What's wrong with black trousers?



MikeDT said:

It's probably just the SF groupthink at work. Out in the real world I see people wearing black trousers all the time, they look OK to me.

Certain things in the groupthink just become taboo e.g. square toed shoes, polyester, fused suits, black trousers and 'Made in China'. But in the everyday real world these are perfectly normal and are acceptable.

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Totally agree paired with good black shoes.

Black is a 'tell-all' colour as well. Animal hair, dust, etc will be easily seen on black dress pants.
To cptjeff, since you are bringing the occult into it, there are documented historical meanings given to colours.
Black represented death; red, blood; yellow, sun, wheat, etc; blue, sky etc etc. though younger generations choose to ignore this fact, their meanings still exist.
Black will always be the darkest, depressing and brooding 'colour' and paradoxically the preferred colour of formal attire.
I am not saying don't wear black because I do, but learning history and origin behid things and pratices is valuable.

I'm bolloxed then wearing my purple shoes, lime green pants and orange shirt today

Have a couple pair of black dress trousers myself. Wear them to work during the winter months - a heavy wool.



kev777 said:

Totally agree paired with good black shoes.

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MikeDT said:

It's probably just the SF groupthink at work. Out in the real world I see people wearing black trousers all the time, they look OK to me.

Certain things in the groupthink just become taboo e.g. square toed shoes, polyester, fused suits, black trousers and 'Made in China'. But in the everyday real world these are perfectly normal and are acceptable.

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+1

Love these threads where people discuss the "meta," esp. SF vs real world.

Guilty as charged on fused suits and black trou. Trying to root the polyester out of the closet -- it's mostly left in some cotton blend shirts from my pre-SF time that I haven't yet purged. But guilty as charged on that, too.

I just don't like the color black and everyone wears it. Why not skip black for the sole fact that everybody wears it?



Tony Romo said:

...Why not skip black for the sole fact that everybody wears it?

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This plus the fact that most people where black to dress up and go out at night. I don't get this at all. Most venues have low lighting, and there you see the ninja's who think they are being cool dressed in dark colors. WTF? Put on some colors.



LooknGr8 said:

+1

Love these threads where people discuss the "meta," esp. SF vs real world.

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There is a very interesting article on groupthink here:
http://www.psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink overview.htm What is Groupthink?

"A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making."

1) We're all interested in clothes.
2) Outside opinions probably only happen when new members join SF,
3) SF's rules are actually quite relaxed, compared to some other forums I've seen.

"Symptoms of Groupthink

Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.
Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions."

From what seen, the above points frequently happen in SF.

LooknGr8 said:

Guilty as charged on fused suits and black trou. Trying to root the polyester out of the closet -- it's mostly left in some cotton blend shirts from my pre-SF time that I haven't yet purged. But guilty as charged on that, too.

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I have a fused blazer, two pairs of black trousers, a few poly-cotton shirts, I buy clothes in malls, supermarkets and department stores, and pretty much everything I possess was made in China.

If we're talking about traditional tailored clothing, then since the early 20th century, black was reserved for formal wear. It was considered harsh for day time and difficult to coordinate with any other colors but white. It survived in Japan, where black suits with white shirts remained dominant, as they had been in the West in the 19th century. It's also been popular in minimalist fashion since at least the early '80s.

If you don't care about this tradition, then wear them whenever you want.

It seems offensive to some members that there used to be members here who cared about traditional standards. Obviously, most people don't care about those standards. For a brief time, there were a group of people who gathered on this forum who did care. This apparently still bothers people for some reason. Well, those people are all but gone. The advice that replaces what they had to say isn't different from what you would get anywhere else, but at least it's reassuring to people.

You might enjoy reading this epic SF thread, which covered anything that could ever conceivably be said about black clothing in the context of traditional men's clothes.



The Thin Man said:

You might enjoy reading this epic SF thread, which covered anything that could ever conceivably be said about black clothing in the context of traditional men's clothes.

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What is "traditional men's clothes"? US, UK, Europe? I live in China, and I'm sure some other SF members live in China as well. And 'traditional men's clothes' here are going to be completely different to elsewhere in the world. Black trousers are normel here, and have never been associated with death and funerals AFAIK.

This is the MC forum, "Men's Clothes", which to me means exactly that, it doesn't specify that we must have traditional styles. Perhaps SF should start a specialised subforum where 'traditional men's clothes' can be discussed, we've already got SW&D. Ask Andy About Clothes(AAAC) has a dedicated subforum called "Andy's Trad Forum" where people can discuss American trad.



Tony Romo said:

I just don't like the color black and everyone wears it. Why not skip black for the sole fact that everybody wears it?

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I do skip black when im wearing brown,beige, khaki and all the other colours i have. The OP question was "whats wrong with black" the answer surely has to be nothing. Just a thought but if we all stopped wearing black and wore brown wouldnt that become the new black then we'd have to go back to black to be different? Sometimes i dont want to be different.

flat black anything = no visual interest, harsh contrast, etc etc
shoes are okay because they're small in size, you can get some depth with a good finish/polish
i have a barbour jacket in black and its got a lot of texture to it, in addition to the wax finish
i suppose corduroy pants would be okay, too... its just a big flat black garment is boring, and a shiny black garment looks cheap

I like black trousers when paired with something slightly diff to the black shoes black pants striped shirt loud tie uniform. Maybe a grey jacket navy tie, navy blazer and cashmere, wool or other flat tie



MikeDT said:

What is "traditional men's clothes"? US, UK, Europe? I live in China, and I'm sure some other SF members live in China as well. And 'traditional men's clothes' here are going to be completely different to elsewhere in the world. Black trousers are normel here, and have never been associated with death and funerals AFAIK.

This is the MC forum, "Men's Clothes", which to me means exactly that, it doesn't specify that we must have traditional styles. Perhaps SF should start a specialised subforum where 'traditional men's clothes' can be discussed, we've already got SW&D. Ask Andy About Clothes(AAAC) has a dedicated subforum called "Andy's Trad Forum" where people can discuss American trad.

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Please.