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by dboshardy 2588 days ago
What you said is true, but why can that not also mean that power is tied to dress/appearance? There's nothing that deep or metaphysical here, it's pretty straightforward.
1 comments

> There's nothing that deep or metaphysical here, it's pretty straightforward.

Did you read the article? Here are a few choice passages:

> The importance of the Patagonia vest is that it is both an evolution of the business-casual costume and a reversion to the waistcoat of the ancient three-piece suit. The fleece vest harmonizes with values that have been invested in the suit since its emergence, in the second half of the seventeenth century.

> In its metaphysical proclamation that “all of us know what is and is not appropriate for the workplace,” the memo bespeaks a Babylonian code of unspoken rules. It says that professional conduct is identical to ruling-class savoir-faire, and its manners are too circumspect to say much else.

> The panorama of the scene is a tribute to Ralph Lauren’s prophetic vision: sportswear that’s attached to the traditional garb of monied masculinity by means of it all being stitched together with an invented crest.

To me what the author is getting at relates to "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players", or the movie American Psycho.