What people wear and why is an interesting subject. Clothes can be ornamental, colorful and serviceable but that takes more thinking and planning than most people are willing to. Most people started with the diaper period and how they looked was not important - it was a matter of sanitation and comfort and usually depended on how the mother felt about it. Safety pins were a most dangerous weapon and many a poor kid had his diapers pinned to his skin and many a kid tried to eat them and they are not digestible.

The first clothes, of my own, I remember were a short plaid shirt, short pants and long black stockings and a sailor hat with long ribbons on it. These were a gift from my godmother, an old maid, who had just arrived from Germany.

Later the boys wore pants that came to their knees, white blouses with large black or white ties for Sunday and for school, pointed shoes. Some boys wore pants rather tight that came down to about three inches below the knees. Next to our skins we wore long underwear which changed shape while you wore them. They started out being tight and short but soon stretched both ways and required quite a bit of adjusting during the week (which was about the length of time you wore them) before they went in the wash. I never knew what they were made of but they had a flexibility that made them sort of fit any size kid whether he is fat and short, tall and skinny - they had hair or something on the inside guaranteed to keep a boy awake as long as he had them on. Of course lots of people still wear long underwear - some red in color and made of wool. They are all right outside but they still sag and stretch and itch. When hanging on the wash line with the rear flap flapping in the wind, they make a very humorous sight. Lots of farmers, truck drivers, firemen, hunters and crabby old gentlemen still swear by them and claim wonderful health results by wearing them.

I can't explain the dresses the girls wore but they seemed to be imitations of their mothers', without the highlights of maturity. Most girls wore braids with big bows on the end which annoyed the boys in school and got many a boy in trouble.

Shoes are very important to your looks and physical well being - nothing is worse than ill fitting shoes. They can make a boy or a man grouchy and make living a sad affair.

Through the years people wore button shoes (with no fitting qualities), pointed shoes, bull-dog shoes with bulging toes, square toes, tall shoes, short shoes and of all colors such as tan, red, black, white and combinations of these. They were made of the skins of cows, pigs, calves and even elk skins. The comfort of them all depended on having them fit your feet which are in-itself quite a problem as feet come in thousands of shapes and angles.

Shoe strings have played an important part in my life - I lost a blonde by wearing shoe strings with a couple of knots in them. She inferred that a man who tied his broken shoelaces together lacked character. Then I lost another blonde by not polishing my shoes so I learned that well polished shoes, with whole shoe strings, was an important thing in life especially to the opposite sex. Of course after being married five or six years you can get by with this carelessness but it don't pay in the long run as nothing is so noticeable. The army cured a lot of guys of not polishing shoes.

Men, through the years, have worn tight suits, loose suits, and some short jackets just down to your pants and some way down to your knees with almost a skirt impression, some with belts all the way around, others with belts in the back, some with long lapels, and others with short lapels and all the variations in between. Some of the pants were large in the seat and tight at the bottom and others just the opposite. During some periods they were tight all the way making a sitting position hard to maintain. Other periods required large flowing pants which got baggy and did assume funny wrinkles when they were subjected to rain - these were called satchel pants for obvious reasons.

Some years you wore cuffs and some times not but keeping them in press was the main job especially if you were single or with a wife that refused to press them. In one period you could buy pants with the crease sewn in but they had a false look something like the falsies the girls wear today. An uncle of mine had a trick affair, of two wooden boards, in which he put his pants at night and put them under the mattress - his weight was supposed to flatten them but that theory, like lots of other theories, didn't work very well. A good flat iron and a little elbow grease was the best habit a man could develop if he wanted to be a success with his female friends.

You used to get a vest with your suit but some clever guy put across the fancy vest made of most anything you could sew in any color or combinations of colors, with buttons made of brass, glass, silver, gold or leather and this put the regular vest out of business and made men with large chests and stomachs a very colorful sight. It did one thing that I liked, it added individuality to men and how they took advantage of it was a pleasure to behold - as well dressed men had about six vests he could change his personality very easily and quickly.

The earlier period was a white shirt period as all men who thought they were somebody had to wear them. Only men who did physical work wore work shirts mostly blue which faded into a grayish dismal blue after two washing and were the mark of a laborer. later years changed all that and men blossomed out in shirts of many colors and patters and materials. Some with geometrical designs, some flowers and pictures, some even with slogans and smart cracks on them. In warm weather and on the beaches they were worn out of their pants and they could be seen for miles especially on men with lots of space above the belt. Of course they looked funny, and many a man felt silly in them, but they suffered and wore them and still do in this year 1960.

