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Pairing oxford shoes with chinos

Is it acceptable to pair oxfords with chinos?

  • Yes, anytime, anywhere.

    Votes: 45 27.3%
  • Whenever you've got that "chino + oxfords" feeling.

    Votes: 29 17.6%
  • In a pinch (other pants at the cleaners, traveling, Halloween costume...)

    Votes: 36 21.8%
  • No, except maaaybe in a life or death situation.

    Votes: 55 33.3%

  • Total voters
    165

acapaca

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I think that this veers too far into the “anything goes” realm where any outfit looks good. I will say that one thing I appreciated about the older SF is that members were more willing to call out bad outfits. Right now it feels like many bad outfits are being posted and getting likes, and there is too little critical discussion of why a particular fit works or doesn’t work.
Sure, if that's what the outfit is. But the truth is, that line of argument is often either a red herring or a strawman, take your pick. The matter at hand here has been represented, on several occasions, as 'throwing random things together'. There is nothing in the least that is 'random' about this, or 'anything goes':

SCO.jpg


For all the talk about dress as 'language', we should have more fidelity to what words actually mean. (Those shoes above were not picked by walking into the closet blindfolded.) And our ears should be better trained to recognize nuance in communication.
 

breakaway01

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I don’t understand how this post responds to my comment about your statement “I feel the same way, that taste is to each his own. I try not to be judgmental of others, even if I can't make sense of what they are doing.”

my point is that we are not judgmental enough at SF, and that not all outfits look good. Some look bad. Your posting one outfit doesn’t respond to my statement.

put another way, have you ever taken lessons in music, art, sports (tennis, golf, etc)? Do you think you’d have improved if the feedback you got was “it’s all okay, do whatever you want even if I can’t make sense of what you’re doing?”
 

breakaway01

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And if you don’t think that dressing well is a learned skill that can be improved with practice and feedback, why are you bothering with SF at all?
 

JohnMRobie

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And if you don’t think that dressing well is a learned skill that can be improved with practice and feedback, why are you bothering with SF at all?
So that I can MTO some sweet green nubuck croc NST monks from Ascot and flex on the haters and get those sweet, sweet likes when I pair them with chinos.
 

yorkshire pud

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I don’t understand how this post responds to my comment about your statement “I feel the same way, that taste is to each his own. I try not to be judgmental of others, even if I can't make sense of what they are doing.”

my point is that we are not judgmental enough at SF, and that not all outfits look good. Some look bad. Your posting one outfit doesn’t respond to my statement.

put another way, have you ever taken lessons in music, art, sports (tennis, golf, etc)? Do you think you’d have improved if the feedback you got was “it’s all okay, do whatever you want even if I can’t make sense of what you’re doing?”

In polite society if somebody asks for criticism of an outfit or even an education in how to dress then fair enough help them.

On the other hand this is supposed to be "Style Forum" where people can discuss their individual style without fear of ridicule (from a self imposed Style Police)

"The fusty old rulebook" is merely a guide to gentlemen's dress, the great and good of style history have repeatedly broken the rules.
 

breakaway01

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In polite society if somebody asks for criticism of an outfit or even an education in how to dress then fair enough help them.

On the other hand this is supposed to be "Style Forum" where people can discuss their individual style without fear of ridicule (from a self imposed Style Police)

"The fusty old rulebook" is merely a guide to gentlemen's dress, the great and good of style history have repeatedly broken the rules.
If you think that feedback is the same as ridicule then you must be difficult to manage at work.
Let me ask you three yes/no questions:
1. Do you believe that all outfits you see here and in real life are all equally “good” in your eyes (however you wish to define “good”)?
If you answer yes to this, I guess we have nothing to say to each other that would make sense to both of us.
2. If “no”, Do you believe that some people are better at putting together “good” outfits than others?
3. If “yes”, wouldn’t you want to also learn how to be better at putting together outfits that you find pleasing?
 

pablum

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In polite society if somebody asks for criticism of an outfit or even an education in how to dress then fair enough help them.

wouldn’t you want to also learn how to be better at putting together outfits that you find pleasing?

