktie then, or when I cook Sunday dinner.

Will might have retained some credibility if he stuck to what you point out, in the sense that "people don't care enough about their appearance." Even so, it's not so much about "wealthy people imitating the poor," but that well-off people dress in the same low-key, comfortable manner as those of limited means.

Perry - that's why I said: 80% agree.

When i cook dinner, jeans would be an UNcomfortable thing to wear. Grocery shopping - that's one of the correct uses. But definitely not an evening outfit, I don't care how much it cost and if they're cut flatteringly. It would remind me too much of a my Soviet youth: when I was 20, a good pair of Levis cost monthly wages (or three...depended on the wages), and it was more of a status symbol than a pair of tight pants. I put that time behind - and I can afford to wear quality.
But then, I wear clothes that are 1)appropriate, 2) fit me. 3) suit my style.

Not what the fashion magazine or mob pressure or plain laziness dictates.