I admit some men, and in some businesses, like bartenders, barbers, office helpers, male secretaries and big officials still have to wear white shirts - personally I think the period of the white shirt as king in past.

Sport shirts are very popular these later years. They come in all colors and combinations and in all materials from wool to plastics. They practically need no color highlight and that means you don't have to wear a necktie and I think that has made more men happy than anything else that happened in the last century.

I almost forgot about the collars worn by men. At first shirts had no collars built on them and you had an assortment of collars that were supposed to fit your shirt and your neck. Shirts shrank differently when laundered so the collars often got funny effects that also felt uncomfortable on your neck. These collars come in all shapes some high, some low, some in single thickness, other folded down with large bunches and others with pins on the side. The most uncomfortable ones were the high ones, of one piece, that grasped your Adam’s apple and made it static - making it hard for you to swallow and they gave your speech a strained quality. You could buy a celluloid collar which you just cleaned with a wet rag but they had a false look. You had to be afraid of a friend with a cigar in his mouth because anybody knows nothing burns like celluloid. With the weaker sex smoking cigarettes, the collars would have been the death of lots of guys and I really believed that somebody outlawed them.

The reign of the white shirt was a long one and it made the necktie a must when appearing in polite society. I admit a man could open the top two or three buttons and look pretty effective as the hair on his chest, and his Adam’s apple, added to the decorative effect a white shirt needed - but it never seemed just the right thing to do. A white shirt without a necktie always looked lacking in something and gave me the impression that you were ready for the undertaker or something. The necktie business took over to fill that vacant spot with colors and shapes.

The imagination, skill and research used in designing and making of these decorative ties was remarkable. They went to the ends of the earth looking for colors and designs - from Persia, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, Scotland, and Egypt and went back to ancient periods along with the most modern designs by ultra modern artists. They also used different shapes and different knots all except the hangman's knot. The poor men folks had to accept them and wear them. About fifty percent of all ties are gifts from mothers, wives and children and not to wear them, at least a few times, makes the giver feel their taste is lacking.

One of the first ties was the ascot - a large tie looking like a muffler, with a big knot hiding the front of the shirt, usually worn with a silver or gold ornament (or a diamond in a gold horseshoe stick pin) in the middle and they were very spectacular. The bow tie came in different shapes and colors, hard to tie and most men never learned. You could buy them tied with an elastic piece to go around your neck but these were play things for anybody with playful friends as they could pull them out an inch or two and snap them against your Adam’s apple - which gives everybody a laugh but you. Another bow - a large black affair with long ends that was worn by artists, musicians, designers and students in the arts and was supposed to give an artistic-free look - putting you in the egghead class, these are still worn in some localities today. The four-in-hand was the easiest tie and become the most popular and could be fastened to your shirt with different shaped gadgets - a very good idea because it kept the tie out of soup, coffee and other gooey substances. These were of standard length and a short man could but the ends in his pants while the tall man had to wear stick pins of ornamental stone or metal to keep them in place.

In later years appeared the cowboy tie - usually a narrow black tie just slipped over your head. It has some kind of a gadget, or slip knot, to tighten it up. These gadgets are made of old Spanish coins, Confederate coins, Mexican designs, Indian ornaments or anything ornamental that has no particular use. I bought one of these ties from a friend, one night, and he put it on me and I paid him for it and was real proud of it. When I got home that night and started to undress I couldn't get it off and as the time was getting late, I went to bed with it on. I got it off the next morning but I've been afraid to wear it ever since.

I have worn ties woven by Indians right on the reservations, ties decorated by artists, some people have hand painted nudes on theirs, one actor had a portrait of his girl friend painted on his. So you can see that a tie from a necessity became a conversation piece through the years. Through all these years a small black or white tie was used with both tails and tux - why I don't know but I hope somebody is going to change that.

