The way we live now - women's attitudes about clothes

Women's Quarterly, Spring, 2003 by Meghan Cox Gurdon, Midge Decter

I MAY have been accused of many things (and I have), but I have never been accused of having bad table manners. That is something my mother would really have had a hard time dealing with. Even when I am alone, eating from a tiny tray in my den, I still put my (cloth) napkin on my lap, place the salad on the left, and cur my green beans into bite-sized pieces.

So why are table manners important and why is it so important to instill good ones in our children? "Perfect table manners are one of the greatest gifts my mother ever gave me," says Melinda. "I can go anywhere and never have to worry whether or not I'm doing things properly." Every one of the women I spoke to said that knowing what to do gives them a tremendous sense of self-confidence during times when making a good impression is extremely important. Interviewing for a big job, meeting the parents of a new beau, that business dinner on which a major deal hinges, lunch with the president of the co-op board--proper table manners send the message that you are, or deserve to be, part of the club, the team, the group. My mother, whom, of course, I consulted for this article, sent me the following note: "The most important thing about impeccable table manners is that they are not intended as an empty show or facade, but as a genuine expression of one's consideration and respect for one's dining companions."

Spring 1999

Poll-Pourri

Karlyn Bowman's Poll-Pourri, a regular feature of TWQ, made polling data into must-read items.

We Are What We Wear

FORGET the above-the-elbow kid gloves: We've become a nation that dresses down. According to Roper Starch Worldwide, 82 percent of women have a pair of jeans in their wardrobe, and 61 percent wear them regularly. About the same number have a daytime dress (85 percent), but only 36 wear one regularly. Eighty-four percent of women have running shoes and a solid majority (55 percent) wear them regularly. Far fewer, 61 percent, have a pair of high heels, but only 16 percent wear them regularly. Forty-five percent of women have a floor length dress or skirt for evening wear, but only 5 percent say they wear it regularly. And what do women think they look best in? A blouse or shirt, followed by a daytime dress, and blue jeans.

When it comes to going casual, men have followed suit. T-shirrs are the most common article of clothing in men's wardrobes (93 percent have them), followed closely by blue jeans (90 percent). Three-quarters have a button-down shirt, two-thirds a sport coat or blazer. Slightly more than half (56 percent) own a business suit, but only 12 percent wear it regularly. Only 16 percent own a tux. What do men say they look best in? Four in ten, the top response, say jeans.

Spring 2001

I'm Not Dead Yet!

Danielle Crittenden on our eagerness to dispatch the sick and dying

WHEN MY FATHER ended up in intensive care one day, and all that intensive care one day, a lay between him and death were some numbers on a computer screen and the mechanical inhaling of a respirator, the doctors suggested we sign a "Do Not Resuscitate" order. That way, when one of his organs failed or an infection set in, his wasted body would at last be able to pass quickly into the night.