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Comment by kingkongreveng_ | Hacker News Reader

Let's focus in on the three major geek failures:

Jeans: Don't wear them constantly. Get decent proper fitting wool pants; plain blue, black, or brown. You instantly look five times better. Also, they're more comfortable.

Shorts: almost never. You're not 9, or trailer trash. Get summer-weight wool/cotton pants and they're about as cool as shorts. Adult men look ridiculous in shorts and it's somewhat rare to see it in most places outside of America.

Synthetics: never. Clothing is made of wool and cotton.

Tailored dress shirts sounds excessive to me. Just favor those marked trim-fit if you're thin, and be careful about the styling; cheaper ones often have outdated over-sized collars.

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Shorts: almost never. You're not 9, or trailer trash.

cough I suggest one pays attention to local cultural norms before following sweeping advice on the Internet. I work in a building full of men in shorts and sandals. None of them are 9 or trailer trash - most of them are 40 year old PhDs. They are fine. Shorts are particularly popular with people who grew up in colder climates. Provided they are a good length (say 10 inch inseam) and casual rather than sporting, there is nothing wrong with them.

Oh and I guess somebody had better throw me out of the sisterhood because I don't give a damn what shoes anybody wears. My only request is if you wear an open toe shoe, like a sandal, please practice basic hygiene and nail care.

[PS. I am talking about normal day dress. I am aware PG has opinions on what you should wear while pitching your startup; if you are pitching your startup to PG, by all means wear what PG likes. If he likes clown suits, wear a clown suit. Geddit?]

> I work in a building full of men in shorts and sandals.

You work in a building full of men who look ridiculous. They and their peers may not care, but many do. And what's the point of needlessly alienating others?

I think fashion and the disdain programmers have for it play a role in creating the popular misconception among non-programmers that skilled software people should be very cheap. Skilled professionals dress like skilled professionals. Look at doctors and lawyers. Deal with it or deal with the consequences.

You work in a building full of men who look ridiculous.

Dude, you do realise that "fashion" is just a consensual hallucination, right? I work in Hawaii. Nobody looks ridiculous wearing shorts, they just look... normal. Go back and read what I said about local cultural norms.

When I worked in Hawaii, it was a wild day indeed when we changed out of the usual uniform of gym shorts, t-shirt (or no shirt), and flip-flops (only when outdoors, barefoot inside).

> a consensual hallucination

Gee, kind of like money. So let's all ignore money.

Even in hawaii, haolie white dudes of north american extraction look ridiculous in shorts. I'll cut them slack if they're speaking hawaiian and support secession.

> I work in Hawaii.

So did these guys: http://pappastenant.com/investigation/Hawaii50.jpg

I dare you to mentally substitute shorts on them and not laugh.

Gee, kind of like money. So let's all ignore money.

Uh no. Money is nothing like fashion. If you put in 10 grand in your savings account, you have money in the bank, no matter what anybody thinks you have. On the other hand, if my nice brown coat from last year is now "unfashionable" because the editor of Vogue said that brown is out and pink is in, that only has power on people who believe it.

Fashion is just a social construct. Like other social constructs it has its uses (I certainly don't advise turning up at a job interview in the Lapland national dress, or a bikini), but let's not give it more importance that it is due. Especially here.

Doctors stereotypically wear sandals and socks, which is supposed to be the greatest mistake ever. Sure doesn't stop them from costing thousands of dollars.

Doctors have to be on their feet for a large percentage of very long shifts, so they can be forgiven. Omitting socks--and/or shoes--is of course not an option.

Don't underestimate jeans because of the rash of ill-fitting jeans, usually pre-faded, often with ugly faux "distressing".

Good wool pants are great, but good jeans also look great, with the advantage that the more you wear them the greater they look.

"""Get decent proper fitting wool pants; plain blue, black, or brown. You instantly look five times better."""

Would you link to some pictures of what you mean, please? (Preferably of a person wearing them who looks like you are picturing, rather than a shop link). My association from your description is "office work trousers".

Any picture of a dude wearing pants that aren't jeans is likely to be wool pants, if he's not wearing chintzy cotton khakis. Consider almost any picture dated pre-1970.

I defy you to live in Williamsburg, VA during the summer and not wear shorts. In any professional or even "out" setting like a party or the bar, no. But all other casual times, certainly.

I bet you've never worn summer weight fabric pants. They are actually cooler than shorts of conventional fabric. You can go with seersucker or linen if you're adventurous.

I am almost positive that shorts were not common attire in the south 50 years ago.

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