When did we stop bothering?

I recall my grandfather leaving for work was always well turned out. He always wore a suit. He always smelled of imperial leather soap. His hair was neatly cut, his nails clean neat and short. Its been 14 years since his death but I still recall him as a kind of Don Draper figure. Always perfectly turned out and ready for business.

Maybe this one of the reasons Mad Men appeals to so many people. It harks back to a time when people where always impeccably dressed. A women would not dream of leaving the house without being in clean pressed clothes, hair neatly styled, makeup on, shoes clean and hats and gloves worn.
We are of course living in different times now. Women's days have become more full as they have to juggle a career and home and family. Maybe these days life has become more complicated but is this any excuse to stop bothering with ourselves? For me its about having self respect but also respect for others. Anyone who has stood behind a sweaty offensive smelling man in the supermarket queue will understand what I mean when I saw respect for others!

I can say I am guilty of leaving the house without applying makeup on many occasions but being 26 I think I'm still fresh faced enough to get away with it and its nice to let my skin breath once in a while. I do get quite a few comments on how 'smart' i dress especially from elder ladies and it always pleases me. I secretly hope that maybe I remind them of a time gone by maybe sparking a memory from their youth and lets face it, its always nice to get a compliment.

Now don't get me wrong I understand dressing smartly is not always practical. I work at a creche in a gym and I don't expect the mothers to be working out with a full face of makeup, hair style to within an inch of its life. I do however hate seeing women in the street in workout clothes. One item of clothing that I can safely say will never have space in my wardrobe are jogging bottoms. It seems these days workout wear has become leisure wear and people are more concerned with comfort than their appearance.

People these days seem to have a misconception that dressing smartly is both uncomfortable and unpractical. Please don't get me wrong when I say smartly I am not referring to office wear but simply having a smart appearance, being well turned out. We only have to look at Melbourne blogger Super Kawaii Mama to see that being well turned out is not impractical as she is a mum of two beautiful young girls and leads a busy lifestyle but she doesn't let this effect the way she dresses. In fact Super Kawaii Mamas blog has many great posts about how to look good whilst still remaining practical like this one about what to wear when you can't be bothered. SKM suggests having outfits ready hanging in your wardrobe for days when you don't have the energy or time to put together an outfit. I find what I call 'old standbys' are always helpful and if you hang the accessories up with them its very easy to quickly put on an outfit and be out the door.

Another tip I can give ladies is to always carry a small makeup bag with you with a few essentials that way even if you don't have time to do your makeup in the morning you can always apply it when you get a free moment say on the train or at your desk. I can guarantee you will get more positive compliments rather than people commenting on how tired or washed out you look (Maybe people just do this to me!)

AS you can see it really takes little time, money or effort to be well turned out and put your best face forward just a little forward planning. So with this in mind I ask "When did we all stop bothering?"