Special Posters

A short overcoat is sometimes called a car coat. Typically reaches mid-thigh, as you see above.

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

Yes, partly. The book Hatless Jack goes into the more complicate story, but transport played a part.

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

The links here are from last year, but the shops should still carry overcoats. See the end of this article. Many stores are still getting their fall/ winter stock, so you may need to wait about a month to see the overcoat offerings. dieworkwear.com/2024/11/1….

dieworkwear.com

Excited to Wear This Fall — Die, Workwear!

About eighteen years ago, Monty Don, the British horticulturist and human Peter Rabbit, penned an article for The Guardian titled “Dirty Dressing.” It was about how to dress for the dirty task of gardening. “Never wear tight trousers,” he advised. “Always buy trousers at least one waist size too big, make sure that the pockets [...]Read More...

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

Should be added that this is also an effect of post-2000 trends, as shaped by Hedi Slimane and Thom Browne, who shrank men's silhouettes. 1980s Armani overcoats billowed and reached the knee. But my guess is that many still won't wear long overcoats today bc of car dependency.

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derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

The effect of car dependency: in 1940, Basil Rathbone was photographed wearing an overcoat outside his home. As more men relied on cars, overcoats became shorter to accommodate drivers. Today, the right is marketed as an "overcoat," even if it would've been considered more sport coat length in 1940.

Basil Rathbone standing on some brick steps outside of his home. He's wearing an overcoat that comes down below his knee. He's also wearing what appears to be gray trousers and black dress shoes.

A Suitsupply model wears a navy "overcoat," which barely reaches mid-thigh. He pairs it with a navy turtleneck, gray pleated trousers, and black shoes.

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Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker.com

about 11 hours ago

ooof, here's hoping for the best! 🙏

Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker.com

about 12 hours ago

New, by me: A cyberattack on a check-in system used by hundreds of airlines and airports is causing flight delays across Europe. The maker of the check-in software, Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Raytheon, said it was aware of "cyber-related disruption" to its system.

this.weekinsecurity.com

Cyberattack on check-in system sparks delays at European airports

The cyberattack on a defense contractor's systems prevented traveler check-ins and baggage drops at airports in Europe.

Bluesky

@bsky.app

Thank you to the 14,000+ people who shared feedback on our community guidelines! We’re updating our rules for clarity, strengthening enforcement, and introducing product changes for healthier conversations. New guidelines kick in Oct 15. bsky.social/about/blog/0...

bsky.social

Building Healthier Social Media: Updated Guidelines and New Features - Bluesky

Public discourse on social media has grown toxic and divisive, but unlike other platforms, Bluesky is building a social web that empowers people instead of exploiting them.

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Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker.com

Sign up for (or RSS) my free weekly newsletter for a rundown of all the cybersecurity news you need to know but might've missed from the past seven days. Plus: good news in the happy corner, and a reader-submitted cyber-cat, because why not? 🐈‍⬛ Emailed Sunday. (No email open/link tracking!)

this.weekinsecurity.com

~this week in security~

a weekly cybersecurity newsletter by Zack Whittaker, plus articles and more.

Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

We tend to make language shorter over time, except when we make it longer. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/l...

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition of LINGUISTICIAN

linguist… See the full definition

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Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

These are your words of the week crucible empathy hate speech genocide preempt antifa lulu www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/the...

www.merriam-webster.com

The Words of the Week - Sept. 19

Dictionary lookups from the UN, the White House press pool, and the syllabus

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Ryan

@snarfed.org

Congratulations! Big milestone, excited that you all are far enough along here to announce!

Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

“I'm down for it" means "I'm up for it.” Sure, why not.

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Jason Koebler

@jasonkoebler.bsky.social

this is sick, glad you got it !

Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

This really made our day, thank you!

Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

Nobody will remember: - your salary - how “busy you were” - how many hours you worked People will remember: -An 'oxymoron' is an oxymoron. oxys (sharp, keen) + mōros (foolish) = oxymoron

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derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

Compare that to the opening scene of Spectre. Daniel Craig here is wearing Tom Ford, adjusted for him, no doubt, but still made according to the designer's vision, not Craig's body. Despite Craig doing less expressive movements, Craig's suit is fighting against him the entire time.

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derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

if you want to understand tailoring, you only need to watch mid-century movies, when actors were dressed by tailors, not brands. in the 1944 film cover girl, gene kelly's suit drapes beautifully, moving with him, not against him. collar stays on his neck, even as he dances.

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Chris Messina

@chrismessina.me

media.tenor.com

a knight with a helmet and a sword says " this is the way "

ALT: a knight with a helmet and a sword says " this is the way "

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

on the one hand, you have enduring principles that have been written about for hundreds of years. on the other hand, you can make money that will have no effect on your lifestyle as an already uber-rich person. what a difficult decision!!

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derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

wow, difficult decision! do the right thing and cement your legacy as a hero in history books. or make a lot of money! tough!!

Jake Tapper, long-suffering Philly sports fan@jaketapper.bsky.social

One other wrinkle to consider as Bob Iger makes his decision about Jimmy Kimmel

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derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

I wrote something about respectability in dress over on Twitter. The topic is nuanced for me, so unfortunately the post had to be long. Since Bluesky (reasonably) has character limits, I can't easily import the text here. So I'm including screenshots, if you would like to read it.

ON RESPECTABILITY IN DRESS

Every once in a while, people here will get mad at me. And it often involves the same issue: respectability in dress. Or its related cousin: dress codes.

Judging someone's deeper, more important qualities based on attire often feels so natural; people get upset when I refuse to engage in the same judgment. To them, it feels as though I'm denying something so obvious, I'm dishonest.

