I don’t see any response to my post; just a reiteration of the need to express one’s self and being stifled.
Men, even in the non Jewish world, do not express themselves with their clothing, by and large. Women do. That can be seen by the vast differences in scope between clothing that is marketed to men vs clothing that is marketed to women.
Therefore, if a man feels stifled by the clothing issue, i am saying that it is disingenuous. It can be proven by his lack of self expression in areas that truly matter and are reflections of the soul.
I am a writer. I express myself mainly through poems, songs and short stories. I never even once thought about expressing myself through which glasses I buy: I get whatever catches my eye (no pun intended) which isn’t too out of the norm, and most importantly what I can afford and what looks well made.
In my encounters with yeshiva guys who are upset over the dress code, I have yet to meet one who engages in meaningful self expression. Expression of thought, feeling, inner depth. Music, art, writing… show me one such bochur who understands self expression and feels stiffled by having to wear black and white…. I’m open minded, perhaps such people exist, but by and large it is part of a greater spiritual defect – it comes with wanting to be involved in goyishe culture; movies, music, etc, and often far worse.
Your understanding of the example given of professionals and elite men needs to be addressed. Just because some degenerate,CEOs nowadays walk around with hippie hair and in states of disarray does not change our understanding of true dignity. A princess is supposed to be a moshol, a comparison for us to appreciate tznius. Does that mean that if a princess walks around in shorts that now our understanding of tznius must change? You’re confusing a “sign” for a “cause” to use lomdishe parlance. The fact that we cannot look to social elites as examples of dignity does not mean we change our understanding of dignity.
It seems that you’ve been taught a rather simplistic explanation of chitzonius meorer etc…that the successful people are a cause, or something, rather than a “siman be’alma” a sign, a benchmark that reminds us of the thing itself.
It is very easy to contrast the concepts of “black and white” with cor, and go ,”wow! This seems so much more positive and vibrant”
That is a superficial thought pattern – to go down to the level of such comparisons, what would you make of classical musicians who almost exclusively wear black and white? Are they too, dreary, without color in their lives?.
Dig deeper; always look beyond the surface. Isn’t that what the nodernishe say to do instead of judging others by the way they dress? Is that only a one way street, where we cannot judge by the way one dresses, but it is also supposed to be deeply expressive? That’s a logical impossibility…