"I wear what I like"

[tangerine]

Originally Posted by montecristo#4

Is hypebeast another word for Japanese neo-hipster?

...

Hypebeast

1. Sneakerheads who only rock hyped up **** to get props b/c they got no self worth or sense of style.
2. 50% of NikeTalk members

1. Yo, check out my matching supreme cap, bape hoody, bape jeans, and bape kicks.
2. You fuckin hypebeast.

by brandoneezy Mar 21, 2005

From urbandictionary.com

 

[rnrswitch]

The funny thing about a lot of scenesters/hipsters is their/my pride in being an "individual" based on the music they/I listen to or the clothes they wear. We all think we are not influenced by mainstream culture and listen and wear what we want, but the second we see Brad Pitt or some other clown wearing our clothes, we start pulling the threads off of our back pocket stitching, like a lot of the folks are doing with Nudies, etc, but we are extremely influenced by mainstream culture. If we choose not to wear something because it is played out we are just indirectly/negatively influenced and are still allowing mainstream to affect our habits. True individuality comes not from the clothes we wear or the music we listen to, but rather our thought process, ideas we formulate and the way we choose to live our lives... and even then we are still a cog in a war machine (for us in the states and you folks in the UK).


Not to mention a lot of this fashion crap is inherently elitist and I can't believe I have allowed myself to buy into it. But hey, I gots to look good.

 

[StevenRocks]

Not to be a troll, but usually the words "I wear what i like" usually come from the badly dressed. regardless of style.

As for me, I have individual choice, to be sure, but I'm influenced by what I read and see in the marketplace. Reading what y'all have to say has made a differnce in my wardrobe choices, though none of us dress excatly alike.

 

[nairb49]

It is very interesting to compare the two message boards, supertalk and styleforum.
The styles/brands that circulate are for the most part quite similar (excluding the section involving BAPE etc.) but the people (at least in the "cyber" manner) are quite different save for the ones like me, who regularly visit both.

I think the problem with the "I wear what I like" statement is that its too much of a blanket statement. Inevitably, if you're browsing/posting/lurking these forums, there's a reason and even if you hate the looks, you're subconsciously going to be influenced. I myself like to think that I have my own unique and individual style (as I'm sure you all do as well) and the reality is that we do, by taking bits and pieces from everyone and putting it all together.

But its a bit presumptuous or perhaps naive(?) to state that what you wear is based strictly on what you see in the store and decide that YOU like, and not that you like the way it looked on someone else and think that you may be able to add your own individual flair to it.

 

[Brian SD]

Not sure if they meant it to mean this, but I think Adult Swim's hyping for their short Saved by the Bell run has a really on point line, "You were never this cool. Nobody was."

People use fake personas as goals to accomplish style and it adds to the cycle of trends. Individuals, no matter how unique they claim to be, are never immune to popular culture. Why do you want to dress like the musicians you listen to? So you can be just like Johnny Thunders, or whoever. That's just as conformist as wearing something because Brad Pitt does (or in the case of the group rnr brought up, NOT wearing something because Pitt does). It's just on a smaller scale, so compartively, you look cooler, hipper, more unique, whatever.

It looks worse to imitate someone who's a tool though, so I'll choose Bob Dylan, Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, etc. to get style cues from.

 

[Max]

Goddamn people, chill out. Style is what it is; you either put together cool outfits from unexpected elements that reflect your own personal taste or you don't. Everyone sees what other people around them are wearing. Style is being able to take details of what other people are doing and fit them into your own look.

I would say most people on here don't have style, they just follow basic trends and fetishize ridiculously expensive jeans and otherwise-unremarkable hideously expensive designer clothes. That's not to say that y'all aren't well dressed, you're just not particularly stylish.

Are you stylish? Ask yourself:

Would I buy this $200 belt if it had no label on it?

Do I exclusively shop in high-end department stores and boutiques?

Have I ever paid more than $100 for a pair of jeans?

Do I ask people on the internet what sneakers to buy?

Am I wearing more than $500 worth of clothing right now? If yes: Am I only wearing a t shirt and jeans? Do I look like a homeless painter?

Have I ever seriously considered purchasing something from 45rpm?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you probably aren't stylish.

 

[Brian SD]

Goddamn people, chill out. Style is what it is; you either put together cool outfits from unexpected elements that reflect your own personal taste or you don't. Everyone sees what other people around them are wearing. Style is being able to take details of what other people are doing and fit them into your own look.P

Is that not the exact purpose of this board? Sorry dude, but your comments wreak of ignorance. I wouldn't expect you to know anything about the people here because you obviously haven't been around for very long, and I'm guessing from your arrogance you're one of the temporary transfers over from the other SF. Fine, criticism is always helpful, but I don't know who you're targeting because no one that I know on this board falls into the category you seem to be straw-manning.

I would say most people on here don't have style, they just follow basic trends and fetishize ridiculously expensive jeans and otherwise-unremarkable hideously expensive designer clothes. That's not to say that y'all aren't well dressed, you're just not particularly stylish.

Fetishize over high end jeans? Absolutely. Otherwise-unremarkable hideously expensive designer clothes? Not hardly. Designers get a ton of criticism here. Most people subscribe to a look, determined by their lifestyle, how they like clothes to fit and colors they are into, etc. and base how they implement items into their style off of those aesthetics. Again, I really don't think you know what you're talking about. Style is generally directly involved with trends, whether or not that trend originated in your generation. As for buying certain labels, it's just something that happens when you buy **** online. Since you can't see it in person, you have to place some trust in the label to meet basic quality and style requirements. A lot of us also don't have access to American Rag, or other stores that have a huge variety of labels, so it's not that frequent that we can find a new item from a random label and work it into style.