Through the early years, everybody wore either a cap or hat. I have had capes in all shapes and colors from blue with a leather peak to ones made out of a scotch kilt, stocking caps and even a fur one (a little frost-bitten as I inherited it from a horse doctor uncle) but it certainly kept my head warm. Some of the caps had ear flaps and the one I remember the best had red ear muffs that were detachable and that was my pride and joy. Men have worn Derbies, mostly black in color, narrow in brim, wide in brim some fit the top of my head and some fell down on my ears which were called Jewish Derbies. I liked them as long as nobody sat on them as that would ruin the best derby ever built.

In summer we wore straws, both sailor and Panama - some with colorful bands you could almost hear and often with a feather, others narrow in the rim and very rough on the edges. I like the Panama hat as they were tough, rain shedding and easily cleaned if you paid enough for them.

Soft felts, in any one of a dozen colors and shapes were worn with creases to suit your personality with the brim down, up or halfway. They are a comfortable hat, although they have a tendency to start to look like you after a short period and when that happens you look upon it as an old friend and want to wear it the rest of your life - wives and sweethearts don't like that. You could buy these hats in a wide range of prices with the foreign hats, like an Italian Borclein which was a wonderful long wearing soft felt that kept its shape very well and could be cleaned very well. Hat salesmen always objected to the way I handled my hats. They showed me how to put a hat on carefully with a gentle pressure but they always seemed to end up out of shape whether it was the shape of my head or my rough treatment, I don't know - one thing I know, I certainly was not a good ad for hats.

People say my hats look like me but in these later years I go without a hat as do a lot of other men and it feels good. I imagine that hat dealers don't like it and I hope the hat union doesn’t try to get a law passed about it.

All I can say about women's clothes, hats and shoes is how they affect me and I don't think that will be a fashion item.

They went through periods when they wore long dresses with high necks and we had to use our imaginations. Then they wore them short and low and you did not have to imagine any thing. Then they would alternate sometimes showing their limbs to above the knees and the rest of their figures were covered with fancy cloths and furs. Then they would decide to give us another look by making the skirts down to the shoe-tops and go easy with cloth in the upper section and it was a pleasant sight.

One period they covered everything with a sort of free flowing tent and you could only guess what was underneath - they found this didn't bring results so they quit it very suddenly. That was sensible as if you have something worthwhile advertising you have to take advantage of it and any capable advertising man will tell you that.

In between were lots of stunt dresses that were tight around the ankles and made it hard for them to walk, others with slits up the sides that gave the male species short snappy views of most of their right leg. Any colors and colors combinations were used and about fifty percent added something to the wearer but lots of them were blah!

The sweater period was a knockout - maybe it didn't help the production in an office or shop, but it certainly helped the moral of the place. Most men looked at this period as one of the better periods of women's dress fashions and I'm with them one hundred percent.

Men always liked furs on their wives and sweethearts and you could see the furs of some of the finest animals that ever prowled this earth, being worn by a woman who could afford them and that was pretty nearly all of them.

The hats that the fairer sex wore came in all sizes from the picture hat (wide in rim and almost hiding the face) to the small one about the size of a fig leaf worn by Adam in the Garden of Eden and resembling it in shape - they all looked good if everything else about the girl was all right. Some covered their faces, some one eye and some had veils and you couldn't tell your Aunt Emma from your grandmother.

I remember one veil story that makes me laugh. It seems there were two English biddies eating dishes of tripe in one of the better taverns. The one with the veil suggested to her friend that the tripe was rather tough. Her friend, with a smile on her face, suggested she lift her veil and try the tripe that way.

One hat style I will always remember and it's one that could be well used in these later years - the straw sailor hat with a hat pin about twelve inches long with a large ornament on one end and a very sharp point on the other. This pin had a couple of functions: first it kept her hat on in any wind and secondly it could make you change your mind very suddenly. If I knew anything about making hats, and hat pins, I think I would start a factory right now and go down the ages as a savior of the better sex - with the right advertising. These hats were good looking too and most girls looked a good deal better than the funny shapes and doodads they are wearing now.

Stockings are an important item to women and were made of wool or cotton. When I was a boy and although the stockings served well, they were rather heavy and didn't keep their shape well. Silk was rather expensive but made a good looking well fitting stocking and were used by women who were well heeled. With the advent of the chemically made substitutes like nylon stockings became cheaper, well wearing and extremely good looking. The period of beautiful legs was with us and nothing did more for the female population. I think they made more men turn around and whistle than any other article a girl could put on or take off.

