How important is fun to you?

[YRR92]

Something I'm wondering about -- how important is a sense of fun, a little bit of playfulness, even some humor in dress?

I suppose another way of putting it is "how seriously do you take yourself, sartorially?"

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Fun in style is tricky.

I often wear quirky things (and you guys probably don't know how quirky because I only post my more serious fits here). Today, for example, I am wearing a plus fours and a waistcoat in chino fabric by with a madras shirt and blue suede desert boots. Because it's fun, it works for riding my bike around in warm temperatures, and I'm working on my own in Tokyo on sabbatical and I can. Would I turn up to a meeting with senior officials at the university I am visiting, or interview people for research dressed like this? Of course not - in that context, what I think of as 'fun' would be inappropriate or even offensive, and I would be amusing myself at the expense of others and perhaps even causing bad consequences for my sponsors here. Would I even wear this back home in Canada, ever? Well, there's enough somewhat eccentric people, and contrastingly few aggressive people who would have a go at people who look different in my home town that I can get away with it. I don't think I'd be able to where I used to live in Newcastle in England though... This is a clear contrast, but in some circumstances, a too-loud shirt or socks or a tie of a not-conservative-enough nature can have the same dividing effect.

It's often the case too, that trying to be obviously subversive of a particular aesthetic can come across as egotistical or irritating rather than the humorous intention - 'fun' shirts and 'fun' socks are a case in point. They are like very old clichéd jokes that really have not got better with age. Jokes can be overplayed and get boring very quickly - if you have brightly-coloured laces in all your dress shoes for example. And even when having fun, style still matters - things have to look good under some identifiable criteria that isn't solely in your own head, be well-made and have some interest in terms of pattern, textures and quality - the stuff I am wearing today is tough, superbly made, with great detailing, by an excellent small manufacturer, for example. The same with the more colourful tweed suits I have...

I don't know if anyone else appreciates my sense of fun. On the whole, in CM, I think fun is both a personal matter and something that translates much better once the basics have been mastered. The people I see here who I would regard as successful examples of 'fun' that is more than the wearer just enjoying themselves are also those whose understanding of style is already a cut above: TTO is a case in point.

 

[Holdfast]

Interesting topic.

Fundamentally, I wouldn't be posting on SF if I didn't find clothes - and style/fashion - inherently fun. I'm not particularly interested in construction, heritage, or artisanal manufacturing, to name some of the other values that keep others posting here; for me, it's all about the enjoyment of seeing an interesting & effective look come together. I'm a big believer in that most controversial of concepts, a personal style, by which I mean a look that works for your individual lifestyle. For many, that may well mean an outfit devoid of fun. I'm especially thinking of anyone working in large organisations, or seeking a promotion, or all the other myriad things that require the avoidance of fun. Personally, I have a little more leeway, and find it enjoyable (and useful, in terms its effect upon others) to adopt a more unusual form of dress. It's a very easy way to signal a sense (to some degree) of "otherness" and so disrupt preconceptions and the dynamic in a room, forcing a certain amount of resetting to take place, which then creates opportunities for disclosure and useful conversation.

But having said all that, I probably wouldn't do it if I didn't also find it fun, as it's possible to use other gambits to achieve those ends.

So, a big factor but probably not THE primary one. Maybe A primary one.

 

[globetrotter]

one of my first threads here was about whimsy in clothing. I used to add stuff like a gumby tie to a solid charcoal DB suit, or donut and coffee cufflinks, etc. I remember, at the time, whimsy seemed to be frowned upon by the SF crowd. I still do a little of that, and I kept a lot of my old whimsical stuff, in case I should want to use it. I like the idea of being very conservative aside from one or two fun details that aren't obvious.

 

[archibaldleach]

It's a pretty minor factor for me. I do enjoy clothes and being well dressed, but I don't really think "that's a fun look for me to try" or anything like that particularly often. For the most part, I just enjoy aesthetically pleasing color combinations and learning about clothes. I went through a phase maybe a year ago when I was more into "fun" combinations, but I've mostly gotten over it. If there's a time I lean more towards "fun" in what I'm wearing, it would probably be summer.