For the love of god, stop the madness.

[LA Guy]

My condensed list:

1. The three-button, ¾ length leather jacket. Read Details September 2001 for the best rant on this subject. It's been done to death. More New Jersey than New York. (And if you try to justify it by quoting its butter soft texture and $3000 price tag, I pity your naivete. Sorry.)

2. Black, shiny shoes, especially the chunky cheap square-toes atrocities, with jeans. If you add a sport coat and a tucked in sports shirt, it means that you take your fashion cues from members of the Romanian Mafia. Here are some alternatives that work for everyone: old school sneakers and suede or leather desert boots.

3. Tight t-shirts on muscled up dudes. The only tight t-shirts that work are vintage one, and the tight vintage t-shirt thing is supposed to be ironic. Think Weezer. You need to be skinny, potbellied, or wiry, with unkempt or wacky hair to pull this off. On the same note, everyone go throw out the viscose/sateen t-shirts and knit v-necks you use for clubbing.

4. Anything preppy: penny loafers, any loafers, non-tartan plaid shirts, linen blazers, "walking" shorts, polo shirts in primary colors, pleated khakis, anything Abercrombie and Fitch.

5. Black jeans. See number 2.

6. Goatees. See number 1.

 

[European Interloper]

Add to the 'abercrombie' line anything: AX, Gap, AE, AO, Old Navy... god the list goes on forever. Why does America spawn these grotesque, evil superstores that lurk on the edges of acceptable dress? They're the dullest things around, and yet EVERYONE seems to wear them if they don't know better. WHY?.

My only qualm with your otherwise perfect list is the tirade against the 'preppy' look. I like my lacoste shirts just fine if I get to wear them with the collar turned up. Sometimes the look is useful, but you have to be very careful to substitute Zegna and Brioni for RL, because, lets face it, RL is the biggest piece of over-blown 'lifestyle' branding in existence. For 60 pounds I can buy into a beautiful, mahogony-pannelled WASP lifestyle. My joy overwhelms me.
Otherwise, the list is perfection. I think it is our duty to keep such a list as a constant on this forum, because everyone has something to add or dispute. Gentlemen, let us write a style bible.
--European Interloper

 

[Grand Arcanum]

Great list there... my favorite was number 4 - "anything Abercrombie and Fitch."

Don't forget to add complimentary items to the list... such as Fossil watches, black cowboy hats with jeans, et al.

 

[LA Guy]

And I forgot to include:

7. Four button suits. Sometime in the late eighties and early nineties, when the classic two-button was morphing into the classic three-button suit, designers overshot the mark and hit 4 buttons before eventually equilibrating at 3. We are still suffering from the after effects of that perturbation today. They seem to be acceptable at the fringes of the NBA, but you have to remember that that is a league that doesn't seem to be able to find a good equilibrium either, going from the short, short, shorts (check out old Lakers game videos) to shorts meant for that poor guy they had to lift from his apartment with a crane.

8. Wearing your cellphone, pager, electronic planner, spare glasses etc... on your belt. I personally carry a messenger bag if I need lots of stuff, but if you are not a young guys and/or are afraid that people will make fun of your purse: your pockets, that's where stuff is supposed to go. If you have so much stuff it makes your pants bulge, its time to consider if you need a phone *and* a pager, and whether you need to more than a slip of paper to write down your 3:00 with Lois in the closet with a candlestick.

 

[GQgeek]

Ok, pardon the language in advance, leather is a very touchy subject for me. <rant mode=on> TouchÃ

on the leather jacket thing although I'd say leather jackets (or pants) in general. I don't think it's so much the style as the quality of the jacket though. I see a LOT of really crappy leather jackets up here in Montreal. I think a lot of people with little money for clothes buy  leather jackets as the one 'stand out' item in their sub-par wardrobes. In their minds it's a luxury good and they don't see past that. They just gotta have their leather jacket. The problem starts because these cheap leather jackets look like ****. I can't begin to count how many cheap, ugly, badly made leather jackets I saw this winter. I'm not trying to be elitist, but it's the truth. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to wear one of those cheap jackets from those huge coat stores. The people that buy these jackets don't see past the word 'leather' though. It's their one and only consideration when purchasing the jacket. Consequently, they buy ugly, very poorly fitting jackets, and wear them with everything. I`d have to say that most leather jackets are in pretty poor taste. There's lots of stuff where you can go for less exclusive brands and still look pretty good. When it comes to leather jackets though... I think they are one thing that you really do have to go designer on, and if you can't afford a good one, forget it and buy something else cause nothing looks worse than a cheap, poorly fitting leather jacket.

