Q: Were nice clothes substantially cheaper way back when? It seems like in every picture of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, even derelicts are wearing ties and hats. Why not now? I must know.

A: I don’t think it had much to do with the price of clothes. It had to do with a sense of standards relating to being a gentleman. In many parts of Europe, you see hobos in jackets and ties, and believe me, they look considerably happier than our casually desperate. In my opinion, the casual movement has gone hand in hand with the restructuring of our society. The past ten years have seen the creation of a class of superrich, who own everything, while the middle class has eroded. But it’s all very invisible, because the superrich have traded in their frock coats and wing collars for jeans and sneakers. Bill Gates wears denim shirts; Steve Jobs wears jeans. It’s brilliant when you think about it: The next fascism won’t be Blackshirts in shiny jackboots; it’ll be “barbecue casual.”

August 2005

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