Linda Grant on good manners

Dressing down, ubiquitously known as "being comfortable", says that you don't care about how you look, as if your appearance were an entirely private matter that has nothing to do with anyone else. It's the exact opposite: what you wear is part of the visible environment, as relevant as the architecture, the decor, the food on the table, the scents in the air. All assault the senses of others. As with second-hand smoke, if you are badly dressed, it's the people around you who suffer.