 

[Mike C.]

Being a college student I see a lot of the hippy look that I really can't stand. The worst is socks with sandals. The thing I hate the most is people that wear designer stuff just because its designer. For example, someone will have a real ugly shirt on and think its excusable because it's D&amp;G and oh &quot;$200.&quot; I mean, come on, if its that nice you wouldn't have to tell me what type of shirt it is and i don't care what brand it is, it's ugly. Well made designer stuff speaks for its self.

People that wear designer clothes with the name branded on fall into the same category. Is like &quot;oh my god that t-shirt with Jean Paul Gaultier written across the front is sooo stylish,&quot; whoever buys that MUST have good taste and be a real fashionista. Seriously though, some people think that just because thier t-shirt says Gucci or because they bought one Versace shirt at a discount outlet they're on the cutting edge of fashion.

I pride myself on the fact that the designer clothes i buy don't have logos or names on them. The other day I saw a real nice D&amp;G button up, but didn't buy it soley for the fact that it had a stupid D&amp;G lable on the pocket. There is nothing better than when someone compliments me on an item without knowing thats its designer.

Another related thing is when people think their wearing &quot;designer,&quot; because they bought a shirt from A/X, Banana Republic, Polo Jeans, or GAP. Not so much for the others as Armani Exchange. Guys are like &quot;Oh yea, this shirt is
ARMANI...&quot; They say it as if thier on a dais. A/X has given such a bad name to Aramani. I have this real nice Emporio shirt that i can't even say is Armani cause people now just asssume its A/X.

I may be sounding like a real snob, but what i'm really trying to say is; wear something because it's well made and looks good, not because others will think your cool or spent alot of money.

 

[European Interloper]

Fashion in all cases is the ability to be in style in SOME way and look good and confident at the same time, whilst wearing those clothes. In the case of Mike's point, socks and sandals was NEVER in outside of America (trust me on this, it's a horrible trend), and the slogan shirts were in for a very small window of time when the classic white cK shirt came out. Therefore, people who either wear the afore mentioned shirt or socks-and-sandals is a relic of near anti-deluvian times. The only person that could ever wear a white 'slogan' shirt is one of the true fashionistas, as it would be ironic. My last DG buy was a light blue sweater, and had a massive DG tag on the back of the neck. I had my tailor cut it off, it didn't need to be there for the article to look good.

GQGeek:
It's true. To wear a leather jacket and look good, it has to be perfect. That means that the cut has to be in, that the leather has to be perfect quality. I have twelve suits and only three leather jackets by comparison. Leather jackets are only truly in fashion once in a while. The biker jacket is in this summer, the big Gestapo jacket (YES costume nationale.) was in last winter. Either way, next season, leather will not be in in any big way, it's not a constant like white and black.
Anyway that's my little bit. I hope you enjoyed reading.
--European Interloper

 

[GatorStyle]

Just a few off the top of my head:

1. Tasseled Loafers- I just don't get them.  There must be something wrong with me, because the guys (mostly older) in my profession wear these constantly.  I've never seen a pair that I would call stylish.  I don't see what these shoes accomplish that wouldn't be better accomplished with lace-ups (or slip-on, side-zip, monkstrap, loafers, barefeet, or anything else for that matter).  I know some of you must have and wear these, so I ask you to help me and explain them to me, or point me to a nice pair.

