HOF: What Are You Wearing Right Now - Part III

I'm 38. The closer I get to MC, the more seriously people take me in all walks of life. The closer I get to SW&D, the more I have to use my natural charm and charisma, which I think we can all agree I have in spades. Dressing SW&D is like being the ********.

I've enjoyed this discussion, but when the average American family looks like this:



the theory that the MC crowd is dressing with society's cues while the SWD crowd isn't can't be argued anymore.

Surely both sides of the forum are far out of the comfort zone of the "average" man on the street.



F. Corbera said:

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.

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I like some designers and dislike most, yeah. However I prefer to wear something that has to do with a current reflection on dressing than folklore/artisanship. Make no mistake, I like some of the bespoke offering and would probably indulge if I stopped being curious and appreciating new things but that is simply not the case. I listen to new music, look at new art, read new books, enjoy new design and new clothes. Dead art belongs in art tombs (museums) and dead clothes in old movies and photobooks, it is quite possible that I'll reach the prototypical mental state of middle-age and this is when I'll wear bespoke. Won't be a sad event or anything but I'll definitely have a very different concept of self.

I dunno if they are deranged but my advice generally is about helping them to do casual better while respecting their general boundaries. I didn't ask people to wear the white mountaineering cape (that I got while visiting Riccardi). Considering the variety of SW&D looks I'd be surprised "none of them would be appropriate" though. Some are like white sneakers+jeans+button down+sweaters+outdoorsy jacket.



Fuuma said:

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.

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...and my next SW&D fit was going to include my 1961 Schott flight jacket

I have never heard of jeans worn casually called "marginal", but I suppose contextually, at a particular time and place, they may have been. As was my dashiki. Does Cucinelli make one with patch pockets? If so, I think it'd go great with my huaraches. Or my even more marginal wrestling shoes. Flexible hi-tops never get any love here.

Truth be told, I dig SW&D, but for many in MC, a mountaineering cape might need some time to achieve "classic" status. It did look cool on you, though.

Fuuma said:

it is quite possible that I'll reach the prototypical mental state of middle-age and this is when I'll wear bespoke.

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I have a feeling you'll choose well.



UrbanComposition said:

Chance of showers today...

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Full requote for awesomeness, P.

Fuuma said:

Some are like white sneakers+jeans+button down+sweaters+outdoorsy jacket.

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I like that sort of look, but among most people older than 30 (gasp!) it would stand out far more than an MC Casual fit. (EDIT: I read "white sneakers + jeans" as "white jeans", so this comment doesn't really hold water. Leaving it up as a reminder to myself to read more carefully. I stand by the following, however.)

You've implied that MC is essentially the embalmed fashion of upper-class white folks. But, that's not really the case. Suits have been worn by people of all colors and classes. Sure, the tune may have been called by the leading lights of society, but it was claimed and owned by Americans of all stripes. For me, MC evokes my grandfather and the personal style that he had. He was definitely on the sharpish/fashiony end of the MC spectrum, but when I put on a suit and tie, I feel connected to him and my *own* heritage and history. Even if I may prefer a different take on it, he would recognize what I'm doing and appreciate it. I like being part of that continuum.

That said, I picked up a new shirt on Friday and I wore it today:

I see no reason in continuing this discussion. We´re in a style forum and though we bash on each other, at times for the smallest details (nitpicking at its highest), we´re definately above the standard that plebes set. We´re the Crixus, gannicus, Oenomaeus, the Spartacus of the world; true Gods of the Arena, and those who walk among us are just plain observers wishing they had our "strength" (read: sartorial knowledge) and looked as good while slaying competitors left and right.

What?

Lost.

Want UC's Suit.

Also, Bearded Prick's epicBeard.



Fuuma said:

white sneakers+jeans+button down+sweaters+outdoorsy jacket.

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The white sneakers throw me off. I can't tell if they are being worn because they are cool or as a playful statement to not take the fit too seriously. When I see them with an otherwise coherent fit, it reads (to me) as, "You know I could make this look perfect, but what's the fun in that." When I see them on some of the more outlandish fits, it reads (again, to me) as the element that confirms the fit is just a playful costume. Have I finally completely lost touch with the world around me?

sugarbutch said:

Fuuma said:

Some are like white sneakers+jeans+button down+sweaters+outdoorsy jacket.

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I like that sort of look, but among most people older than 30 (gasp!) it would stand out far more than an MC Casual fit.

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Really? That would be fine at any age around here. You must live in a more conservative environment than I do. Virtually the only people I see in sportcoats are litigators and conference moderators (also building security). I actually get emails from clients reminding me not to wear that kind of stuff when going to their office.

I have one suit that I wear for fun from time to time with no tie, and it gets a lot of looks I have noticed.

I sometimes forget that the West Coast is an outlier.

DLester said:

sugarbutch said:

Fuuma said:

Some are like white sneakers+jeans+button down+sweaters+outdoorsy jacket.

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I like that sort of look, but among most people older than 30 (gasp!) it would stand out far more than an MC Casual fit.

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Really? That would be fine at any age around here. You must live in a more conservative environment than I do. Virtually the only people I see in sportcoats are litigators and conference moderators (also building security). I actually get emails from clients reminding me not to wear that kind of stuff when going to their office.

I have one suit that I wear for fun from time to time with no tie, and it gets a lot of looks I have noticed.

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Sorry, I read that as white jeans. My bad.



sugarbutch said:

Sorry, I read that as white jeans. My bad.

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Okay well I agree that white jeans are not for everyone. I recently bought a pair actually. We will see how this goes -- it will probably end badly.



DLester said:

We will see how this goes -- it will probably end badly.

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Sounds like my current e-lationship with MC.



F. Corbera said:

Please don't make Manton wear Junya.

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that would be so friggin awesome i wouldnt know what to do with myself

Some looks from the best of WAYWT over on SWD...



Mr. Moo said:

Some looks from the best of WAYWT over on SWD...

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what shoes is this guy wearing?