My take is that if you are wearing clothes from 70 years ago (or "back then"), it is a costume of that time period. Almost a text-book definition of the "costume" entry on the internet dictionary. As nice as the style looks, it is not what is common nowadays. Regardless of todays fashions - and how hideous some of them are - they set the standard for what is current. It is unfortunate, but true.I don’t regard “IndyGear” as a costume because it was supposed to be the embodyment of what men actually wore back then...
This thread keeps straying to what other people who judge us wear or how we do not care what people think. Neither one of those addresses the question of "costume or not." Whether others dress like Eminem is completely irrelevant to what we are wearing. Saying "I don't care what people think," simply dismisses the entire topic.
[quote+"Renderking Fisk"]On the other hand, men and some women WERE wearing fedoras once upon a time. And before “Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” there were some essentric and charasmatic people who wore fedoras[/quote]
Few are here for any other gear than Indy's. It looks cool. We all fell in love with it. Others may have dressed a certain way, but when you go through the pains to copy that look right down to sourcing out the original makers many times - and the reason for that is that this stuff is not available in most retail stores - you are copying a movie costume.
Whether you choose to dress like they did in better years or not, we here are wearing replicas of a movie costume. Separating the individual components does not change that fact. You can wear the actual "authentic" gear or you can try to get "close enough" gear, but either way you are replicating the look of a movie costume. I am completely dumbfounded at the fact that so few do not grasp that. I just embrace it.