Quote Originally Posted by BBNC View Post

Do we unconsciously adopt certain styles of dress because we actually feel it is best for the occasion, or because we've been taught its how these things are done?
I think the two things are usually connected; in other words, how most people dress wasn't created from nothingness in a vacuum but is a result of influence from seeing how people dressed around them as they were growing up.

When I was a kid I wore cowboy boots most of the time. So did many of the kids my age around me. Were I raised somewhere else it might have been different. My best friend as a kid wore cowboy boots all the time, even with shorts!

I work at Disneyland and it's amazing how some people dress. I see men wearing suit-and-tie on a hot day, and women wearing skin-tight long dresses and platform shoes or high heels trying to negotiate their way around without tripping. At the other extreme I see people fully rigged for an outdoor hiking expedition with hiking clothes, walking staff, a backpack large enough to carry provisions for a week, and several waterbottles (in a place where you're never farther than a couple hundred feet from a drinking fountain). Since none of these people are dressed appropriately to the activity of walking around Disneyland and going on some rides, I imagine that their previous experiences or influences have something to do with their dress.