What would it take to keep American clothing norms more modest?

Well the OP was going on about how people dressed when they were in public.
Large buildings are public places, but even besides that in highly urbanized places you'll see people wearing rather skimpy outfits in the outdoors despite the weather simply because they know they won't be around outside long enough to matter.

(I mean, as much as people like to mock at those who wear short shorts in the middle of winter, does it really matter if they're gonna be indoors or in a vehicle again soon enough?)

I wonder what is the sign of wealth now ? (When you can walk out of goodwill with decent outfit under 5 bucks ), facebook vacations ?
Actually having a retirement fund and no student loan debts. XD
 
Speaking from personal experience, I would say the dress codes made a sudden fall between 1968 and 1972. I was in high school in 1970 when girls were finally allowed to wear slacks instead of skirts or dresses. No blue jeans yet; that would come the following year. I entered the University of Missouri in the fall of 1972 and realized I was walking midway between Woodstock and Haight-Ashbury in more ways than one. By contrast, I can return to the campus today for a football game and see students in far more fashionable and upscale dress, possibly because today’s (in-state) tuition assures a wealthier clientele ($9,000/yr today vs. $500 in 1972).

I do not see a correlation with birth control. The Pill was legalized in 50 states in 1965 and to all people regardless of marital status in 1972 (see Eisenstadt v. Baird). Even though lax dress codes results in more bodily exposure, I don’t judge that as their primary aspect.

We tend to forget the level of unnecessary formality of the pre-reform period (before late sixties). I heard a first hand story about a high school girl who was getting re-dressed for class after physical education class. The instructor caught her putting on a pink slip under her dress. She was sent home for a dress code violation, as all underwear had to be white in color. Dress codes even covered underwear, even though exposure of such would be indecent.

When the hippies made news, reporters born before 1930 quickly denounced them for drugs, promiscuity and vagrancy. In fact, their society-wide influence was on music, art and dress.
 
Large buildings are public places, but even besides that in highly urbanized places you'll see people wearing rather skimpy outfits in the outdoors despite the weather simply because they know they won't be around outside long enough to matter.

(I mean, as much as people like to mock at those who wear short shorts in the middle of winter, does it really matter if they're gonna be indoors or in a vehicle again soon enough?)

If you say so, here in the UK people tend to be more covered up apart from Summer, both days of it. :)
 
If you say so, here in the UK people tend to be more covered up apart from Summer, both days of it. :)
Here in the US (at least some regions) there are people wearing seasonally inappropriate clothing in the dead of winter, no one knows how they didn't catch a cold from their decisions...
 
Here in the US (at least some regions) there are people wearing seasonally inappropriate clothing in the dead of winter, no one knows how they didn't catch a cold from their decisions...
Vast quantities of anti freeze (Gin, Vodka ect). That's how it works in the UK anyway.
 
German Baptists here in Indiana dress conservatively, except when they don't. I've met GB ladies who can style, sew, and drape a shin length sack dress into something very sexual. Take a look at the women's, or men's couture of the pre 1965 era. There's a huge sexual component in the conservative dress and work dress of the era. Take a very close look at a Rockwell painting, or the 1950s episodes of Madmen. Sure they covered skin, but the was a huge sexual subtext.
 
Well attractively covering up just makes people wonder about what's hidden. If it's on display for all to see there's no mystery.
 
USSR engineers a virus that destroys the pleasure centers of the brain (they were supposed to be immune, oops). Now everyone mopes around in shapeless overalls because what's the point.
 

Khanzeer

Banned
In the age of the internet? It's easier than you think, given how many idiots flaunt their savings account info on their social media page...
That's why I dont have Facebook, it kills my brain cells if I had to interact with such morons and "like" their posts
 
Here in the US (at least some regions) there are people wearing seasonally inappropriate clothing in the dead of winter, no one knows how they didn't catch a cold from their decisions...

I can relate. I see that a lot here in the middle of Wisconsin, and then there are some fans at Packers and Badgers games...
 
I do hope the OP is aware that American culture is generally considered quite prudish in most other Western countries. With that said, how about sexual liberation remaining an important part of Soviet Communism after the early days? Would probably require a less harrowing start for the Soviet Union, but might turn American opinion more strongly against "Communist sinfulness".

In my experience living in one(and admittedly only one) East Asian country, people over here associate America by name with sexual liberalism but mostly just because the west is generally considered more sexually liberal, and the US is the most visible face of the west. Whereas among westerners themselves, the USA's reputation is as one of the more conservative nations.

(As an analogy, if you were to ask most people outside of Utah to name the most Mormon city on the planet, they'd say Salt Lake City. But people in Utah probably recognize it as the LEAST Mormon place in their state, big temple notwithstanding.)
 
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