There is a different issues of “modesty” (covering up what should be covered up), not looking like a bum (wearing a gym clothes or sleeping clothes in public), and looking respectable so people won’t think Bnei Torah are slobs (wearing respectable but dull clothes). And fashions change over time (long pants only started become standard where streets were paved and sewers installed – previously one preferred short pants with high boots). The period of the early Achronim was very cold (relative to today and to the period of the Rishonim) which would have affected fashion.
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