I’m so old I can remember when folks used to “dress up” to go to church and other special places. Times have sure changed. Youngsters will spend big bucks for clothes that look like they came from a dumpster.

Clancy Strock wonders if perhaps someone could help us figure out just when it became acceptable for us to dress like a bunch of bums.

“At what point did society decide that it was perfectly okay to go to church in blue jeans and T-shirts? And who decreed tennis shoes to be the official footwear for symphony concerts?

Will the next election be the one when a candidate for President of the United States campaigns in a tattered sweatshirt?

Mercy, what changes I’ve seen during my lifetime with regard to “appropriate” apparel ... and they’ve all been for the worse!

Remember when the entire family lined up every Saturday night to be scrubbed raw? This was just the first step in preparing for Sunday morning church services. Step two came after Sunday breakfast, when Mom got the kids all togged out in freshly washed and pressed duds

When it was time to leave, the whole family looked like models for the “dress clothing” section of the Sears Roebuck catalog.

Shoes were shines, nails clipped, hair brushed ... girls wore pretty dresses; boys wore shirts, neckties and jackets. Mom was in hat and gloves and Dad wore his one and only suit, topped off with a handsome felt fedora.

Sundays have changed. Just take a look around you in church next time.

I remember when ladies dressed “to the nines” just for a shopping trip downtown. They wore hose and heels, hats and dressy gloves. “Going downtown” was an occasion, and ladies dressed accordingly.

People even dressed up to travel, remember? Nowadays, passengers on typical airplane flight or train journey look like a load of refugees.

If you look at the old newsreels from the first third of this century, you can see city streets filled with men wearing suits, ties and hats. Even the poorest immigrants coming through Ellis Island were nattily dressed by today’s standards.

In fact, I wonder if there are standards today.

One of my grandsons showed up recently in baggy “shorts” obviously designed for Fatty Arbuckle. Apparently, they’re all the rage. Not only are they tent-sized, but they’re worn several inches below the navel and droop well below the knees.

The boy looked like he’d suffered a traumatic weight loss and then, started by a lion’s roar, jumped halfway out of his clothes.

My grandson insists that he’d be a social outcast at school dressed in anything else. Well, okay ... but I remember even in postwar years when male students were expected to wear neckties on campus and female students were forbidden from wearing slacks except during raging blizzards.

So, what happened?

I think the gradual drift to more casual attire (for men, at least) started on the West Coast and spread east.

Even before World War II, I noticed that Kansas City seemed to be a sort of “fashion dividing line.” Men in the Great Plains favored blue jeans and denim shirts, adding a bolo string tie and a dressy Stetson hat for important occasions.

The farther west one went, the more casual clothing became – in California, anything went, including rope sandals, chinos and flamboyant Hawaiian-style shirts, which were never tucked in.

East of Kansas City, on the other hand, business dress was strictly a suit, tie and hat. In Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the suits were invariably black or navy.

Harry Truman, a former haberdasher with roots in Kansas City, shocked the Washington D.C. crowd with his “flashy” light gray or tan suits. He certainly stands out in the old newsreels – the only bright spot in a sea of dark suits.

Harry may have been responsible for a change in my own business dress. I started adding a colorful vest under my suit coat sometimes, especially on days that were gloomy. It raised eyebrows.

Later, I brashly added sport coats to my summer wardrobe. When my employer gently chided me for not heeding tradition, I suggested that if he’d hired me for my wardrobe instead of what was between my ears, I’d just send my suit and tie to the office by cab every morning. He walked off growling, but we never discussed office attire again.

Even so, I confess to being startled nowadays when I see a male celebrity turn up on a talk show or even at the Academy Awards dressed like a homeless unfortunate.

I sort of liked it in bygone days when Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, George Burns and Dean Martin showed up well dressed.

That brings to mind an elderly college professor who was asked by a student why he always wore a suit and tie to his lectures.

“Three reasons,” he explained. “Out of respect for the university, out of respect for myself ... and out of respect for you.”

Maybe it’s as simple as that.

It’s also probably no accident that much of my commentary thus far has been about men. Women, in general, seem to care more about their appearance in public.

It seems to me, however, that some women allow themselves to be bullied by the fashion magazines and a few designers with foreign accents. Just why someone in France can decree that everyone will be wearing 4-inch heels this year and flat clogs the next is a mystery no man can fathom.

Paris fashion never influenced my mother, but she always dressed with pride.

Mom spent several happy years in a community-operated retirement facility, where she and fellow residents wore nice clothing for meals. At dinner, the men were in suits and ties, and the ladies wore dresses accented with jewelry. And it’s still true today – or older citizens are the ones you can count onto show up in public nicely dressed. Granted, clothes may not

Granted, clothes may not make the man, but I know of one case where they made a marriage.

A successful businessman in Iowa told me about his early years. He’d left the farm and gone to Des Moines to seek his fortune, vowing to come back later for the girl he intended to wed. Finally, he was earning enough to propose marriage, but the gal refused.

“I can’t marry you,” she insisted.

“Why in the world not?” he asked.

“Well ... it’s because you dress like a hayseed.”

A few days later the man convinced his girlfriend to accompany him to the leading men’s clothing store in town. The clerk helped him pick out some suits, shirts, ties and socks that met with her approval.

When all the purchases were made, he turned to the young lady and asked if there was anything else that bothered her. She shook her head.

“Good,” the man said. “Come with me to the Justice of the Peace – we’re getting married this afternoon.” They did ... and have been happily married for 56 years now.

See? Clothes do make a difference.”

— Clancy Strock