Re: When Heroes Wore Khakis

Whoa, wait a minute Joe . I think there’s a lot more going on in the Dockers ad that marketers trying to bring back trouser creases.

I read this ad as a body blow to Baby-Boomer culture—casual Fridays, sloppily dressed professionals, sixty-year olds with sagging guts in blue jeans. And behind that there’s a not so subtle attack on decades of granola-eating, latte-sipping, male efforts to pose as sensitive and inclusive. Pull away from the salad bar, boys, and have a martini at the Four Seasons in a shark-skin suit. Or join the Marine Corps. After all, it was vets returning from WWII who popularized that quintessential military trouser—the khaki.

A couple of days ago, the New York Times had an interesting article on the generational revolt against the slovenliness of the Baby Boomer generation. Maybe we’ll see a parallel rejection of the moral slovenliness of the last forty years.