Episode 108: There’s No Dressing Up Dress Codes

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The New York Yankees’ recent relaxation of half-century-old rules about facial hair got Joe to thinking about dress and codes generally. Why do they exist? Where do they come from? Mark takes Joe on a historical tour of dress codes, from ancient Rome and China through medieval Europe and Tudor England, ending in the modern era of school uniforms and casual Fridays. As our heroes discover, attire-related restrictions are less about affirming people than about keeping them in place, serving as effective instruments of social or class control—and sometimes symbols of resistance. (Recorded March 14, 2025.)