Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ramble: The clothes maketh the man

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." Mark Twain.

One of the reasons I enjoy my job is a very little one in the big scheme of things, but it's impact is large. It was one of the rules of the help desk. It is a very handy thing. It is best summarised by a quote from my boss, RC: "You can wear pretty much what you want. Help Desk shouldn't have any face contact with clients, and if they do, what you are wearing will be the least thing on their mind."

I really appreciate the fact that we can wear most anything - it allows us to have a wardrobe that responds to the actual weather, and it allows us to have some of our fun little bonding sessions. Over winter we have "Flannie Friday" and tomorrow we are having "Board shorts and Hawaiian Shirt Friday".

My second job is with a funeral company on their transfer crew - However I don't mind the very strict suit and tie restrictions, as "The clothes maketh the man", and donning a suit helps you mentally switch gears from your civillian life to the societal role you are about to fulfill.

In one job, I want to be as relaxed as possible to reach for the answers and provide them for people without restriction or discomfort - in the other the suit is a psychological armour which lets me face the fact I don't have any more answers than the rest of society, but I know the rules and respectfully follow them.

My clothes define me in two of my hobbies - this weekend I will be wearing my full whites while playing cricket. I love the fashion change and science catchup. For a long time cricketers were laughed at by the football etc. crews for their long shirts and long pants, but now science has advised that if you are going to spend a day out in the sun, longs are the way to go. Luckily, modern material science means that our whites are lighter and breathe better than the flannels of long ago.

In my other hobby, SCA, clothes not only define the man, but they also define what period you are trying to recreate, your local and war unit affiliations, your dedication to the hobby, and your rank. As part of my commitment to my royal household, I will be making and wearing Merovingian, which is quite different from the mid medieval period I am used to wearing. To the outsider, it may just seem to be 'hey they are all wearing weird dresses' but inside the game it can be quite a different headspace to wear the clothes that jump that 400 years. And yet another factor - The way we build our clothes to cope with Australian heat.

Ramble over! A ramble is like a rant from someone with much less focus and less anger :)

Where's Abe and the beer?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, "Where's the beer?" allright.

Whoever heard of a micro-brewery with NO FREAKIN BEER? Well none of their own beer.

At least Nick's schnitzel looked ok. And the Little Creatures went down ok.

Given its proximity to home I would be prepared to try a repeat visit.

Oh are you up for Kransky Day? All day beer and sausage fest on Feb 7th in the city.

Ysambart said...

The garlic prawns were nice, and the cider will be a repeat performance. Kransky day sounds good - the only thing is that I have a big SCA event the weekend after.

Bugger it! Beer and Kransky day sounds awesome. Count me in.

Jennicki said...

Aw, can I come with all y'all? :D

Really enjoyed this post--the reasons why you wear what you do for different occassions.

But naked is fun, too. :D

Flinthart said...

Don't encourage him, Jen. He's an avowed slut, and the last thing we need is a jpg of Bart's kransky for the blog...

Ysambart said...

Slut - all true. Request for next time - when ladies are present, don't forget to mention serial monogamist slut :)

Re flashing the Kransky - I am a firm believer in 'keep it covered unless it's pretty'. And man kranskies are not pretty. They are so not pretty that they should always be stored somewhere out of view. Preferably somewhere out of view with big, pretty eyes. Ahem.