Charleston: Casually Dressed-Up

If you read through some of the list of what blogs I follow under my profile, you might notice that in addition to so many blogs on botany, conservation, history, and politics, I also follow a few menswear blogs.  These are not just any menswear blogs, however, as they tend to focus on styles of dress associated with more past widespread use, styles of dress now largely relegated to the realm of politicians, academics, "preppies", etc.  Many of them are composed by people living either in New York or New England, where it must be admitted a certain decorum of daily dress still largely holds sway. 

In general, having traveled across the continent in every direction thus far in my life, I notice that formality tends to increase from a largely casual west coast environment to a largely still awkward with completely casual east coast.  There are exceptions, of course; Miami can swing either way in both extremes, San Francisco gets every bit as swanky as New York, Victoria and Mackinac Island take neo-Victorianism in fashion to whole new levels, etc.  By and large, though, its possible to see many east coast business types remain decently attired even after the work day is done.  As anyone can see these days though, dress for most people consists of little better than changing out of pajamas upon leaving the house.  Historically speaking, this phenomenon seems to have arisen out of my generation's penchant for the democratization of comfort.  Even 15 years ago I don't remember a lot of people going to the bank in t-shirts and sweat pants!  Back in the day "casual" might have even included a blazer and tie, articles of which are now considered to be practically the same as wearing a suit.

That, I suppose, is a broad topic for another day, and even another blog.  Whatever brought about this particular flourish of gnashing my teeth over mere pants, you ask?  Well, this would be because I found a photo I snapped in Charleston, South Carolina.

Broad Street, looking the Cooper River, downtown Charleston, SC.

I have no idea who these people are, and in no way wish to single them out as individuals for any particular reason, but they were unintentionally caught in a photo I was taking of the street.  I kept the picture because it was so representative of how many people dressed in the lovely city.  Amazingly, these people looked "average", as many more people did it up even more with formal business attire.  Everyone from children to the elderly looked positively amazing.  Sure, some people had jeans and shorts on, but even then almost no one wore a t-shirt.  Most of the women had dresses on, there were a lot of khakis and bow ties on the men, and all this was despite the fact that Charleston was having a very Charleston day of near 90 with humidity probably in the same percentile.  Remember, Charleston is about as close to the perfect definition of "humid subtropical" as one can get, complete with palms everywhere, crepe myrtles, Spanish Moss (Tillandsia Usneoides) dripping from every tree, and amazing centuries old Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana) proudly shading cemeteries and private gardens.

Washington Park, Charleston, SC.

I have to admit that I felt a bit under dressed, despite the fact that my Canadian body was well-clad for the climate (I had on khaki shorts and a linen shirt covered in a pattern of hibiscus flowers).  No one stared or made passing comments, probably because it was, simply, summer in coastal South Carolina.  In fact, people there in general were polite and friendly, if tranquil.  The popular image of the modern South tends to forget such charming civility found in her older cities in favor of wanting to deride everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line as a redneck.  Charleston certainly looked every bit as impressive, if not more so, than experiences I have had of New York and Boston.