Gucci belts

[European Interloper]

What does everyone think about those (ahem) beautiful customized Gucci belts. I know they're supposed to be ironic, but come on, this is Gucci... Since when have they been ironic? They're a super brand, not Dalal or NY Industrie... I just don't know what Tom was thinking. Maybe he was working too hard on that delicious new YSL rive gauche line... Have you seen the jeans, coats, and knit-sweaters in that?. Tasty...
--European Interloper

 

[LA Guy]

Tom Ford appears to be trying pretty hard to change the Gucci look. Really, I'm not sure that's the right way for him to go. The 2001-2002 Fall/Winter men's collection was, in my opinion, sort of hit and miss. I'm partial to military styling, so I really like the shirts with epaulets, and it seemed to me that these worked because Tom Ford really knows shirts, and didn't stray too far from the slim, articulated silhouette of his previous collections. Some of the other pieces, though, especially the cropped jackets and shirt/jacket type pieces, I found oddly shaped and difficult to wear. The hard, cotton twill material he used for a lot of the jackets certainly didn't help. It seemed that Tom tried to change too much, too quickly. Maybe Tom ought to learn from Giorgio. Say what you will, Armani collections have terrific continuity. One season he will change the details, adding zippers and snap buttons, change the silhouette slighty, but keep the materials the same. Then, the next season, he will revert to traditional details and keep the slimmed down silhouette, but experiment with materials (sometimes poorly - I felt that the F/W 2001-2002 Emporio sweaters were truly attrocious, with constrasting satin on the collars). Anyways, I digress. But you see my point.

As for the YSL collection: Interloper, those *are* truly terrific jeans. Which brings me to another question. Why are the YSL jeans so great and yet why did last season's Gucci jeans look so much like Sergio Valente leftovers from the 80's? Was that also ironic?

 

[European Interloper]

I didn't like most of the s/s gucci collection, but some of it, such as the shirts and the clean denim and some (but only some) of the sweaters were great. I'm not sure what Tom is doing but I trust him... He is one of the kings of the fashion world, after all. Last year, there were a pair of limited distressed jeans with a illustrated gucci 'g' on the back of them. I love those jeans, possibly my favorite pair ever. Needless to say, I bought two. The rest of the jeans were lacklustre, certainly. Maybe he was trying to be ironic, but I doubt it... If they're being ironic, it's very obvious. What kind of style do you like? The Galliano men boutique that's about to be launched in Paris really interests me... Is that up your avenue or are you a bit less (excuse the wording) 'gay' than that? The one big hot buy for me this year is the I-D customized Lacoste shirt... It has a winking lady spray-painted on the back of it, and is being auctioned in London on monday. I can't wait... I love owning limited things, they make me smile, and make heads turn..
--European Interloper

 

[LA Guy]

Interloper,

Yeah, as a straight guy, and west-coast besides, I tend to shy away from flamboyant designers like Galliano and Stefano and Domenico. I guess that I would describe my style as downtown/funky/relaxed. I tend to stock my wardrobe with lots of basics with a twist from designers like Burberry, Jil Sander, Marc Jacobs, and Armani, and choose accent pieces from Custo, Costume National, Paul Smith, Miu miu and Prada. I also like funky streetwear, and so in addition to wearing cult or underground streetwear designers like Dirty Youth and Dirk Schonberger, I have lots of one off pieces from street festivals, Venice-Beach vendors, the bottom of thrift shop bins, etc...

BTW, contrary to the wisdom that sale racks usually are full of terrible clothing that no one wants, I look at sale/clearance racks as the best clothes distilled, and then put on sale, because so many people have such poor/unadventurous taste and the best stuff often gets short shrift. Put it this way, count the number of guys (American, European, Asian, etc...) do you see walking around in the tragic 3/4 length black leather jacket (perhaps the best ever way to advertise mediocre taste), shiny fitted shirt and black pants, black shoes outfit.

 

[BuddahLax]

Trying to delete my post sorry for useless space.

 

[Valmont]

La Guy,

I take offense to that. Sure wearing all black constantly can be quite boring but a sign of mediocre taste, I think not. A 3/4 black leather jacket(assuming its a nice one) can be very stylish and is an absolute must have. Maybe you just have been seeing too many ginos around with their poorly coordinated and way too tight clothes and greasy hair.

 

[European Interloper]

I frequent NYC, and don't mind that all-black routine... I do, however, hate the shiny shirts. I think that it's ok for clubbing if you're too boring to think of anything else to wear, but outside of that they're trulyu detestable.
LA Guy: I think that sales-shopping is a beautiful practice. As you say, most people have a very limited taste and therefore the more out-there clothes, which are often the best of the season, don't get sold, leaving them there for your picking (at a lower price, natch.). I don't shop thrift stores, but I do often have some of my tailors look at those kind of clothes so as to imitate them in perhaps a more comfortable and long-lasting way...
--European Interloper