HOF: What Are You Wearing Right Now - Part III - Page 1644

I never look at that thread. Maybe I should start. Who are the allstars there I should pay attention to?

let it be known I have zero interest in attempting any SWD fits, but now I am curious to see them.

Except for Bjork.

I used to think that but I've changed my mind.

Seems like this thread has reached a new low, judging on past conversation by certain persons.

The allstars are the ones who have a lot of e-buddies, not necessarily the best dressed - just like is the case everywhere (e.g. here). Take a look and make up your own opinion, there are lots of very different styles from Americana to gothninja.

How so?

Quote:

This hasn't been updated in far too long though I just bumped it but it may be a good place to start:

 

http://www.styleforum.net/t/243095/official-best-of-waywt-favorite-fits/0_40

F. Corbera :- I don't think you need to even explain why SWD looks wouldn't be swooned over in MC (though, as evidenced by my x-post of UC's fit, Parker's suits, etc. the opposite is not necessarily true). Different ideals, different ideas of what works, what should be pursued, etc I mean we both know this list quite well it seems. I don't agree either that this place is devoid of style, full of idiots, and uncreative, or what have you. Just disparate ideas that seem at first irreconcilable until we look further ...

...and we see that it's rather insularity of the tribes that leads to the most critical exchanges. Indeed, to that list I would add you, gdl.

kya hua ??

I played roulette and just clicked a random page and wound up with this.

Ill bow out of this discussion now.

Berlin Report

I agree with point 1 but point 2, at least the bolded part, is what grounds MC. For better or worse (and it is often worse), there are certain continuities that will always be classic. On the casual side, SVB is a good example of someone who chooses pieces that, while remaining interesting and contemporary, give homage to 20th century archetypes that will likely stay that way for another 100 years.

Boring? A little. Does it push boundaries? Aside from distancing from the sweats & flip-flop crowd, not at all. And I think therein lies the mindset of many in MC: how to incorporate time-honored "standards" in daily dress.

The worst will admittedly look foppish, costumey, and unfortunately do not receive the derision they deserve. The best look crisp, timeless, while remaining current with present-day acceptable men's dress.

You and me both; my head hurts as it usually does whenever I attempt to read something other than picture books...

People who are trying to look good in coat and tie, but who are uneven in succeeding looking great, seem unlikely to get much benefit by dividing their time, resources, and capacity for effective execution of coherent ideas in yet another sphere of dress.

For example, is there a single person who is primarily active in SW&D who looks great in coat and tie? It's hard enough getting guys in MC to do it well.

We all love Parker as a poster child, but still.

Costume and wish fulfillment doesn't bother me when it is done well...

Many articles of clothing SVB wears come from the emerging youth culture of the 50s-60s and forward those garments were very often re-purposed from marginal and/or blue collar culture (i.e. flannel shirts, jeans or even the military jackets you enjoy wearing). While MC tends to give a voice to the mainstream tradition of the dominant classes of the pre WWII period, what happened afterwards and was made especially acute in the 60s and 70s was the emergence of (youth oriented) streetstyle and it's enormous influence on ready to wear (which displaced bespoke and haute couture). That "tradition" is now the dominant style just like traditional bourgeois values were overtaken by countercultural values, the later being, supreme irony, way more in synch with the capitalist system. The tradition you're speaking of lays in shamble and has had to transform heavily, hence brands like Brunello Cucinelli who bridge the gap quite successfully.

I'm surprised that an elitist like you gives menswear designers so much credit when most of them are hacks who produce more minor disaster than minor beauty. Unless, of course, you deem them a special category exempt from the force of mediocrity affecting nearly all fields of contemporary artistic presumption.

A RTW menswear designer today is no more likely to produce something great than an architect today will produce.

In contrast, the backbone of mens classic dress as it lives and breathes today in the form of the bespoke tailoring tradition...the canon, as you put it...still is great. I plan to enjoy it as long as I can.

Well, you could be right. All that I can offer is that there have been seemingly sincere explanations by several people in this discussion that in their actual and personal context, none of the SW&D "looks" would be acceptable. Perhaps they are deranged and should all grab that poncho you were wearing in one of your fit pics.

Please don't make Manton wear Junya.