Blogs of note: 2016 reboot

[bry2000]



Nice @sprout2
 

A lot of members post now on IG instead of in WAYWRN (though some still do both)...I think that list of SFers with IG accounts could be quite endless, so at the risk of hurting feelings, perhaps list IG's of "old hands" who used to be active here (say pre 2010 or earlier)? Some are more "lifestyle" focused, but some center their posts on tailoring. The same is true of TUMBLR

Vox is one, but there are others...

I personally find IG a waste of time. It is way too self-indulgent and, at this risk of sounding harsh, I don't care about anyone's personal branding or thinly veiled marketing of products. Or faux lifestyle. I don't need to see another photo of a plate of sushi or a Cronut or a bowl of ramen.

 

[TweedyProf]

I personally find IG a waste of time. It is way too self-indulgent and, at this risk of sounding harsh, I don't care about anyone's personal branding or thinly veiled marketing of products. Or faux lifestyle. I don't need to see another photo of a plate of sushi or a Cronut or a bowl of ramen.

I suppose it depends on what you want to get out of such displays. Mostly, I'm interested in combinations, fit etc. IG posts are often staged, but sometimes, certain pairings are presented that I find interesting. For myself, it's a way to record fits and decide, say weeks later, if I think they work or not. YMMV.

 

[unbelragazzo]



I don't know this for sure, but I always assumed the "die" in "dieworkwear" referred to the German word for "the". Not die as in the English definition. Maybe DWW himself can clarify.

The blog is actually called "Die, Workwear!" The German article thing was a rumor started by RJMan. His spurious claims outnumber his true statements about five against one. (But the one is usually really deep).

Thank you @MrTRC and @otterhound for noticing the No Man blog. It's true I've devoted less time to my own blog recently but I'll be posting from Pitti there later this month.

 

[dieworkwear]



I don't know this for sure, but I always assumed the "die" in "dieworkwear" referred to the German word for "the". Not die as in the English definition. Maybe DWW himself can clarify.

That's really funny. RJ sometimes jokes with me and says I should tell people the name means "The Workwear" (as in the Simpson's reference "Die, Bart, Die")

I originally meant it as an anti-workwear title. It's a terrible blog name, really. I came up with it in two seconds and it was supposed to be just a way to poke fun at a close friend of mine. He's really into the Americana heritage look and, at the time, I was pretty tired of it. Anyway, the blog was originally just supposed to be about tailored clothing, but it's since taken a semi-workwear turn.

Sometimes I feel like those Congressmen who rally against gay rights, but then turn out to be gay themselves.

Thanks to the people above for the mention, by the way.

 

[unbelragazzo]

Are there any good names for menswear blogs? I thought about doing a post about this once but decided it would be too catty. But my blog's name is terrible. Derek doesn't like his. A Suitable Wardrobe is a groaner. Permanent Style is unimaginative. Put This On sounds like a show on E!. Voxsartoria (Freudian autocorrect was "cox sartoria") is unbelievably pretentious, and therefore too on-the-nose. And these are the blogs that I like. Is it impossible to have a menswear blog with a good name?

 

[bry2000]



That's really funny. RJ sometimes jokes with me and says I should tell people the name means "The Workwear" (as in the Simpson's reference "Die, Bart, Die")

I originally meant it as an anti-workwear title. It's a terrible blog name, really. I came up with it in two seconds and it was supposed to be just a way to poke fun at a close friend of mine. He's really into the Americana heritage look and, at the time, I was pretty tired of it. Anyway, the blog was originally just supposed to be about tailored clothing, but it's since taken a semi-workwear turn.

Sometimes I feel like those Congressmen who rally against gay rights, but then turn out to be gay themselves.

Thanks to the people above for the mention, by the way.

Ok, thanks for clarifying. But enough free publicity for your blog -- get back to writing the next blog post. Lol.

 

[dieworkwear]



Are there any good names for menswear blogs? I thought about doing a post about this once but decided it would be too catty. But my blog's name is terrible. Derek doesn't like his. A Suitable Wardrobe is a groaner. Permanent Style is unimaginative. Put This On sounds like a show on E!. Voxsartoria (Freudian autocorrect was "cox sartoria") is unbelievably pretentious, and therefore too on-the-nose. And these are the blogs that I like. Is it impossible to have a menswear blog with a good name?

I actually like PTO and Voxsartoria as names, although I see where you're coming from.

Back in 2005-2010, there were a lot of style blogs with names that were only tangentially related to clothing. So, Cold Splinters, Secret Forts, 10 Engines, JJJJound, Hapiscal, Gwarism, A Continuous Lean, The Selvedge Yard, Rugged Old Salt, 13th and Wolff, etc. Also some people who went by nicknames, such as Mister Mort, Papa Nui, and Hollister Hovey. Some of those people are still writing, although most have stopped.

I think it's hard to come up with a good name that's directly related to clothes or style. It's just too easy to sound corny, although the old heritage/ streetwear blog thing had its own pretense (e.g. many of those heritage blogs using semi-masculine sounding names that referenced camping or whatever).

 

[Gus]

Aside from coming up with a good name for a blog I admire anyone who can keep a blog going for more than a year. It is a tremendous amount of work. I had lunch and a photo shoot with Will (A Suitable Wardrobe) in 2007 and even then he was saying how hard it was to come up with good, original content. Or, as he put it, "How many times can you write about how to wear grey trousers?"

