Why are Europeans so strict on dress codes?
I have spoken to many Europeans/read many comments by Europeans who criticize the way Americans dress in public. I’d like to know why, and how popular this opinion truly is amongst Europeans.
I’m not talking about arguably indecent or overtly sexual clothing, I’m talking about pajamas, gym clothes, sweatpants, baggy clothes, jerseys, jeans, and the like. For example, I recently saw a post with Americans wearing pajama bottoms while attending their hotel breakfast and nearly every comment was euros calling them “shameless” and “lazy.”
I do not mean this as a competition nor an attack. I am genuinely confused why this is considered offensive.
Comments
Ultimately it all comes down to personal standards. That is personal standards when it concerns how you act and dress in public places.
But in saying that you should see the state of how some British people dress going about their daily lives. It’s not unusual to see people (mostly women to be fair) who will wear their pyjamas when dropping their kids off at school and then going to the supermarket.
But I have to ask this one thing though. You know Europe is not some major amalgamation that has a unified culture like the US, don’t you? Standards vary wildly across the whole continent.
We’re not?
Maybe specify where this happens because definitely not something that happens everywhere on europe so you won’t get any meaningful answers.
In Finland dress codes are almost non-existent and people dress like they want. But about pyjamaa in hotel breakfast? Even I find that odd. Just put on at least sweatpants instead of nightwear
I think it’s pretty generally accepted around the world that wearing pajamas in public is lazy and shameless.
That doesn’t stop a hell of a lot of people everywhere from doing it though!
I think it’s more seen as disrespectful. Every society has their own way of showing respect. I remember there was a long time when European men would wear g-string bathing suits and we were all appalled. If someone comes into our house and doesn’t take off their cowboy hat we would find it offensive (probably). Men are generally discouraged from wearing kilts. Unless you’re Bono or Prince (RIP) guys are discouraged from wearing high heels.
It wasn’t that long ago that a man if any wealth would be ostracized for going out without a shirt, tie, jacket, and hat. No sneakers ever. There are still plenty of restaurants with similar dress codes.
That said, why these particular dress code requirements are in place is another question, but the whole thing is very primal. You are showing you are part of the herd. However these codes evolve, there they are, and we can either choose to follow them or not, but if not, we need to be prepared because we will get some push back.
Idk haters are loud is my guess but I’m not listening to or being bothered by anyone who calls themselves a European bc no one normal would not mention their country or general area. That’s like 49 countries many of which are quite different and if ur from there you know that shut da hell up!!!
I love my continental girlies but there’s really nothing monolithic about us, eg Italy has totally different standards of dress than Ireland ime.
Anyway I’ll often see maybe posts or pictures of some American person wearing what I think of as slobby or ugly clothes in a Walmart or whatever but idgaf bc a it’s human rights to dress ugly lol and b why would I judge a whole country off of that💀😅
like the US has a lot of cowboys too but I’m not thinking everyone in the US wears a Stetson (though that would be cool you guys should get into that after you fix your problems a bit).
Basically idk ime it’s not the most common stereotype of Americans, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, excuse my rant about “European” nonsense commenters lol
Dress in public is a way of showing respect for the people who will be out in public
I think it might be more interesting to ask why america has changed to have more casual standards. For example, the European norm comes from centuries if a historical norm (which is a whole continent so this is very general). The USA has become much more casual in the past 30 or so years. The tech boom increased this speed with all the Silicon Valley billionaires wearing jeans and hoodies where in the last wealthy business folks wore suits. Fast fashion, feminism, fashion trends, and other factors also likely played a role. There is actually an interesting story regarding John F Kennedy forgoing more formal clothes, including a not wearing a hat, at his swearing in. So the trend of American fashion becoming less formal than European likely has been going on for a while.
Europeans will put on a scarf to take out the trash. Americans will wear SpongeBob pajamas to a funeral. Somewhere in the middle lies world peace
Not wearing pyjamas to a public place is strict? Lol.
The other stuff depends on where you’re going, it’s seen as good manners to adapt. You can wear jeans in most situations, tracksuits or leggings to go shopping, many people live in cargo so baggy is fine. But yeah, you’re expected to get dressed before leaving the house.
I’ve never seen anyone wear pyjamas in public. To me that would be just so weird. I don’t think we have any sort of “dress-code”, but we do have standards…
Funny because I live in Fukuoka and the majority of European tourists I see dress very frumpily and mismatched.
It’s just a cultural difference. Europeans have culture Americans dress like toddlers
Live and let live