Dressing is a function as basic as eating or drinking and, in the right conditions, putting together an outfit can be as pleasurable and rewarding as cooking a good meal or mixing a good drink. We value our right to dress as we please and bristle at dress codes that tell us what we can and can’t wear. Yet in our increasingly globalized and multicultural world people’s sartorial choices and traditions come into conflict, and clothes become as potent a source of contention as words. From freeing the nipple to banning the burqa, the arguments over values, identity, equality, and liberty can revolve around clothes in a profound way. Can (and should) there be true sartorial liberty?

Nathaniel Adams is a writer and menswear designer living in downtown Jersey City. He is the co-author, with photographer Rose Callahan, of I am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman, and the co-founder, with Dr. Lee-Jon Ball, of the Secret Empire custom suiting firm. An expert on the topic of dandyism, Nathaniel has spoken at New York University, the Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, the National Arts Club, and Disneyland. His has written for The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Men’s Journal, The Rake, and The Chap, and is currently writing a biography of 19th-Century champagne magnate Charles Heidsieck as well as a second volume of I am Dandy.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx