Welcome to 2023

1907 - Some Things Don't Change

Patient: "I can't afford it Doc. I'll simply have to wait until prices come down."

Clearly there were also health care and inflationary concerns back near the beginning of the last century. (London Free Press, Oct. 31, 1907.)

1923 - Some Things Do Change

This advertisement is from the LFP 100 years ago. Clothes are not much of a concern these days. The pandemic didn't help and a large segment of the population now shows up in public in pajamas. Fifty years after this ad., fellows were still wearing suits and fedoras to a ball game.

Now people in airports look like they just came from a garage sale and I gather that even in churches, parishioners arrive in sweat pants and tee shirts. 

   We can do better than this. Perhaps in 2023 we can at least tuck in our shirts and strive to conceal that thong. 

The Bonus:

   Apparently these sartorial issues are not just of concern for those of us in the colonies.

"Very recently a kind friend from New York asked us to dinner at Claridge’s. It has been magnificently enlarged and redecorated, but not, thank God, ‘re-imagined’. The dining room, however, came as a shock. Who were these people, sulky of visage, lounging at tables in tracksuits and T-shirts? The service was impeccable, but my fellow diners looked like they were on their way back from the gym. Later, ruthlessly going through my wardrobe, I came upon a grubby T-shirt and a pair of torn denim shorts. As I flung them into the rubbish box, I had second thoughts. ‘Hang on Barry!’ a voice said. ‘Don’t chuck those away. Someone might invite you to Claridge’s.’"

Source: 
"Why Does No One Dress For Dinner at Claridge's Any More?" Barry Humphries, The Spectator, Dec. 17, 2022.