Why Don’t People Dress Up to Go Out Anymore?

by Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 2.17.25.

This lack of formality, or interest in occasion wear, has prompted some complaining, especially among those in the baby boomer generation who see it as an erosion of public standards. I think that the right way to look at it, however, is as an expression of a much larger and more significant social and cultural shift. One that has been taking place over decades and essentially says that we all have a right to dress as we want. It’s a shift that reflects the prioritization of the individual over the institution.

Linda Przybyszewski, an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, wrote a whole book on the subject called (natch) “The Lost Art of Dress.” She traces the phenomenon back to the 1960s, when a generation of young people began questioning received rules and conventions. Before that, she said, rules of what to wear were actually a part of the home economics curriculum.

There's more at the link.