Clothes, 2012

3rd February 2012

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born." ~ Charlie Chaplin

Introduction

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society" ~ Mark Twain

A boring audit trail note

This article is an updated, merged rewrite of an article I wrote in November 2010 - which in itself was an update and merge of two previous articles ("Gorgeous women, slobby men" and "Clothes make the (milonguero) man").

So for those who are interested, those show you how my thinking has progressed.

Let's Talk About Clothes

"But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; will they not?" ~ Henry David Thoreau

Milongas overall are dressy occasions (at least, compared to social dances in many other dance scenes). Admittedly, some men still wander in dressed in T-shirts and similar scruffy outfits, but generally they have to be really good (or Nuevo dancers) to get away with it.

Women always make more efforts to look good than men do of course, in any partner dancing scene I've experienced. The average man in Modern Jive is thought posh if he wears a good T-shirt. It's also true that dancing with Tango posture will usually enhance your looks - just take any snapshot of a good Tango couple dancing; generally they will look good all the time.

There may also be a supply and demand factor at play; the abundance of followers / scarcity of leaders at many Tango venues means that men don't have to make such an effort to get to dance.

Or, possibly, we're just inherently slobs.

That said, beyond a certain point, leaders do indeed have to make an effort if we want to dance with the better followers.

Why it matters

"Coz' every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man." ~ ZZ Top

What does it matter what we wear? Surely we're just there to have fun; as long as we're comfortable, why should it make a jot of difference?

Well... it does. Sometimes. At least, in social dancing. And except when it doesn't.

A Dancer's Progress

"Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Here's a brief outline of where I've been going, sartorially...

Stage 1: T-shirts are fine

So, I started off by simply putting on clothes that were comfortable - light trousers and T-shirt. Sure, I had decent dance shoes, but clothing-wise, that was pretty much it. I was comfortable, I could move around fine, I didn't sweat (much), so it was all good for me.

(For what it's worth, I still think that outfit is absolutely fine for learning - you'd be nuts to wear a full suit for almost any Tango class, for example).

I stuck with this outfit for a good couple of years.

Stage 2: OK, so a collar won't kill me

So eventually - bear in mind I learn slowly - I noticed that almost everyone else was wearing a shirt. Yes, even in classes. So I reluctantly joined in with the herd. No problem - shirts are fine, and by the time I was wearing them, I'd acquired enough muscle memory so that I wasn't exerting myself so much all of the time, hence retaining the "no-sweatage" bonus.

I stuck with this outfit for another couple of years.

Stage 3: The Jacket

About a year ago, a friend started to wear jackets; initially as armour (don't ask), but now he wears them full-time when dancing. And the reason is, it's improved his posture.

When you think about it, jackets are designed to be worn to maximise your "stand-up-straight" posture - both psychologically and physically. Physically, they're tailored in such a way that they make you look more upright - it's quite hard to slouch in a decent jacket. And psychologically, you're thinking "smart" and standing a little taller.

So, I tried one out. It works - at least, some of my partners have said it makes a difference.

(There is a downside - because jackets are more "rigid", they're not suited for wide, free-flowing movements. So they make it more difficult to dance in a nuevo style - they're far more appropriate for salon dancing, where you don't change the embrace much.)

And then... The Suit

More recently I ventured into the suits which have some additional advantages...

A bit about suits


Here's a suit...

Suit trousers

If you bend your knee while wearing jeans you can clearly see that your knee is bent, the jeans follow the contour of the back of your knee and form an arrowhead. They also show pronounced creases to highlight this, particualrly on blue jeans. If you bend you knee slightly in suit trousers though, the back of the trousers will still fall in a straight vertical line, camoflaging that your knee is bent. Should you bend you knee further eg back sacadas it still softens the effect. The creases are considerable less and if you're wearing dark trousers blend in. In tango this all helps you look better than you are / covers your mistakes.

Likewise because suit trousers hang, it's much easier to get the legs to brush past each other as you walk than with jeans

Colour consistency

For example - black on black - again it becomes harder for an observer to distinguish exactly what's what when you're moving your legs, again to your advantage. Likewise when combined with a suit jacket because your hips are hidden, your dissociation can't be so clearly seen.

And one for the ladies...

The last advantage is more for women. Much in the same way magicians tend to wear black and have brightly (and scantily-dressed) assistants, the message is "look at her, not at me", which seems to be either exactly what a lot of women want, or implies that you feel she's an important part of the dance which is what a lot of other women want.

What does this mean?

"A surprising number of government committees will make important decisions on fundamental matters with less attention than each individual would give to buying a suit." ~ Herman Kahn

Firstly, a big caveat: all dances have "uniforms", things that dancers wear which indicate (correctly or not) that This Is A Good Dancer. And having the wrong "uniform" can send out the wrong signals - I've been caught out many times, asking an unknown woman to dance based on her "uniform", and then finding out that she's far less able than her clothing implied.

Similarly, there's also a strong argument for waiting a few years until you buy a suit. You're less likely to get out of your depth when asking strangers to dance (The really good ones will see you coming in t-shirt and jeans and magically be somewhere else). Going out and instantly buying a suit won't instantly transform you into a better tango dancer, any more than buying a Stephen King book will turn you into a best-selling thriller author.

That said, there's some justification for these uniforms, as they tend to work. Stefano Fava, for example, doesn't look right out of his suit:

But I guess what it means, is that clothing matters, far more than I'd initially thought when I started learning. Clothing can affect your quality of dancing. It won't teach you anything you don't know, but the right clothing may help you use the stuff you do know, in a better way.

So that's another one to file in the big "I Wish Someone Had Told Me This Earlier" folder.

The nuevo exception

"Every individual is, more or less, an exception to the rule." ~ Samuel Butler


The exception to the rule

So, almost all of this article has been written with a single unstated assumption - that you will be dancing Argentine Tango in close embrace, to traditional music.

Of course, that's not always true. You may well be dancing "nuevo style" - open embrace, non-traditional music, and using moves based on pivots rather than walks.

If so, then you may well change your "uniform" - for example, trousers and flat shoes for women, casual outfits for men.

Look... and feel

Now, admittedly, some of this change is pure "look" - people dress that way because they want to project a certain casual / "street" image. On the other hand, there's some functional justifications for it:

  • Mood
    Referring to the Chaplin quote above, if you dress in character, that helps you adopt that character.
  • Freedom
    It's easy to twist and move freely in clothes designed to allow such movement. It's much easier to move freely in a T-shirt than in a suit, for example.
  • Posture
    A nuevo posture might well be more lowered than a traditional one - and certainly, pivotting is easier in lower heels.

So, it's not just posing. The uniform matches the movements.

Which is the exception proving the rule, when you think about it.

David Bailey (with contributions from Christopher O' Shea) - 3rd February 2012