Looking at some old childhood pictures of Cookie and me, I couldn’t help smiling. How darn cute were we in some of them with our “Sunday go to meeting” (old-fashioned saying meaning your best outfit) clothes on? We would have a sports coat with a white shirt and a tie, sometimes a bow tie. Cookie was also sporting a hat like the men would wear. We looked like miniature men, and we felt good about it. We felt special and loved. Our Mothers had us looking good no matter where we were going.

As I continued to ponder about how people dressed back then, I was struck by how dressed up people seemed to always be. For instance, if you were to look at a picture of the fans at Briggs Stadium (before Tiger Stadium and before Comerica Park and the Silverdome and Ford Field) at a Detroit Tigers game or a Detroit Lions game, you will notice that everyone is in a suit and tie, even on a hot summer day. Why? By today’s relaxed standards, these people back then look ridiculous. People would go on picnics in long pants and white shirts, often with a tie on. When traveling by plane or train, people dressed up like going to Sunday service? Why?

Truly, society today is so informal, perhaps on the edge of irreverent. I remember the first time I saw an adult at the funeral home without a sports jacket or tie. I remember the first time that I saw people at church in shorts. Now I know that the person in the coffin could care less and that God loves us no matter what, but what you wear certainly indicates your respect for the situation and perhaps for yourself. As our Mothers would say, how her children appeared was a reflection on the family and in particular on her. Cookie made me laugh one time when he saw a sloppy, rude person and said, “Obviously, that boy ain’t had any home training.”

Some people firmly believe that if you dress up, you act more civilized. Dress codes in schools seem to indicate that students behave better and learn better when they are in a more formal dress code. Perhaps society acted better back in the 1950s because they did not want to get their Sunday go to meeting clothes messed up. I know that if I started wrestling around in my nice clothes, my Mother would have killed me. The point is that there are times to dress up and times to be informal.

The Latin phrase, “Vestis Virum Facet” means the clothes make the man.

Interestingly, this ancient saying still has a great meaning today. Some would argue that it really does not matter what a person wears. I think those people are wrong. Now, you don’t have to go overboard and wear a tuxedo to the next Detroit Lions game, but you should consider time and place as you get dressed for an outing.

Unfortunately, you may not have your Mother around anymore to dress you properly. So you can do what I do: just sit on the edge of the bed in your underwear and wait for your wife to dress you like a “Ken” doll. It’s a win-win situation. She will be happy, and you won’t look like a rube.