Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bounder 
These are jeans, not welding googles or climbing ropes.
I wouldn't want to be 150 miles out in the middle of God's country and have any of those items fail on me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bounder 
Fine. My impression is wrong. That's why I asked. So please describe the aesthetic. What are you -- and I don't necessarily mean you personally, though I am curious about that, too -- going for? How do you critique a look and decide what is "good" and what is "bad?"
I think that's why some MCers have such a hard time with those punk kids in SW&D and their clothes: there's no guide book or formal education behind a look. We can't go to a tailor, drop off our clothes, and tell him to fix what's wrong. No, we deal in something far more difficult to explain: geared open-mindedness.
We use a multitude of criteria that at the core sounds a lot like MC: fit, fabric, construction, color, and typically a preference for niche over mass-market goods. The difference is that MC judges in centimeters and SW&D in four-scoop banana splits. It's not much of an exaggeration because the concept is that while one SW&D outfit may appear loose and baggy and another bespoke, they can technically both work and
fit. To use one of Fok's analogies, there's a bigger sandbox in which to play and to make friends. What can make an outfit good or bad sometimes has more to do with cohesion or lack thereof with regards to the aforementioned criteria than just "fit."
Personally, I go for a conservative take of border straddling. I wear workwear brands like Lee and RRL but they share closet space with less-traditional brands like Surface 2 Air and Nice Collective.