Welcome to this Sunday’s Third Degree: Tough, Brief, Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. Today we target: Fashion

  • Do we recall Elia Kazan’s, 1961 classic (Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty) with fashioned memory and loss theme of mostly innocent, young love?
  • Did William Wordsworth, a romantic Poet Laureate of England capture similar longings but fashion grander perspective?
  • “What though the radiance which was once so bright
    Be now forever taken from my sight,
    Though nothing can bring back the hour
    Of Splendour in the Grass, of glory in the flower?
    We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind in the primal sympathy,
    Which, having been, must ever be
    In the soothing thoughts that spring
    Out of human suffering,
    In the faith that looks through death,
    In years, that bring the philosophic mind.”
  • Ever mindful of seeking splendor, do the French Fashion Weeks of spring, summer and fall, showing Haute Couture, Prêt-à-Porter and Men’s fashions connote class or crass? Or both?
  • Is it mostly a feminine fashion fascination and the men are just tag along accessories?
  • Do the men, other than those types wound up in the business, feign interest, just trying to encourage sex for the evening, or morning, or whenever?
  • Still, appreciating the societal impact of Men’s fashions, would it be crass, surely not wise, to dismiss creative efforts to dress up the generally, clueless male?
  • Does it get very basic? Honey, which tie do I wear? OMG you have to change your pants or shirt or both?
  • Is a fruitless question: Do women dress for women or men?
  • Is a really fruitless question: Do men dress for women or men?
  • Is the really fruitful answer: “It depends but for women it depends more plus astounding incredulity? “You don’t remember the dress I wore to prom?”
  • Anyway, does Shakespeare provide some male advice, again?
  • Do the words of father Polonius to son Laertes (Hamlet) ring true: “Apparel oft proclaims the man?”
  • When Senator Slob runs around the Capital in baggy shorts, tee shirts and hoodies with Schumer Senate approval, are crass conclusions justified?
  • Did immediate and feared derision finally force affirmation of business dress, at least, for the Senate Chamber?
  • Still, running around Washington halls, are the policies, people and parties splendorous or crass? What should we fashion?

Socrates reminds: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. The answers and actions are yours?