Amusingly, air conditioning created the problem that air conditioning solves. Prior to widespread air conditioning, men wore lightweight suits, shorts, and hat

Amusingly, air conditioning created the problem that air conditioning solves. Prior to widespread air conditioning, men wore lightweight suits, shorts, and hats in the summer. It was commonplace to have two sets of business attire, one for cool months, another for the summer. Air conditioning is what made it possible to wear a navy blue wool “power suit” in August, and once that happened, summer clothing stopped appearing at work and became specialized for causal wear to semi-formal activities. If we want suits without air conditioning, we could theoretically rediscover summer-weight clothing again. But I’m not holding my breath.