Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site tektronix.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!moiram
From: moiram@tektronix.UUCP (Moira Mallison )
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Clothing as self-expression
Message-ID: <5625@tektronix.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 16:31:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: tektroni.5625
Posted: Thu Aug 22 16:31:19 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 19:35:09 EDT
References: <1050@mtgzz.UUCP> <1500@peora.UUCP>
Reply-To: moiram@tektronix.UUCP (Moira Mallison )
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 52
Summary: 

In article <1500@peora.UUCP> jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) writes:
>> I have to admit that computer types are some of the worst dressed people
>> I've ever seen!
>
>I always liked that about computer types, actually; it sort of suggests
>that they spend their time thinking about other things besides trying to
>influence what others think of them by what they wear.  

It may suggest that.  I disagree however with the implication that the
converse is also true.  ie, that people who dress well 1) have to spend
an inordinate amount of time doing it, and 2) do it solely to influence
what others think about them.

>Lots of "computer
>types" seem like warm, genuine people to me... just look how different the
>"norm" here is in terms of opinion related to social matters than in
>society as a whole!  [Actually I think it's because they are mostly
>engineers, and thus tend to feel more in control of the world around them,
>rather than by being influenced by it.]

I don't spend a lot more time dressing in the morning that if I wore
t-shirts and jeans to work.  I don't wear them to work because I
don't feel *comfortable* wearing them to work.  And I refuse to 
accept that because someone feels comfortable in t-shirts and jeans
at work and I don't that that person is somehow morally superior to
me.

What we wear *is* an expression of who we are, and we influence
people by what we wear whether it is intentional or not, whether
we want to or not.  I am a multi-faceted, eclectic person and
my choice of what to wear is some nondeterministic algorithm that
takes into account how I'm feeling, what's clean, what my scheduled 
appointments are, and yes, sometimes who I expect to see.

>> You obviously don't appreciate the differences of color and form.
>
>Hey, now, wait a minute... what's this?  Don't you read net.rec.photo, where
>all us "computer types" are arguing about what kind of film gives the best
>color rendition, etc.?  I worry about color and form all the time; just not
>in my clothes.  (Well, I do like brown clothes, though.)

So, is it somehow morally inferior to express our appreciation of the
differences of color and form when we dress ourselves.

>Wouldn't just choosing some color at random and sticking to it do this?
>I'd think you could try on various colors, look at yourself in a mirror
>each time, until you find some that make you feel good about how you look.

This is of course the efficient way to get the job done :-)

Moira Mallison
tektronix!moiram