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Comment by Momquist | Hacker News Reader

> Why dress up / acquire certain things, in order to conform to some random pre-designated style?

Why speak english and not invent your own language? Clothing and appearance is (also) communication. And to be understood, some of the signals must be common enough.

I belong to this community, to this generation, to this area/country, to this social class, etc... It can also project ideologies, affiliations and aspirations. Once upon a time for example, in Western Europe, some intellectuals adopted the Mao suit. It was a very strong political statement.

Moreover in many cases I doubt your assertion that these styles are random is true. There is a history behind most of them, and this is what imparts them meaning.

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I doubt clothing could be a full human language. A human language is a remarkable thing. Our language ability is one of our chief adaptations as a species, with it I can conjour the precise and bizarre notion of a purple bus-driver giraffe with those few mere phenoms.

I would imagine we must have some systems for interpreting information about other humans from their accoutrements, but I would also imagine that they surely cannot be as highly developed as our language, as the technology to have different 'styles' or even clothes at all is relatively recent. Also as a bit of anecdotal evidence I present that, any healthy human growing up around at least one other human will develop a spoken language, or adopt the language of their peers. In contract there are examples of people growing up in societies with clothes and style who do not develop any particular style sense.

So I posit that this style language is relatively limited and only certain pre-arranged messages determined by society can be communicated by it. Also it seems extremely prone to misinterpretation . Both parties must be aware of, and agree on, the pre-arranged signals for it to work.

Which is why I personally dont even consider it. With such a limited and error prone language how could I accurately communicate anything meaningful, or personal, or that I particularly value, about myself. Also why would I would I want to blast out this signal to all and sundry?

> Which is why I personally dont even consider it.

So, assuming you're a man (bear with me if you aren't): are you so open-minded and rational that you do consider female clothes in your shopping too? Do you look at women's watches and glasses too? Do you often wear pink?

Here is my guess: you don't. You may think you're completely disconnected from the social cues inherent in clothing/accessories, that you consider clothes as purely functional. But chances are, in practice, you really don't. Signalling your gender "to all and sundry" as you put it, is one of the major non-verbal cues that clothes provide. It's part of those "random pre-designated styles" and is taught from a young age, and understood by everyone. Your tastes reflect that, whether you consciously acknowledge it or not.

You don't see men in robes, for example, in modern western cultures, whatever their potential comfort/utility/beauty, they simply are not considered for men in day-to-day life. Even though, there were periods and cultures where they were perfectly fine for men to wear.

I'm not the person you were answering but I subscribe to similar utilitarian views and must say, if it wasn't shunned by society to the point of risking to take a beating, I wouldn't mind wearing a skirt in summer. In fact, I already do wear some plain beige skirts at home because I find them far more comfortable than pants and the airy feeling is nice in hot climates.

It's far too dangerous to wear a skirt outside as a man so I wouldn't do it. I as a person don't care much for clothing beyond physical well being/comfort/utility but society is very judging and a times very dangerous for certain choices.

Yeah I agree with all that. In terms of what other people think, I am just a stoic about it, that is outside of my control. In terms of what I wear, I have always gotten more than enough clothes as christmas presents from various relatives to keep me decent.

Though quite recently I started mountaineering and discovered the specialized clothing for that. Its the 1st time Ive ever been interested in clothes, the feature-list on them greatly surpasses anything else. Eg A jacket which is water resistant, breathable, wind-resistant, tear resistant, very light, flexible and comfortable, affording a full range of motion, with lots of pockets and also adjustable vents. Though I am a small man and have actually bought a womens jacket cus it fit better and was cheaper.

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