Are you stylish? Ask yourself: Would I buy this $200 belt if it had no label on it? Do I exclusively shop in high-end department stores and boutiques? Have I ever paid more than $100 for a pair of jeans? Do I ask people on the internet what sneakers to buy? Am I wearing more than $500 worth of clothing right now? If yes: Am I only wearing a t shirt and jeans? Do I look like a homeless painter? Have I ever seriously considered purchasing something from 45rpm? If you answered yes to any of these questions you probably aren't stylish.

1) Yes. Label means nothing when it's a company you've never heard of before. 2) Nope. I, along with many others here, frequent all kinds of independent boutiques as well as second-hand stores, both "vintage stores" and thrift stores. 3) Yes. Gladly. Absolutely guilty to "fetishizing jeans," though I'm not sure this automatically brands you as not stylish, and I dont understand the whole idea of placing an arbitrary price ($100) as the limit for "no longer considered stylish." 4) Do I ask them what to buy? No. Do I ask them if they've heard of anything new and/or different so I can check it out before I blow some cash on new shoes? Yep. 5) Yes. No. No. 6) Yes. Definitely. They make some incredible pieces. Sorry that you don't appreciate quality? In conclusion, you sound like you're just trying to pick fights around here, especially with that pointless sig. Assuming that you have some basis for your attitude of self-righteousness, I'd be interested to hear what kind of **** you're into. After you cool your jets a bit, you could probably post some information of actual usefulness.

 

[minya]

Why the **** are you posting in the streetwear forum, Max?

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by Max

Style is what it is; you either put together cool outfits from unexpected elements that reflect your own personal taste or you don't. Everyone sees what other people around them are wearing. Style is being able to take details of what other people are doing and fit them into your own look.


Sorry, but this is an absolutely idiotic statement, and could only be made so confidently from a position of absolute ignorance.

1) Everyone pulls "elements" together to reflect their personal taste. What a "cool outfit" is a subjective judgement. I imagine that unless someone is dressing for a play or is being dressed by a particularly bad stylist, that these "elements" reflect their personal tastes.

2) No one has ever developed their "own look" in a vacuum of influences, expect maybe the dude that decided to cover his balls with a bunch of leaves.

 

[Max]

Dammit, I had this super long reply typed out and it got lost. Here's my best memory of it.

While nobody pulls their own look out of nowhere, there's a difference between someone who can put seemingly mismatched things together in an interesting way and the person whose entire look can be found in urban outfitters or on the pages of a magazine.

I appreciate quality, but at some point you stop paying for good construction and start paying for ads in GQ. I'd spend $200 on a filson briefcase, but not $1500 for a vuitton one. One is good quality, the other is a status symbol. Ridiculously heavy and high-quality $120 sweatshirt from Supreme yes, $1200 bape monstrosity on ebay no.

I think the best jeans are 501s that you've owned for a long time. I don't like super faded jeans, but they always look better if you've faded them yourself. While I understand what 45rpm has to offer, I think spending $400 on a pair of jeans is a lot like spending $7000 on a handbag. They might be really nice jeans, but they're just jeans.

As for me; I like to mix high and low. Business formal with downtown street with a touch of whacked-out gay disco sailor. Right now my favorite garment is the blue corduroy YSL jacket with shirt-cuffs that I got at a thrift store for $13. I really like Ray-ban wayfarers because they're good quality and their design has managed to stay current for 50+ years. I've been known to wear a pocket square in the watch pocket of my jeans once in a while. I really like white spread-collar shirts. I don't wear things that cause me physical pain.

I notice trends and follow some of them, but I wouldn't be caught dead in anything frayed or ripped.

Sartorially, I come from a punk-rock background. I'm very particular and I hate spending money. I always had to have the perfect studded vest, the perfect zipper pants. I learned to sew tapering the legs of stretch jeans and attaching gratuitous zippers and patches.

 

[tangerine]

Max, thanks for posting this explanation of your point of view. It's much more interesting than when you were simply ripping on everyone in a vague, generalized way.

This part, though, struck me as funny...

Originally Posted by Max

...

I notice trends and follow some of them, but I wouldn't be caught dead in anything frayed or ripped.

Sartorially, I come from a punk-rock background. I'm very particular and I hate spending money. I always had to have the perfect studded vest, the perfect zipper pants. I learned to sew tapering the legs of stretch jeans and attaching gratuitous zippers and patches.

...because...

^ Richard Hell had a pretty big influence on punk-rock "style".

photo by Roberta Bayley

 

[PG2G]

There are few things that annoy me more than when people try to tell me how much its okay to spend on certain items.

 

[Max]

Ah well, that was then.

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Fact: the people who care a lot about fashion "borrow" from celebrities much more than do other individuals.

 

[Tabris]

Originally Posted by PG2G

There are few things that annoy me more than when people try to tell me how much its okay to spend on certain items.

I get it all the time. I hardly ever buy clothes, and when I do, I usually like it a lot...some of these things tend to be expensive so people try to lecture me about it when they have several similar items with the same combined worth but at a lower quality.