Do you care about being distinctive?

[PinkPantser]

I realize you're all so very complex and sophisticated such that this simplification is insulting, yet, where would you place yourself (if you had to)?

Very Much
-move on from things when others start to pick them up (not even necessarily even the people you see outside, it even starts to bother you when fellow enthusiasts start buying the same stuff and wearing it the same way). You're on to something else before the idea of it being 'played' is even brought up.
-get irritated when you something you like starts popping up on blogs.
-enjoy looking different than others for the sake of it.

Somewhat
-it bugs you a bit when people start to dress similarly to you, but it doesn't change what you buy.
-take some pride in thinking you were ahead of the game for a while and was into something before it got generally popular (not necessarily before it was popular among enthusiasts).
-willing to try some new stuff for the sake of it being different, but typically not before you've seen someone else do the same in a magazine, on a forum, or you pick up on it from someone outside

Not at All
-don't really care or are even pleased to see people dressed similarly to you outside, even if its the same brands & the same styling you wear.
-blogs about the clothes/style you care about serves as affirmation and you're happy to see them.
-looking distinctive is not something you applaud. Not to say that you attempt to look like the masses, you just don't go out of your way not to.

Dude on a Motorcycle
-this thread sucks

 

[robbie]

i voted two, though my heart was with ghost riding motocycle.

 

[Dedalus]

Somewhat. I want to look like the everyman, so I am actually trying to look like everyone in one aspect. Still, the kind everyman that I want to look like is the one that was stylized in a movie to look like an everyman, not the kind of middle-aged overweight white guy that you would see on the street.

 

[driveslowk]

"somewhat" is pretty much on the dot

 

[shoreman1782]

Where do you fit in, PP?

 

[HgaleK]

I honestly don't care. I want a look that is flattering and appropriate for the situation. In many situations that means looking similar to those around me. I'm betting that once my experience in the sartorial world expands this will change. Until then, I'm just trying to look good.

 

[AR_Six]

What if my answer is I care somewhat, but only when I'm ghostriding a motorcycle?

 

[Nouveau Pauvre]

I kind of believe that it will occur as an organic side effect of spending a lot of time choosing clothing that is congruent with one's lifestyle and personality.


I'd like to think my lifestyle and personality is somewhat distinctive so hopefully that will be expressed by my clothing.

 

[whodini]

This was my answer:

I don't care if others dress like me or buy into the same brands. Someone else's buying choices won't dictate my own. If I see someone else dress with similar tastes to my own then I consider them fortunate enough to have been blessed with style. Seriously, how could that not be an ego feeder? I don't need a new thing to be affirmed by someone or some place before trying it myself. Looking different is something I applaud but I prefer seeing/doing a personal take on an "average" fit any day. Different for the sake of it isn't noteworthy by definition. But it's Pink. When else am I going to get a chance to vote that his thread sucks?

 

[Robert]

It's about context.

Do I want to be distinctive in Asheville? Which basically has been trapped in an unending timewarp to Haight Ashbury 1967 for the past 10 years, ie, do I want to look like everyone else who looks like a tripped-out funky old hippie?

So for the place I live, I am distinctive because my look is American trad, quasi-preppy, and decidely not hippie.

Somewhere else, I might blend right in. Here I stick out like crazy, but I'd rather not have the look that would let me blend in.

 

[PinkPantser]

I waver between the somewhat and the not (so I guess that puts me in the somewhat). The thing is, where I'm from and where I live now I see so few people dressed in a way that is flattering at all that I get excited to see one person a month who looks good. I imagine my opinion would differ if I was in an urban place and exposed to more stylish people. What inspired this thread was the comments that get made in waywt about things being played/overly popular (pant roll, workwear, wayfarers, raw denim, etc) which I quite literally never see anyone wearing outside of the internet, though I do admit that I live in an aesthetically desolate place. Incidentally, that also inspired this thread about the popularity of certain brands (http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=105567) that unfortunately didn't take off.

 

[Get Smart]

I used to be "very much" x100

nowadays, I'm "somewhat"

but I'm "not at all" when it comes to seeing another fellow tribal member

 

[tagutcow]

Originally Posted by Robert

It's about context.

Do I want to be distinctive in Asheville? Which basically has been trapped in an unending timewarp to Haight Ashbury 1967 for the past 10 years, ie, do I want to look like everyone else who looks like a tripped-out funky old hippie?

So for the place I live, I am distinctive because my look is American trad, quasi-preppy, and decidely not hippie.

Hey now, Asheville isn't exclusively hippies.

There's crackheads, too.

 

[Lel]

A lot.

But then again, I'm talking about IRL and not on the net.

 

[Nananine]

I think my tastes are odd enough to be distinctive, but I don't mind if other people are wearing the same stuff I am.