Makes me feel bad for DWW. The man offered his [educated] opinions, reasoning for his opinions, visual examples, and yet he was met with animosity because some viewed his opinions as personal attacks
 

yorkshire pud

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If you think that feedback is the same as ridicule then you must be difficult to manage at work.
Let me ask you three yes/no questions:
1. Do you believe that all outfits you see here and in real life are all equally “good” in your eyes (however you wish to define “good”)?
If you answer yes to this, I guess we have nothing to say to each other that would make sense to both of us.
2. If “no”, Do you believe that some people are better at putting together “good” outfits than others?
3. If “yes”, wouldn’t you want to also learn how to be better at putting together outfits that you find pleasing?

Wow, aggressive first sentence!!! (lucky for me I work alone without interference from the guys in suits, most of whom have recently been fired from the business for incompetence BTW)

I believe if somebody asks for a fit check or an opinion on something, then great advise away.

If they aren't looking for a critique, maybe you should keep your pie-hole shut ?
 
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yorkshire pud

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Makes me feel bad for DWW. The man offered his [educated] opinions, reasoning for his opinions, visual examples, and yet he was met with animosity because some viewed his opinions as personal attacks

Maybe if he learned some humility, he might be more successful. There is more to being a gentleman than wearing the right clothes and sticking to the rules ?
 

JohnMRobie

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Wow, aggressive first sentence!!! (lucky for me I work alone without interference from the guys in suits, most of whom have recently been fired from the business for incompetence BTW)

I believe if somebody asks for a fit check or an opinion on something, then great advise away.

If they aren't looking for a critique, maybe you should keep your pie-hole shut ?
People would likely make fewer expensive mistakes if instead of going full yasssss kweeen when someone MTOs something crazy that won’t work with their outfits or tries to order trousers that fit like leggings they got some feedback that says “hey thats an interesting idea but it’ll look like crap and you might not have any idea what you’re doing”
 

RSS

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There is more to style than a "fit check" or an occasional opinion on "something".


Maybe if he learned some humility,
DWW is overflowing with humility ... and knowledge.
 
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acapaca

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I don’t understand how this post responds to my comment about your statement “I feel the same way, that taste is to each his own. I try not to be judgmental of others, even if I can't make sense of what they are doing.”

my point is that we are not judgmental enough at SF, and that not all outfits look good. Some look bad. Your posting one outfit doesn’t respond to my statement.

put another way, have you ever taken lessons in music, art, sports (tennis, golf, etc)? Do you think you’d have improved if the feedback you got was “it’s all okay, do whatever you want even if I can’t make sense of what you’re doing?”
I'm not sure you and I are using 'judgmental' in the same way. I think you are using it more along the lines of 'critical', as in: being able, or having the justification, to provide critique. And good critique, as I'm sure you would agree, can usually be positive in nature. It should always be well reasoned, logically consistent, grounded in legitimate principles, and free from bias. Ultimately it's about building up.

The way I'm using it is ultimately about tearing down. It's about drawing (sophomoric?) lines between in-groups and out-groups. It comes from a narrow point of view that is self-assured of its correctness. You can look upthread and find a member talking about the ways in which he 'looks down on' others. When you are looking to look down on people, about their style or their character or anything else, you are tending toward the pejorative side of 'judgmental'.

It's funny you mention golf, because recently I was thinking about a story I heard a long time ago about a pro and one of the top coaches at the time -- I forget who, maybe Hank Haney. The pro wanted to try something different with his putting grip, I think it was, and asked his coach for advice. The coach said something along these lines: 'Give it a try if you want, but nobody good does it'.

That struck me as some pretty sage advice, and certainly far from judgmental. What we have here are a set of (not uncommon, really) examples of 'good' dressers putting things together in ways that fall outside classic CM norms (or at least, as they are being canonized here on this board), which don't seem to be accepted as counterpoints to the judgments.

So, it's not just that the judgmental-ness is judgmental. It's that it's often inconsistent or, according to some interpretations, sometimes even wrong.
 

ValidusLA

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I believe if somebody asks for a fit check or an opinion on something, then great advise away.

If they aren't looking for a critique, maybe you should keep your pie-hole shut ?

If someone is not open to critique, why bother posting on SF?

Maybe we should make a "WAYWRN - Likes and Compliments Only" thread.

CSSJkV2UYAE3FIK.jpg
 

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How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.7%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 39.3%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 15 10.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.3%

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