I think Peter Gabriel provided the definitive prog dress code:

Embroider your jeans.

Seek out the older prog bands direct selling teeshirts advertising 30 year old albums  - I had a teeshirt (up until 5 years ago) bought directly from Caravan with a repro of the artwork of The Land Of The Grey & Pink - my wife threw it out because of the dreadful pink fabric it was printed on.

One of my brothers looked long and hard for a teeshirt Jon Anderson wore  c1973 - God Bless Woolworths was the slogan. My other brother with more patience than I, embroidered Flashboneyes on his jeans to celebrate his favourite prog bands of that period.  

 I did attended a Deep Purple gig at the Royal Albert Hall in 1971 wearing suit, tie and a camelhair overcoat borrowed from my father  and sat 8 rows from the stage - I felt cool dressing differently from all those hippies around me.

Otherwise what you feel comfortable in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I prefer to be ready for any persons at odds with my tastes.

Why take chances?

Try the progressive uniform: common sense. Fashion!!!

danbo wrote:

Hahahahaha, this reminds me of an episode of King of the Hill.

Here's my favorite tee-shirt...

I wear skate pants & shoes, and either a band t-shirt, shirt or rugby jersey. Go with that.

Also, always wear protection...

danbo wrote:   I prefer to be ready for any persons at odds with my tastes. Why take chances?

threefates wrote: Here's my favorite tee-shirt...

For some reason, I'm not surprised.

 I did buy an Allan Holdsworth shirt, though.

well killershears---

my advice for you is to wear prog. band shirts, plain shirts, cargo pants, nike's, puma's, adidas's, converse's..., also anything that you see prog. rockers wear that you like. hope the advice helps . welcome to the forum too, i'm sure you're gonna love it here us newbies have the most fun

Please wear whatever you feel comfortable with, I have gone to a Yes concert with formal suit (because I left work too late) and other concerts with jeans or even shorts and tennis if it was in mid summer.

Progressive music is in your mind and soul not in what you wear. You'll be a proghead even in swimming suit.

Iván

I believe  there's not a classical proghead outfit (unless you believe Mr. Jeremy Oaks about long hair, old clothes, and marihuana odor ).

The progressive fan today is almost always a middle class guy (most of the time with some studies) who has a normal work, most are old farts as me but you can find also a new generation of proggers who are very young.

So we all dress as the common man/woman, outfit may change depending the age or the financial situation (if you have cash you will use better clothes ) and of course the sex, but that's all.

There's not a prog' code in dressing as in metal fans (a genre I respect very much) or as in rap fans (A genre I don't respect at all). You don't see a guy/woman in the street and say "Hey, thats a Proghead".´

A progressive fan can be anyone in the street and you'll probably won't notice him/her (unless he/she uses an Anglagard T-Shirt) until the moment you speak with him and only if anyone mentions music (what probably one of both will do sooner or later) .

Iván

As always, I agree with Ivan.  There's no real way to "dress prog".  I think this may have something to do with the bulk of prog's fanbase being people whose generation didn't place so much importance on what you wear.  Although that could be completely wrong.

Every guy should have to wear a Pink Floyd tee shirt at one time or another.. its always a good thing to have for your wardrobe...  Here's my favorite PF tee:

The dressing code works in other genres as the ones I mentioned before, because all bands or artists usually dress in a determined style, and fans try to look as their idols.

There's almost no metal band member that doesn't use long hair, leather pants or jackett, some chains (lately is less common),sometimes jeans and T-Shirt (you'll never see a metal musician with shirt). It's an agressive style so they dress in an aggressive way.

Rap Musicians (if you can call that thing music) use street (gheto clothes), loose pants, tennis shoes, because they want to look as the people from marginal zones. They have to look marginal so they can complain against everything.

Boys bands members dress as a character from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, they have to look in fashion because they sell a cute clean modern and stylish image.

Prog Musicians? Jon Anderson still maintains the hippie style, Hackett doesn't use anything in special, Lake uses good fashion shirts, Wakeman uses capes and long hair, Fripp uses a very formal style like a suit jackett (Three of a Perfect Pair video) always combs his short hair, some musicians use jeans, others even suits (Andy Fairweather Low ), etc. Prog' is an inteligent genre, and inteligent people dress as they want, but even more important, prog' fans don't care what their favorite musician wears, we care for music.

Iván

maybe you didn't mean to, but that post seemed to make your head 3x as big as it was before. it seems you right off many genres without exception, but you don't do the same with prog. even if prog is your favourite typr of music you should be able to make fun of it and speak critically of it.

Well maybe I'm not so well informed about Rap, because I DON'T CARE ABOUT RAP IMHO IT'S NOT EVEN MUSIC, I'm only talking about the way the rappers dress in the videos that Sony Channe, MTV and the media  pass all day long, that's the image they try to sell. If people believes this stereotypes it's because the rappers sell that image to the world even if  in their private life use a ton of jewelry or dress like the common guy.

