James Lileks puts words to the thoughts we muse and flick away like love-me-not petals:

It’s amusing, and slightly dismaying, to see teen girls in 2003 look like they did in 1973. Hip-huggers, tight shirts with strings that tied at the back, straight-part hair. It’s a look that makes me think of Boone’s Farm and Black Oak Arkansas.

[...]

When I was in high school, that sort of brazen hussyness was an arrow to the heart, because you knew it was all being wasted on a football player two grades ahead. Now it looks amusing. The Li’l Slut style is not as sophisticated as its practitioners believe. But they’ll figure it out eventually.

I go to work in a suit - button-down shirt, dress pants, dress jacket, polished boots and a tie. If I go to a community function in the evening or if I need to dash out quickly and haven't time to change, I keep the good clothes on. I wasn't always like this; high school saw me move out of half-hearted, pseudo-preppy attire into fun-loving, ironic t-shirts and jeans. It was in college that I slowly evolved into a formal-casual tradition with polo shirts and slacks. Ties came in heavy senior year. A year out of college, when I resolved to leave my hair alone and pull out my earrings, the look went straight from Hybrid Mod to City Gent. I haven't worn an untucked shirt [with any regularity] into public for at least two years. I haven't worn jeans for four or five.

To date, I've lost count as to how many compliments I receive from women about the apparent mix of cultural daring and throwback class in which I choose to parade around. Girls my age usually remain silent; if they give me the eye, it seems to be for other reasons; instead, the slick threads are particularly caught by elderly women, whose men of the day wouldn't leave the house with anything else.

Sometimes they reminisce sights I would have loved to have seen - every man and woman on a city street bedecked in respectable regalia, suit-hat-and-tie in arms with dress-purse-and-hat. "You know what they say about style: it always finds a way to come back." One woman cheerfully grinned at her adage; I did, too.

What if it did? Undershirts could be relegated to their rightful stature - collecting sweat. Would rock stars and punks take it with some difficulty? I'm sure; but Puff Daddy seems to have the right idea. It'll catch on.

UPDATE: Not that I'm under ethical accountability to reveal my dress code, but actually, when wearing dress-pant cut-offs, I'll usually leave the shirt untucked. Like today.

UPDATE: Over at the folks' house, and my dress-pant cut-offs got soaked. My father had jean shorts. Another first!