I've written about dress respectability no fewer than half a dozen times in my 15 years of writing about menswear, but never so thoroughly and comprehensively on Twitter. This post will be long, but I hope it is engaging. And I hope you stay with me because I find this sentiment to be so noxious — so antithetical to any notion of "good," whether religious or secular — that I hope I can convince a few people to resist such temptations.

What is respectability in dress? It's the idea that you can show respect through clothes, such as wearing a suit to a wedding. Or the idea that people in certain clothes are more deserving of respect, such as a man in a suit versus another man in a hoodie. I will address each in turn.

I believe dress is a form of social language. And thus, you can signal certain things through clothes. For instance, if I were to attend a wedding, I would wear a suit as an outward expression of a sentiment in my heart (e.g., "I'm happy for my hosts and wish to honor them on this day"). The suit is simply a representation of my sentiment, which already exists, even if I was in jeans.

However, if I arrived at a wedding and saw someone not wearing a suit, I would not judge the person's more important qualities based on their attire. Perhaps they didn't have time to buy a suit. Perhaps clothes shopping gives them great anxiety. Perhaps they can't afford a suit that fits. If I wanted to know whether that person is of good character, I would judge this off their more direct actions, such as how they treat the people around them. Are they genial to g…

In 1852, Cardinal John Henry Newman penned an essay, initially delivered as a university lecture, titled "Definition of a Gentleman." A gentleman, he says, is someone gentle and kind, considerate of others, humble in social relations, and respectful of boundaries. He compares a gentleman to "an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue." He writes:

"The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring."

There is notably nothing in his essay about clothes.

It's impossible to judge a person's deeper, more important qualities based on clothes because people are often just following social conventions. To go back to the wedding example, many people wear a suit not because they hold a particular sentiment in their heart, but simply because a suit is protocol. A friend who works as a wedding photographer revels in telling me stories about suited guests getting into fistfights—certainly not a way to honor your hosts. The irony of dress codes is that the stronger the enforcement, the less you can tell about someone's character based on dress.

Let's now turn to the idea that people in certain clothes are more deserving of respect. The sharpest, most pointed counterargument for this is Pierre Bourdieu, who in his 1979 book Distinction, pointed out that our notions of "Good Taste" are often nothing more than the habits and preferences of the ruling class.

Edward Carpenter, a gay British reformer in the late 19th century, understood this a century earlier. He hated suits. In an essay about the "simple life," he compared suits to coffins, as they have "stiff layers upon layers of buckram," which he believed prevented people from getting enough sunlight and air. But more importantly, he hated suits because he recognized that Victorian dress codes weren't about dress codes at all — they were about status signaling and social hierarchy.

In May 1889, Carpenter wrote a letter to The Sheffield Independent about how 100,000 of the city's residents were struggling to find sunlight and air, enduring miserable lives, and dying of illnesses because of the thick, black cloud of smog arising out of factories like smoke from Judgement Day. Meanwhile, as Melton-clad plutocrats nattered on about proper dress codes, they concealed their cruelty and vulgarity under refined manners. They weren't concerned with virtue, but rather with showing their supposed higher moral status. And then those socially under them aped those manners to seem higher class. (A dynamic that German sociologist Georg Simmel recognized in his 1902 essay "On Fashion.)

Our judgements of dress are often more about the person underneath the clothes, rather than the clothes themselves. We see this with the pre-war British Guardsmen, who dropped their Edwardian-inspired fashions as soon as they were adopted by the "ruffians" known as Teddy Boys (and some Teddy Gals). Or how the slacker hoodie became a symbol of meritocracy in the New Economy when (white) coders wore it in the early 2000s, but it symbolizes criminality when worn by black teens.

Clothes ind…

I'm fundamentally opposed to any notion of respectability in dress, as I find it antithetical to a fundamental moral principle: you should treat everyone with respect unless they behave in a manner that suggests otherwise. And so, if John Fetterman lumbers through the halls of Congress in hoodies and shorts, you should object to him based on his politics, not his dress. If a student shows up at Oxford Union in sweats, you should consider his ideas, not his pants. I am perfectly fine with saying certain outfits are ugly. I'm deeply uncomfortable when people make moral judgments based on clothes. A person is not more or less deserving of respect based on dress; they can only do so based on more meaningful behavior.

My guess is that you know this in your heart. As you travel through the world, look around you. Are your poorly dressed cousins and uncles bad people? Do shabbily dressed teachers or nurses on the train not actually serve society in positive ways? Do suited politicians not occasionally commit crimes? The idea that appearance doesn't always match character can be found more melodically in Fela Kuti's 1973 album "Gentleman."

If you are already interacting with someone on a meaningful basis, you've hopefully already gotten enough information about them to form a judgement and thus can ignore dress. If you haven't interacted with them in meaningful ways, you can simply withhold judgement.

I will end with an excerpt from Stuart Hall, a Jamaican-born British cultural theorist. In an essay about pluralism, he made a distinction between "common culture" and "common society," encouraging us to embrace differences.

"It should not be necessary to look, walk, feel, think, speak exactly like a paid-up member of the buttoned-up, stiff-upper-lipped, fully corseted and free-born Englishman, culturally to be accorded either the informal courtesy and respect of civil social intercourse or the rights of entitlement and citizenship. Since cultural diversity is, increasi…

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Merriam-Webster

@merriam-webster.com

We want it this way.

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Ryan

@snarfed.org

office

Small green garden with winding staircase, half wall, vertical planter, top of laptop screen in foreground

Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker.com