re: Airports and the decline of humanity

quote:

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Here’s the thing though. It’s not meaningfully less comfortable to wear reasonable looking clothes, sneakers, etc. rather than flip flops and PJs. They make good looking, comfortably casual options now and people still opt to be the lowest common denominator in growing numbers.

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You’re preaching to the choir, but you’re also discounting that “comfort” isn’t purely physical. I wear a suit most days, which means I’m usually wearing a suit when I have lunch, and not uncommonly still have it on if I’m out to dinner (tie long gone by that point). It’s not frequent, but over the years, I’ve had dozens of people initiate a conversation that goes something like:

- I don’t know how you wear that every day. I would be so uncomfortable.
- Nah, it’s not uncomfortable as long as it fits properly.
- Oh come on, you can’t tell me that’s more comfortable than wearing jeans.
- (as politely as I can…) It is. Everything I’m wearing was tailored to fit me, and it’s all made out of nice worsted wool fabric. So everything fits better, feels smoother, and breathes better than jeans.

And here’s where the break happens, because without fail, they pivot into talking about how uncomfortable they would feel wearing it, not physical comfort, but feeling self conscious, or being afraid they would spill something on it and stain it, or catch it on something and tear it, etc, etc.

For some people, myself included, dressing well mentally feels like putting on armor, like there’s nothing we can’t look in the eye and deal with that day. Other people seek out the mental comfort of wearing clothes that they not only don’t care about, but conveys to everyone around them how little they care right now, so they had better not be fricked with.

Different kind of person, different kind of armor.