I was never critical with Metal, I believe they are really honest with their dressing code and their music, they have a classic way of dressing and that's natural in them. Of course there are Metal fans that dress as the average Joe like in any other genre, but I was talking about the band members in my last post.

Christian Metal is IMO a hybrid genre, they are people trying to prove something, that they can play metal breaking all the codes in order to praise God, they dress totally different to the average metal player because they want to be different to them.

In other words they are metal musicians who are ashamed of what metal means, metal is an aggressive genre, I don't believe that Metal, Prog or Rap reason of existing is to praise God, there are genres like Gospel created for that purpose.

Never mentioned Punk.

Please don't tell me that boys/girls bands members don't care about how they look. They only care about how they look because their music is crap, they don't sell music, they only sell an image that teenagers will buy and try to imitate, they are a product never artists.

I do believe Prog artists care more about music because it's not (and never was) a commercial genre, everything I said about the artists is true, Wakeman wears capes, Anderson dresses as an old time hippie, Gabriel used to wear costumes and Fripp wears formal jackets with short combed hair.

Probably you believe I'm a prog' snob, it's partially true and I'm proud of it, but really I'm a music snob, I only care for good music despite the genre, and to be honest I haven't seen or heard a good rap, hip hop, dance or Boys/Girls band member who doesn't care about how they look in the video before than worrying about making real music.

Iván

ivan_2068 wrote:   The progressive fan today is almost always a middle class guy (most of the time with some studies) Iván

There is perhaps some truth in this assertion, but I feel that intellect plays a far greater role than mere social position. Many of my proghead friends are from "middleclass" backgrounds, and have a similarly "middleclass" outlook on life, culturally and politically. Many are not (I, myself, hail from somewhat humbler beginings, but a penchant for the academic has afforded me an appreciation for the higher forms of art.)

Be assured, there are many of us oiks with an ear for prog, and a great many tone deaf toffs as well.

There is perhaps some truth in this assertion, but I feel that intellect plays a far greater role than mere social position. Many of my proghead friends are from "middleclass" backgrounds, and have a similarly "middleclass" outlook on life, culturally and politically. Many are not (I, myself, hail from somewhat humbler beginings, but a penchant for the academic has afforded me an appreciation for the higher forms of art.)

I accept your point Emdiar, I always talk from the perspective of my country I mantion middle class because most prog' fans in Perú are people who have access to a  private school and/or University, speak some English and can afford to buy albums that have never been released in our country or had a single minute of radio play.

But even in private schools and Universities, 90% of the people had (in the early 80's when I was studying) or even today heard about prog' music and if they heard about it they don't care, so your cultural/intellectual quotation is correct, the tipycall proghead here has a classical music background as musician or listener.

I don't come from a rich family either, since I have memory I saw my parents working to pay my studies, I had to work since I was 16 to help them pay an expensive University, but I also remember my mother playing Beethoven or Mozart pieces in the piano (She still plays with great talent) and trying to teach me how to play.

Iván

ivan_2068 wrote: There is perhaps some truth in this assertion, but I feel that intellect plays a far greater role than mere social position. Many of my proghead friends are from "middleclass" backgrounds, and have a similarly "middleclass" outlook on life, culturally and politically. Many are not (I, myself, hail from somewhat humbler beginings, but a penchant for the academic has afforded me an appreciation for the higher forms of art.) I accept your point Emdiar, I always talk from the perspective of my country I mantion middle class because most prog' fans in Perú are people who have access to a  private school and/or University, speak some English and can afford to buy albums that have never been released in our country or had a single minute of radio play. But even in private schools and Universities, 90% of the people had (in the early 80's when I was studying) or even today heard about prog' music and if they heard about it they don't care, so your cultural/intellectual quotation is correct, the tipycall proghead here has a classical music background as musician or listener. I don't come from a rich family either, since I have memory I saw my parents working to pay my studies, I had to work since I was 16 to help them pay an expensive University, but I also remember my mother playing Beethoven or Mozart pieces in the piano (She still plays with great talent) and trying to teach me how to play. Iván

Point taken, Ivan. It seems we share a common background despite our apparent geographical polarity. My dad is a classical violinist, pianist, trombonist and choirman. His passion for the arts and comprehensive vocabulary have often made him a fish out of water in the small coal mining community in which I was raised. I can't say I'm sorry that I didn't quite fit in. The broader perspective one gets from a workingclass, yet academically stimulating childhood enviroment, money can't buy.

killershears, if you want an appropriate necktie to go with your new Prog shirt, you could always try this one:

Fitzcarraldo wrote: killershears, if you want an appropriate necktie to go with your new Prog shirt, you could always try this one:

To show off around the office... cool!

I went to the Warped Tour on Sat.  Here's what the punk kids were wearing..

Good to see some things never change....hehehe

threefates wrote: I went to the Warped Tour on Sat.  Here's what the punk kids were wearing.. Good to see some things never change....hehehe

Holy Crap! I rather walk around butt-naked than going out with those stripy socks!