How much importance do you guys give to clothing?
I know Jesus said that the body is more than clothes, but let’s face it, we all wear clothes. So while I understand that it’s not your clothes that define you, I want to know what you guys think about clothing? Is it bad to want to look nice? etc.
Thanks for any input.
I buy clothes usually once a year when my old things start to wear out. Naturally I buy things I like (if there’s anything available in that category, which sometimes there isn’t). My goal is to look okay – not flashy, not derelict. I much prefer things that are on sale, especially as women’s jeans typically cost only twice as much as men’s, IF the women’s jeans are on sale.
i think everyone should wear what is comfortable to them, and it can be great fun to wear things with references that are relevant to your tastes, and can sometimes make for surprise meetings with people on the street. i’ve had that happen with some of my metal band shirts…it seems to really make their day when they spot me, and that in turn makes my day!
i also wear lots of sci fi and geeky reference shirts, with the same result at times.
having a style is something that is IMO absolutely fine. i know a guy in America who has found real satisfaction in something called Dandyism, which is essentially a resurgence of Victorian men’s fashion. these guys look pretty cool! it’s never something i’d feel comfortable wearing, but they look great in their top hats and often with fantastic moustaches etc 
the only time i personally have a problem with fashion is when it is all-consuming and vapid and changeable as the wind…it is the “all consuming” part i struggle with. i think if fashion is your work or hobby, i can totally understand that…and in itself there’s nothing really “wrong” with it. it’s only a problem if it becomes an idol. and while any of the 499million interests i have almost certainly become idols to me at some point or another, it seems scary to me that many live as if this is ALL that matters.
the knock-on effect of that is the huge amount of pressure put on women (and increasingly on men) to look a certain way: a way that reduces them to their style, or to a collection of body parts, or just throws them away because their beauty is not in keeping with what fashion has dictated is beauty that week. (and we all possess beauty, if we only knew it, just as we are…that beauty can be cultivated if we accept ourselves the way God accepts us, and this largely comes form inside).
actually, that parenthetical point is i think what Jesus might have been hinting at, although actually i think He was perhaps more talking about the basic need to cover with SOMETHING…maybe not fashion.
and then we have naturists, who don’t worry about clothing AT ALL and actually, i think they have a point…not that i think we should all leap on that particular band wagon…but they actually strip (sorry) away the aspect of nudity that makes it a sexual thing, and just make it normal. it’s a nice idea…and i’m sure it works out well for them that are into it. i believe there are Christians that have this school of thought, but off the top of my head i don’t know any specific groups, and i’d assume they are a vast minority. but talk about the body being worth more than clothes…they really live that
the main time i personally have issue with clothing is when i am expected to dress a certain way, to look “smart” or “put some effort in”…that really irritates me. there is very little effort in “dressing up” as it’s called, and the idea that it looks “smart” really aggravates me. i am not a different person if you stuff me in a suit. i rebel against this as much as i can whenever i get the chance.
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I tried to be trendy when I was young - but it never quite worked 
. So I gave up trying. But I’m sure I too will be fashionable one day Good to hear from you again - and don’t be too hard on yourself 
Prof, you have your own style, and it works for you, mate!
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I’ve taken up the toga. Figure it’s more Biblical.
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i’m going for camel hair, like John the Baptist!
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This leads to an interesting philosophical question. As a Christian I felt for a long time that appearance shouldn’t matter, that vanity was a sin.
Anyway I was too ugly to bother about clothes, they’d told me so when I was at school.
Except for one thing.
I’ve recently found a surgeon who could put right my ghastly teeth which were smashed up in a road accident when I was a kid. Suddenly I look on appearance in a different way. Looking good is something that God gave us to enjoy, just like food, beer and sunsets.
absolutely correct. i think the time it becomes a problem is when it is an idol. nothing wrong with wanting to look good! and that will take different forms for all of us
glad they were able to help you!
i usually whinge about cosmetic surgery…all those sad celebraties and their sycophants trying to achieve or preserve a look for all time…however, the practice that surgeons get doing that sort of thing translates into what i would call more useful surgery that helps restore people’s self esteem after accidents, as you had happen, or for people born in ways that affect them. it’s all well and good to tell people they need to love themselves and accept themselves as they are, but it’s totally different when it happens to you. vanity is bad (although IMO it’s mostly pitiable)…but there’s a big difference between that and just wanting to fix something that can be fixed that makes you feel more what you’re supposed to be.
Goodwill has become my favorite place to shop. $4 pants!
Yeah I don’t think it’s bad to want to look presentable. I think two words would be good to live by as concerns clothes: clean and simple.