The Fake Intellectual is an online collection of articles and essays written and curated by writer & photographer Thomas W Coombs, published bi-annually.

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Issue 38; Dressing for the Outside


I had grandparents who would regale us with tales of being able to leave their door unlocked back in days gone by, I feel that now I myself am in a situation when I am talking about the times when we used to get correctly dressed to go outside. Those were the days.

Remember when it was a ritual task in the morning to make sure you were dressed for the occasion at hand or the occasion that may come up without notice.  Like that trip to get coffee that turned into lunch, drinks, more drinks, dinner and finally cocktails, leaving you trying to remember why you went out in the first place.

Now, sadly, going out is just a necessity, that weekly trip to the shops for food and more importantly wine, on top of what you have already had delivered from your go to wine shop.  And as I have noticed when out that many have forgone the art of dressing and are in comfy mode at all times.  The abundance of comfy wear on offer from all corners of the fashion world does nothing for the thought of dressing.  Gone are the shirts, the shoes and the jackets of a year ago. The faces of boredom and sadness at the hold put on our lives by a virus we can't control. Gone are the long lunches, even those work meetings that include one too many bottles of wine at Noble Rot. If you just nodded then  you may have been  there with me once. We have brandished over comfortable clothes over all.

It is a lost romance we have with clothes currently which could all go wrong when we can finally meet up in the future and everyone has forgotten how to dress.  I am determined to change the minds of many.  I make sure I dress as I have always dressed and even donning some wool trousers for cocktails on a weekend evening to link myself to the art of dressing well for all occasions. Which is an addition to my dress which I will take on with me because this is a perfect time to experiment and test your style, I have pushed myself not to slip into the hoodie daily look, keeping my peacoat ready to dress in when shopping for wine, which is more often as the months go by. Simple things could be to don a jacket for dinner at the weekend, a daily Oxford shirt for work and undoing a button for play, and the final rule, please do not surrender to day pyjamas at any cost.