Will was certainly a pioneer in menswear blogging and at one time had the #1 visited menswear site online. He was blazing a lot of virgin territory in expressing topics online around classic, tailored and especially bespoke menswear taking up where authors like Flusser left off.

These days I prefer the variety that @dieworkwear offers. His mix of tailored, casual and workwear is far more interesting and practical information for my needs than pure bespoke. This is especially true since I live in an area where one rarely even sees a necktie on anyone anymore except on the SA's selling neckties. But even that is changing!

I'm also enjoying the @nomanwalksalone blog. The variety of topics and writing styles keeps me interested. And, Voxsartoria is fun to follow.

 

[Griffindork]

I agree with everything above but just to editorialize slightly:

A Suitable Wardrobe: pretty much perfect, although it would be nice if they could post another article or two expounding on how to wear grey trousers. The old version with Will was clearly much better than the new version and whoever is doing it now, but I heard a rumor that there will be a searchable archive of the old stuff on the new site soon. Until then I will just leave my grey trousers in my closet. Anyway, this always has been and always will be the best place for those in the AARP to see the words "cream flannel" in print. Love it.

Stylegirlfriend: I enjoy the mildly sexually suggestive content, like when she wears a men's shirt and I can't tell if she is wearing anything else. The style advice isn't really my thing but there are a lot of comments and most of them seem to reflect increased confidence in sartorial choices, both good and bad. Bravo!

Voxsartoria: it's a simple algorithm but it's deadly effective: intermingle pictures of yourself with pictures of the famous and well-dressed and suddenly everything blends together and the blogger is of a piece with the subjects. The Prince of Wales; The Prince of Wales; The Prince of Wales; The Prince of Wales; Eddie Murphy; The Prince of Wales; Eddie Murphy; Vox; Eddie Murphy; Eddie Murphy; Eddie Murphy; JFK; Eddie Murphy; Vox; Eddie Murphy; JFK; JFK; and so on while the crowd grows into a frenzy. More than anything, I appreciate that this blog has inspired a legion of styleforumites who have come to explore the freedom of bespoke clothing and the way it lets you express yourself sartorially by allowing you to select the exact same tailor, fabric and details as Vox over and over and over again.

No Man Walks Alone: whereas Simon Crompton's Permanent Style is the ultimate bought ad hiding behind a clothing blog and trying to deceive his clueless readers, this is simply a store. I know they are trying to sell me something. Never read the articles but if it has affiliate status here then I know it's good.

Parisian Gentleman: I am hoping that they will soon update the rankings of the top 1000 ready to wear suit brands as I feel like 2015's rankigs are a little stale, but last year it definitely gave me the information I needed to distinguish between two seemingly identical suits.

Simon Doonan on Slate: not sure if this counts as a blog but he is always inciteful and makes me laugh.

Die, Underwear!: it's not really that well known but this is Derek's site where he exclusively reviews high-end men's unmentionables. Undies. The dirty whites. I mean, they don't get a lot of play on this site but what's more important from a comfort standpoint than the draws? See the really interesting take last week on Neapolitan hand-stitched seams being as close as you can get to free-balling without actually free-balling. Some people claim that you can feel different quality of stitching on your shaft. I free-ball but still find this site is fascinating.

Again - pretty much the same **** others are saying but that's my two cents.

 

[dieworkwear]

Still the best blog of all:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[lordsuperb]

Can any blogger convince Rory Duffy and montauk to finish their video series? It was pretty legit.

 

[Thin White Duke]



Aside from coming up with a good name for a blog I admire anyone who can keep a blog going for more than a year. It is a tremendous amount of work. I had lunch and a photo shoot with Will (A Suitable Wardrobe) in 2007 and even then he was saying how hard it was to come up with good, original content. Or, as he put it, "How many times can you write about how to wear grey trousers?"

Good post Gus, which I find incisively accurate and frightening in equal measure. I enjoy maintaining my humble attempt (see blog address in my signature below - yes, that was a shameless plug!) with a post approximately every couple of weeks for the last eighteen months, but as a menswear consumer it seems the end game is to either consign myself to a lifetime of forking over cash for clothes or else aim towards an (almost) complete wardrobe which has enough variety to serve any occasion and then wind down clothes expenditure dramatically so I can save up for that E type Jag! Since I find myself on the latter pathway it means that my (any) blog has a built in obsolescence as we either come to the end of anything new to write about or else, as you say, continue banging on about the endless virtues of gray strides!

 

[Gus]



Still the best blog of all:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

You know, back in the day before Foo became :foo: he wrote some very nice pieces. He was enthusiastically and sincerely sharing the details of his original commissions in Italy. I enjoyed them. It certainly inspired me to try some Ambrosi pents.

 

[unbelragazzo]



You know, back in the day before Foo became :foo: he wrote some very nice pieces. He was enthusiastically and sincerely sharing the details of his original commissions in Italy. I enjoyed them. It certainly inspired me to try some Ambrosi pents.

Goddammit this post is such a good troll

 

[dieworkwear]



You know, back in the day before Foo became :foo: he wrote some very nice pieces. He was enthusiastically and sincerely sharing the details of his original commissions in Italy. I enjoyed them. It certainly inspired me to try some Ambrosi pents.

Goddammit this post is such a good troll

I was being cheeky with my original post, but TitC was definitely a great blog.

I actually really miss Foo threads in general. They were the perfect mix of aspirational consumerism and schadenfreude.