I recently talked with a twenty-something young man about what he considered being presentable. His take on the idea was that as long as you were neat and clean, it really didn’t matter what you wore.
But you should adjust for whatever the situation is. If you’re going for a job interview, you might want to dress a little bit better than normal. If you’re just going to go hang out with people, a little more relaxed is okay.
I asked him about pajamas in public and he said he didn’t think that was a good idea and not a good look at all. We talked about the cost of clothes because there are some very expensive clothing items that are not very presentable.
He said the cost does make it a little more presentable but it would depend. I joked with him about if somebody spent $300 on a makeup job to look like the Joker in a Batman movie would that make them presentable and he said no.
Unless they were going for an actor’s tryout to be the Joker. We talked about how being presentable is often a lot like recognizing pornography. It’s really hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
For me, being presentable is wearing good clothing and shoes and socks and not wearing saggy pants that show your underwear. Not slouching. Looking people in the eye and smiling, which is huge because a lot of people don’t smile nowadays because they’re distracted by their devices.
It was a good discussion.
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