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It was more of a scarf before the 19th century. I don't consider the tie the sane thing. But formal dress is kind of arbitrary like that.

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It's not completely arbitrary. Standard business wear of one century becomes the formal wear of the next century, and casual wear mostly comes from military or sports clothing. Formal wear is just very conservative.

Here's a top hat as a symbol of office by a British railway station manager in 1952.[1] From the days when railway employees all had hats and outfits that indicated their job.

Sir Topham Hatt in Thomas the Tank Engine is not a joke. That's what railway managers wore.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsbIiZ4lCo8&t=575s

I don't see any contradiction. What becomes standard business wear is often arbitrary, as is the stuff that sticks around. It's not like we've discovered a platonic ideal of dress.

I just wanna know when we can go back to formal robes. Superior in nearly every way for office work.

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