Ties are Stupid

Ties are particularly stupid, but formal clothing is stupid in general. You pay a high premium for uncomfortable, poorly made, and short lasting clothing. Styles change constantly, so your wardrobe is perpetually obsolete (except after 30 years when it comes back in style, and then you're too fat to fit into your old clothes anyway).
 
Imamacuser said:
Ties are particularly stupid, but formal clothing is stupid in general. You pay a high premium for uncomfortable, poorly made, and short lasting clothing. Styles change constantly, so your wardrobe is perpetually obsolete (except after 30 years when it comes back in style, and then you're too fat to fit into your old clothes anyway).
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Said a Mac User.


The same for tatoos, ear-rings, piercings, make up.
 
Business attire for men is not only stupid, it is inherently sexist.

With the advent of air conditioning post-WW2, most places of business sealed windows and set temperatures to levels that would be comfortable for men wearing full sits, meaning collars buttoned at the neck, ties encircling the neckline and jackets worn, usually made of wool. This heavy layering meant that offices in skyscrapers with sealed windows and complete climate control would have temperatures set in the mid-60s. Meanwhile females were not allowed to wear pants generally had to wear blouses or tops that were short sleeved or even sleeveless. Some office dress codes allowed women to add light sweaters over top, but others pointedly did not.

Meanwhile, modern studies have found that a lack of body fat and other insulating factors mean that most women generally are comfortable in warmer temperatures than men. So really it should be women who are more covered up by clothing than men in order to adjust for temperature.

So yeah, ties are stupid, but for a whole bunch of reasons.
 
Ha! Some good one's there Josh... and Oh this thread could start me off down a path to all the other stupid things we deal with in life... but I won't go there for now. I will just say perhaps I got into this line of work so I didn't have to wear one of those stupid things.
 
I've always look at it from this perspective:

Suits are uniforms of sorts. And while some people might make bad associations with the word 'uniform', the general idea is not to be elitist—it's the other way around. All formalised attire is supposed to cancel out any social factors. In a school with uniforms, you can't see what kid's family barely scrapes by and what kid's family is loaded. They all look the same.

In business, the suit takes a man's background out of the equations and you should judge him based on his actions/performance.

In today's world, we praise expression of individualism and personality, and so uniforms are often frowned upon.

But don't underestimate the value of a suit, even a poor fitting, cheap one, for some people who might otherwise have trouble representing themselves or their ideas.

And seriously, if you can't put on a tie without strangling yourself, isn't that kind of like overexposing a shot by 4 stops—i.e. user error?
 
I'm going to go against the grain on this one. I wouldn't just dismiss formal dresswear in today's world. It's still important in society and continues to have relevance. It sets a tone for professionalism as well as important occasions. While today's society perceives it as superficial, I think it can signify to others that you have pride or respect for something. The style of formal dresswear will continue to evolve but I believe it's important to have different cloths for different occasions and a baseline standard of what is considered formal/casual/etc. There is a notion today that we know best, and while it's true that in many way's our society has progressed, we have to recognize that there was wisdom and experience in the past, a lot of which we have lost.

Personally, I'm a fan of suites and ties, I'm more productive when I wear one and feel more confident. I prefer to overdress for an occasion than to be under dressed. I don't feel stifled when I wear one either but that's just me.
 
Funny thing is that at least in my experience suits still DO separate people...because not everyone wears them. At least at many companies you have your more business casual folks in whatever color slacks, collared shirt, maybe a tie, but then your upper level folks in the full on dark suits with expensive cuff links. Now perhaps if everyone at company x were required to dress more or less exactly the same (all suits), them different story, but I don’t see that often or maybe ever, even at the super mega corporations.

Anyway this thread seems, not quite ironic perhaps, but...something...considering how many of us work in corporate video.
 
AndreeOnline said:
All formalised attire is supposed to cancel out any social factors. In a school with uniforms, you can't see what kid's family barely scrapes by and what kid's family is loaded. They all look the same.
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Yes - on this I wholeheartedly agree. It's a great theory. But the key word there is "supposed" to. As almost any poor kid can tell you - even if you're dressed "alike" - you aren't dressed the "same". Expensive brand names or some other marker becomes the identifier to those who don't take a man's background - or current cash flow - out of the equation and judge him solely on his actions / performance. So "uniforms" in theory take social-economic "status" out of the equation - but in reality they only make things like certain brand names (or what car you drive, or who your friends are) all the more coveted. Of course, I'm only speaking about those who think they are somehow elite or better than others based on such silliness.
 
Living and working in Beverly Hills for 12+ years (including working in Hollywood) ties are symbolic leashes- suits are worn by puppets. The truly wealthy wear whatever the hell they want- including jeans and sneakers when the puppets are in suits. Form follows function- what is the function of a suit? What is the real function of a suit? Illusions and indoctrination take time to break; once free it's clear to see the folly.

While I formed my view from direct observation, others share the same view: https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3xzud5/neckties_are_leashes/
 
egproductions said:
If you see yourself as a victim then yes I can see resenting a dress code.
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lol I wear whatever I want.

You're a filmmaker so I know you understand symbolism of shape, form, and function. What is the function of a tie? What is the symbolism?
 
jcs said:
What is the function of a tie? What is the symbolism?
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Ties don't have a practical function unless you're putting it on a door knob in college...do people actually do that? As far as symbolism, it's only relevant in the context of society recognizing a tie as a formal peice of attire....but my contention is that formal attire is in fact very relevant.
 
egproductions said:
Ties don't have a practical function unless you're putting it on a door knob in college...do people actually do that? As far as symbolism, it's only relevant in the context of society recognizing a tie as a formal peice of attire....but my contention is that formal attire is in fact very relevant.
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Everything has meaning, from body language, to tone of voice, to word choice (ordered from highest level of power in communications: word choice is least powerful). Who wears suits? What do servants wear? Does wearing a suit change a person or the perception of the person? Where does that perception come from? Why is formal attire very relevant- to what? According to who?
 
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