On my first day of working at the Tribune, 53 years ago, I wore a pant suit, only to find that publisher Clive Stangoe preferred the women staff wear skirts. I didn’t have any skirts to wear. Mr. C reluctantly allowed the pants, and before long, skirts and dresses had mostly disappeared at the Trib. Few women in the work force - or anywhere – today wear skirts.
With men, hair styles have been the big change. In yesteryears, they had short hair, sometimes crew cuts. Some who were getting bald grew their hair longer on one side and combed it over the bald spot. Today, men wear their hair however they please without getting negative comments or even raised eyebrows. My sons were teenagers in the Hippy era, when guys started wearing their hair long. Son #4 had a Dutch cut – long straight hair and bangs. Men thought he was a girl and he was constantly defending his right to be in men’s washrooms. Son #3 wore his hair longer. He was pitcher on a baseball team, and his hair flopped out the back of his ball cap. He was often yelled at by men in the stands who suggested he could pitch better if he cut his hair.
Today long hair on men has lost its stigma. Some men have stayed with the traditional short cut, but long hair, with or without ponytails, is popular, as are hairless heads. Some men are very inventive with beards. Today’s attitudes are much better, we should all have the right to choose how we look.
Women have always worn whatever clothes or hair style they wanted to but I was surprised to see a couple of female athletes at the Olympics with shaved heads. Will that style catch on with women?
