whnay.'s good taste thread

[poorsod]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

The coat looks summer to me and best combined with something like a textured blue shirt and textured tie. I've seen similar material in the Carlo Barbera for Lesser 8/9 jacketing book which may explain my seasonal bias. Personally, I'm currently not in the mood for summer, although it must be summer in TX 9 months of the year. BTW that shirt looks lavender on my monitor. Is that right?

 

[ThinkDerm]

stitch. love the suit. it looks great.

the white shirt is too formal for that second outfit, but I do like the tie with the suit.

 

[mktitsworth]



The coat looks summer to me and best combined with something like a textured blue shirt and textured tie. I've seen similar material in the Carlo Barbera for Lesser 8/9 jacketing book which may explain my seasonal bias. Personally, I'm currently not in the mood for summer, although it must be summer in TX 9 months of the year.

I have no disagreement with this statement whatsoever. I like it best with the lavender, but think it looks best with the blue. This was taken at the end of summer, however I would still have no qualms with wearing it. It has been near 80 all week.

 

[in stitches]



stitch. love the suit. it looks great.
the white shirt is too formal for that second outfit, but I do like the tie with the suit.

thank you, TD.

 

[EBugatti]



stitchy, it might also help if you understand that what he's is trying to do with this thread, is - coincidentally, I'm quite sure; he doesn't need my advice - the precise prescription I outlined much earlier in the day in the regular WAYWRN thread, with which you agreed. Only in that case, it was the reverse scenario and we were talking about why complaint/criticism wasn't going to work in the environment of that thread, because it serves a different social purpose.


Now, flip that around, and you can see exactly why I think he's right that he (and the others judging the thread) need to be robustly didactic in their opinions here. We already have the regular thread for more casual type exchanging of views of outfits where any critique is couched within a more social chatty context and therefore largely blunted because that thread serves a different social function. This thread needs to be something different, or there really isn't any point to its separate existence. It actually doesn't matter what their opinions are, whether you or I agree with them, or even if they agree within themselves (in fact, the last outcome is best of all). It doesn't even matter whether you'd want to follow them in your own clothing choices. What is important, is that this thread will only have life if there is that overly robust expression within it

A softer but also enjoyable variant of this strong op-ed approach to the discussion was vox's old weekly digest. Were you around for those; I can't remember when they stopped. They were more of an iron fist in a velvet glove approach, but I suspect (I never actually asked) that the intent - or perhaps, just desired outcome -  was essentially the same. Think of it that way, and you can get an idea of why mafoofan is being so harsh. Mind you, I don't think he should single you out in particular. No, I think he should be equally direct with everyone who posts in this thread. Almost every other thread takes a more laid-back, inclusive approach (which, admittedly, I personally prefer in terms of my own interactions). I think there's more than enough room for a couple of differently toned threads on the board. At the very least, it will make for entertaining reading. And you never know, reading between the lines, you will probably find one or two real gems that influence your own choices, even if you still end up junking a lot of the rest.

(for example, the last thing I read on SF that really made me think about what I wear was the discussion on what makes a pocket square pattern work. I think Manton posted that one. Not sure. Anyway, they said that the most versatile patterned squares tend to be the ones that don't have patterns that could also potentially work as ties. That's a really useful mental shortcut, reducing how much thought needs to go into  scale co-ordination when choosing a square, and caused me to think about my own selections. It doesn't mean I junked all my old squares, but I did get a few new ones, and I also deploy some of the older ones much more cautiously.)

I was going to PM you the above, but actually I think it may be useful to post it out here to help others grasp why the ruthlessness is a good thing. It's not actually gratuitous, despite appearances. Naturally, this post itself may disappear (or be spoiler-coded to avoid distracting from the thread) if the thread's internal mods feel it's inappropriate! No worries if they feel that way.

^^^^^+1 Very well stated Holdfast.

 

[ThinkDerm]



thank you, TD.

Dress for you buddy.

Realize that Foo in his own way is trying to be helpful.

 

[in stitches]



Dress for you buddy.
Realize that Foo in his own way is trying to be helpful.

i always do, but there is also always room to learn. and i have no doubt that he is.

 

[EBugatti]

Guys--Foo is a pain **********. But, he has a point. He has been influenced by the Southern Italian (Neapolitan) aversion to white shirts--justly so--and has a great deal to say about dressing in "good taste". As Cayman says, a lot of win in his comments. If you don't like his opinion, feel free to post in WAYWRN. As has been noted before, this thread is to embrace a particular aesthetic, like it or not.

 

[in stitches]



A few other examples:

i have no dog in this fight, but that is a suit as far as i know.

please lets leave the comments on mr woosters taste aside, i am pretty sure he is not going for the aesthetic of this thread. i was just pointing out that in that pic, it is a suit, not an odd jacket.

 

[recondite]

 

[in stitches]

First

 

[hendrix]



You just highlighted the universal problem with this thread. Thank you for that.

The problem is not with the judges though.

As narrow as mafoofan's tastes are, it's up to every person to understand that no word is gospel. He's basically constantly coming up with ways to express the boundaries of his taste. It's the same with Manton; he has some ideas that work for him and he's essentially just sharing them, in the noble but ultimately futile attempt to help people who have not (yet) developed their own taste.

Personally, I don't know how they all can take arguing over pocketsquares and white shirts for so long. I think many of the posters should worry more about getting a few nice suits that fit well and shoes that aren't over-extended pointy abominations than worry about the details.

 

[benjamin831]

Agreed. After a few years on here, it occurred very much to me that fit is king. There are so many on this forum who can't even get their suit to fit well enough to start contemplating about the abstract realm of color and pattern coordination. I'd much rather see a boring ol navy suit with a white shirt and black tie that fits well than some try-hard combo that ends up looking like clown vomit.

 

[teddieriley]



Agreed. After a few years on here, it occurred very much to me that fit is king. There are so many on this forum who can't even get their suit to fit well enough to start contemplating about the abstract realm of color and pattern coordination. I'd much rather see a boring ol navy suit with a white shirt and black tie that fits well than some try-hard combo that ends up looking like clown vomit.

Is clown vomit worse than any other kind of vomit?

 

[Gerry Nelson]

Is clown vomit worse than any other kind of vomit?

No worse, just more colourful.