2. Birkenstock-type sandals-  Dude, I don't want to see your ankles to begin with (though there's plenty of stylish footwear that doesn't call for socks, it's a good idea to be extra careful in this area, as with boat shoes, etc.), so the least you can do is not wear these.  Unless it's a few thousand years ago, you have a flowing beard and robe, and you're walking around Bethlehem.

3. Double breasted suits worn improperly- When worn correctly, as I know many of you do, they're great.  But if you're barrel-chested, wearing an unbuttoned, ill-fitting double breasted suit with a button-down collar and a bad tie, I don't like 'em.

4. Pleats where they don't need to be: Pleats should be used sparingly.  In most instances, flat front pants work better than pleats- particularly as you get more casual (i.e. khakis)

5. Too short shorts/too high athletic (white) socks-  Shorts should be hovering around that kneecap area; athletic socks should be hovering around that ankle area.

6. Pointy shoes-  I know there's a growing movement away from squared off toes (though I think that movement is overblown and not all that necessary) and toward sleeker, streamlined, pointier shoes.  Sleek is fine. Streamlined is fine.  But pointy toed, low vamp shoes, I think, are generally pretty bad.  I like rounded or squared toes much better.

 

[Steve B.]

Gator Style:

Gotta second your #3. A gentleman should NEVER wear a double breasted coat unbuttoned. And a button down shirt with it even less often.

My pet peeve is seen frequently out here in Silicon Valley &quot;Geek Chic&quot; business casual- cheap Malaysian-made company logo polo or button down with equally poor quality chinos.

 

[Mike]

Here is something I really hate- People who wear their pants half off their asses. Rappers started this and it got blown out of hand. I see young kids, 4 or 5 years old, with their pants sagging. I've heard that sagging your pants like that was started in prison as a signal that you were willing to take it *********** so I don't know why anyone would wear their pants like that anyway.

And another thing- huge, really baggy pants. A lot of the &quot;Freaks&quot; who are into that nu-metal, contemporary(i.e crappy) punk music wear these pants. They can walk and their pants don't move because they're so wide. You could fit 4 or 5 legs in there.

 

[NavyStyles]

Mike, I more than agree with the overly baggy pants comment. I can't stand those jnko's or whatever that cover a person's shoe completely.. However, we must remember that anything to an extreme can be harmful: tapered pants, for instance. When the hip to thigh area is normal-legged and the ends of the pants are &quot;ankle grabbers,&quot; that just doesn't go. A nice flat-front or a well-done pleated and cuffed pant to where the pants don't look like they shrunk just on the ankles. Remember Aristotle's &quot;Everything in Moderation.&quot; It appears the man was a fashionista.

I also agree that when a double breasted suit is worn unbuttoned it's automatic disaster. However, this type is one of my favorite suits. And done properly, looks smashing.

GatorStyle, I hear ya. Thought the extremely-chunky look was always a little overdone, I don't much prefer a very poointed shoe either. This could be due to the fact that I have very wide feet. But, I just hope we don't see anything resembling elf shoes coming around.

I must defend the preppy look. Done with the correct attitude, it can come out very nicely.

 

[NavyStyles]

hmm, this wasn't showing up. Maybe now it'll work.

yep, there it is.

 

[Michael]

Actually the baggy pants are from prison, but for a different reason. A belt can be construed as a weapon against yourself or others, so they couldn't have belts, thus, one size fits all convicts wear.

 

[Journeyman]

The title of this thread is surprisingly appropriate, given the insane spamming that's suddenly going on here. I'm surprised that this thread even exists, given the great forum crash that occured some years ago.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Originally Posted by European Interloper

Add to the 'abercrombie' line anything: AX, Gap, AE, AO, Old Navy... god the list goes on forever. Why does America spawn these grotesque, evil superstores that lurk on the edges of acceptable dress? They're the dullest things around, and yet EVERYONE seems to wear them if they don't know better. WHY?.

This is pretty much a guide for dummies, but Oakley shades with a suit should be added...think any wedding outside of a major city you've ever been to.

Re: the brands above, its because they're cheap and comfortable...most Americans don't give a **** to spend their money on clothes, they'd rather drive a car they can't afford.

Someone please take down the gay Appreciation...