This article explores the often-observed phenomenon of people in wealthy societies choosing comparatively drab clothing, contrasting it with the sartorial flair of individuals in poorer nations like Vietnam. The author reflects on his own experiences, including a trip to Vietnam and conversations with a Kenyan journalist, to ponder the psychological and existential implications of our clothing choices.
So many people in the wealthiest, most free, most democratic societies in human history opt to wear what is comparatively drab clothing
I didn’t bring the suit with me to Vietnam but did bring a copy of Iris Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, thinking, as many young people do, that I might learn about how life should be lived by reading what others had to say on the topic.
Before giving up my job I’d spent my first paid summer holidays in Kenya. Later again I took a year’s sabbatical to attend a journalism programme in Paris. A few years after I came back from Vietnam, a Kenyan journalist visiting Ireland stayed in my Dublin flat. She was on the programme in Paris and was in Ireland to do some news reporting. She was interested in clothes and liked to dress well. In Dublin she wore jacket and skirt suits, decorated with piping.
I don’t mean to offend anyone, and some people can look a million dollars in a tracksuit. Still, the fact that so many people in the wealthiest, most free, most democratic societies in human history opt to wear what is comparatively drab clothing in historical and cultural terms, is worthy of consideration.
FASHION EXISTENTIALISM PSYCHOLOGY SOCIETY CLOTHING
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