As I was relishing in my Thanksgiving food coma hangover last Friday morning on the love seat in my kitchen at home Fox news popped with two segments of interest to all things concerning the FYG blog. The first of which was simply reporting on how the last beret maker in France was threatened with bankruptcy. I don’t care for berets, but I do care for nationally important industries and symbols. However, a slice of pumpkin pie or two later the conservative folks at Fox put on a segment about airline dress code (the time was roughly 11:45am on Friday November 25th). I was enthralled. As you all know part of what led me to start this blog was that I wanted to take up issue with the way many men dress, mostly for business and work. However, I have ventured into more casual attire at times. What I have not yet touched on is travel attire.
Enter the Fox News segment. They reported that some airlines have or are considering implementing some type of dress code. The justifications mentioned were mostly derived from security concerns (no excessively baggy tops or bottoms to name one point). But we all know that they don’t want their airplanes looking like they are filled with bums and Occupiers, it just doesn’t give off a good impression. And of course there was mention of special interest groups complaining about this and that injustice and offense… The most commonly cited problem was that the codes were broad and left a lot of the interpretation of what was and wasn’t appropriate up to the flight crew. I found it quite interesting. I also found it quite sad that men (and women) have let the way they dress slip so far that airlines have debated instituting dress codes.
Regardless of all of this, the issue really comes down to one simple fact. Men do not dress well enough when travelling whether it be via train, plane or automobile (or if you’re going to The Promised Land then via boat). So, if you find yourself travelling this weekend (or anytime in the future), think about how you dress and think about how it will affect the first impression you give to countless people along your way.