Shoes from the button type with their rather clumsy appearance did nothing for the female. Later on with new designs, lower simpler, higher heels, different colored leathers they really became a thing of beauty even if the men folk wondered how they walked in them or kept them on. The women mastered them and they are now one of the important parts of women's apparel. The average woman has about twelve pair in all colors and styles for any occasion, for any ensemble and I really believe they have made the world a little more interesting place to live. It makes me wonder why any man wants to go to the Moon or Mars.

There was a bare-legged period but when you consider the pale yellow color of anybody's legs that period didn't last long although it was economical but looks are more important.

For men the three important changes in style were the sport shirt of any color or material, requiring no necktie, and when men could discard his hat and leave the wind blow the cobwebs out of his hair.

Women's important changes were better cosmetics and chemicals that improved their complexions, their hairdos, hair dyes that created a new supply of blondes, form fitting sweaters made possible for every girl that evened the battle that keeps the world on its toes and also makes in interesting.

Some styles add nothing to the world except a few laughs. One of these is pants for women, long or real short - they are like some ads you see that attract your attention but leave no other effect. The same with men who wear shorts - maybe they are cooler but I never saw a man with shorts that improved the local scenery as his knees, hair and abrasions are all against it.

As an artist you soon get to learn the imperfections of the human body and that a well dressed woman has a lot more appeal than any nude model. Of course I figure there are a few exceptions but I figure the odds are about one million to one and that kind of a bet is no good.

Other styles like long hair, long side whiskers, mustaches, beards are used to attract attention but usually the people who use that kind of advertising are a little lacking in the old bean. One exception is the short hair cut style a must for some men and it always can be called a time saver and it's bound to be a sanitary protection - no hair tonic, no combing, and it nullifies the effect of gray hair. I have cut my hair short and it did a lot for me - people say it cuts about six months off my age, which is something when you arrive at the age of seventy-two.

Of course what we wear when going to bed is not of too much importance except to a bride. I heard of one bride who had a night gown made ten foot in length but I forgot why - it shows you how far some people will carry their style ideas.

I remember my grandfather, on his way to bed, with his long night gown - one of the most miserable designed pieces of wearing apparel with his doodle sock on his head carrying a heated stone for his feet.

I'll admit there are still people who wear night gowns. Farmers, firemen and some old timers who swear by them. I wore them as a kid and remember how they crawled up to your neck sometimes even choking you and always left you bare from the waist down. I can't understand how anybody still wears them. They are hare to get as an artist friend of mine, who still wears them, give me a good laugh when I went over to his room in a summer cottage one night. Low and behold he had a large circus tent like night gown with forget-me-nots embroidered around his neck. He had the excuse that he had to buy a ladies' nightgown as they didn't make his size. The funny part was that he wasn't ashamed at all, just accepted it as one of the tribulations of living in this world.

Now we have pajamas - very colorful, in all weights, two piece, one piece, some with elastic cuffs. These are satisfactory to me as I do not have to untangle myself in the morning.

Other night effects are the bath robes, lounging pajamas and some of these are works of art. I see them in the movies and on television and they are important to some people. I have very little lounging time, so I usually lounge in my pajama pants and a sweat shirt.

When you think of it, clothes are a personal thing and are like an open book portraying all the individual taste, ambitions and outlook of the individual's life.

Stand on a corner some day and watch people go by. You will find it very interesting and educational. You will see pride, ambition, laziness, poverty, aggressiveness with what they wear and how they wear it. They are all individuals and can not hide their real characters and I don't think they want to.

When you see a regiment of soldiers, all dressed alike, they became an ensemble. This makes the lazy, the ambitious, the coward, the brave guy, the braggart and the humble guy all look alike and with its unnatural affect tends to destroy their personality as people and make them unhappy - except the lazy or dumb guys who are not of much value to the world anyway. Take maple trees with a similar root and leaf structure and try to find two trees that are duplicate and you get the answer to regimentation. If trees, clouds, mountains and valleys all looked alike, what a dreary monotonous world this would be and why anybody tries to make people fit one form is beyond me.

Whoever made this world did a good job and why should we try to change the fundamental idea. I don't know and neither do engineers, labor leaders or politicians. I believe production engineers have their place but they have to work with social engineers as either alone can do a real job. One thing, I hope and that is if they decide to build a future home for people on the moon, they don't send a production engineer, a politician or a perfectionist and ruin it as a happy place for free people.