Las Vegas -- The dressing habits of America's males are strangely at odds in this casino and convention town, where the world's largest men's apparel trade show opened Tuesday in acres of halls and tents with miles of display booths.
The MAGIC International show brings more than 2,000 companies representing more than 6,000 clothing labels to town to push their particular brands of fashion.
The four-day influx of 100,000 manufacturers, designers, models, store buyers and press does create a minor sartorial ripple in the convention hot spots -- lots of men in well-draped sport coats, aggressively expensive shoes and karat jewelry. A generous sprinkling of gray-hairs in ponytails.
However, off the fashionable track, basking in the demi-glow of slot machines, your Vegas tourist represents America's everyman at play in full-blown casual mode, and he makes the fashion industry nervous. The same industry that promoted casual Fridays could not have anticipated the depths to which dressing down could sink.
Now dress standards have become a national issue as this week's issue of Newsweek magazine asks "Have We Become a Nation of Slobs?"
The answer was addressed at a series of shows and seminars that the Fashion Association, a non-profit public relations arm of the industry, presented to the press.
Ray Bushnell, vice president of merchandising for the mainstream Haggar Clothing Co., sees a need for some restraints on casual wear gone crazy.
"Laid back professional clothing should symbolize that the work is in the hands of responsible adults," he says. "Men need education, so that their casual attitude remains within the boundaries of good style."
So what do the experts recommend as stylish alternatives to sloppy Friday's?
* A jacket: Not necessarily the old blazer, but something in a textured, looser weave or made of light shirting stripe cotton.
* A shirt with muscle: It can be bright peach, turquoise or blue, or deep and dark denim. If it's white, it has some beautiful details in collar, pocket or placket.
* Linen: This fabric's natural wrinkling qualities keep it from ever looking stuffy, even in its most tailored looks.
* A vest: Today's designs are not just the third wheel of a suit set, but tailored and trimmed in great detail. The newest comes with lapels, a dressy way to go without a jacket.
* Keeping it in neutral: Pale and earthy colors have a natural affinity for each other. Do the mixing in the textures and weight.
* No collar: Bands, crew-necks and luxury T-shirts make a clean chest front.
* A suit: The new versions are light and easy to wear in seersuckers, silks and tropical wools. On a comfort scale, a well-cut suit has more grace than jeans that are trying to contain some extra pounds.