Quite a few men escaped the 1970s without ever donning a leisure suit, particularly those whose tastes in clothing were on the conservative side, which I think is what MB was getting at here.
That was exactly my point. And being an affluent Collins - especially an 18th century affluent Collins - Barnabas would have been ingrained from a very early age on the proper ways for a gentleman to dress and present himself. It would have been very hard for him to leave those deep-seated habits behind. (Thus the need for that 100 kiloton explosion and/or complete personality transplant.
)
I haven't seen enough of AN's DS wardrobe to comment, but Ben Cross, while he did sport a slightly more casual look than Frid, was still pretty conservative.
Newman's Barn was dressed on a par with Cross' Barn's more casual attire. Though it was far from what most people would consider casual by today's standards. It's not like he went around in t-shirts and jeans.
He didn't most always wear suits like Frid's Barn - but he did wear dress shirts and slacks.