textsfromsolarpunk

Because men defined the fashion industry. What women wear is what a small group of powerful men decided women should wear. And men don't just want women to be beautiful and sexy - they want women to work hard at it, and to spend a lot of time and effort and money on it. They want beauty and fashion to be difficult to attain, easy to fail at, and never taken for granted. Because they don't just want beautiful sexy women, they want those beautiful sexy women to compete for their attention, and to fear failing at it, so the entire fashion industry is set up to make women compete with one another for the male gaze.

A suit, on the other hand, signifies conservatism, tradition, power, and respectability. Men show their alliance with, and respect for, the power structures they're part of, by wearing the uniform of power. The modern men's suit descends directly from the court dress of the French monarchy. The fact it barely changes is part of the message.

That's a great question. As a man, I generally get annoyed by requirements/expectations for dressing a certain way or whatever, and a lot of times I just ignore the expectation because I don't care. I wonder if enough women acted like that if it would shift the expectation. An arbitrary social standard can only last if people enforce it and perpetuate it, and if enough people ignore it it'll start to die.

Less social pressure on me makes it easier to ignore expectations, but I think the point still stands