FlyingMonkey
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2011
- Messages
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Folks, I'm bored.
Not by COVID-19 (although that too, right?). But by the lack of intelligent innovation, the lack of challenge in contemporary menswear.
First, there's a kind of blanding going on. You'd have through the demise of J-Crew would have been a victory over blandness, but what it really showed was that J-Crew is unnecessary because everyone else is J-Crew now. Every other venture capital funded clothing company is doing "well thought-out basics" (AKA boring clothes for boring people). We are saturated with beige overcoats, slim-cut jeans, organic cotton hoodies etc. etc.
Even urban brands have 'grown up' and even grown bloated and lazy. Supreme could put its logo on an actual turd and you would find it reselling on Grailed within 30 minutes for stupid money. They've even killed Yohji Yamamoto. ALD is beige streetwear. Take the clothes off the celebrity models and it's nothing special.
'Heritage' workwear and militaria are ubiquitous, whether you're in the USA, UK, Japan, wherever... the only real difference being that enterprising Japanese companies seem to have persuaded us that their particular washed and patched denim is worth 5 times anyone else's... and their old **** is much better than old **** from any other country.
But it's not much better over in the 'artisinal' world where you can still have any twisted, rubber-coated, asymetric object you want to wear - as long as it's black (or possibly grey). The same companies have been turning variations on the same thing for years and the new companies on the scene merely seem to be doing more of the same at a different price point. And yet this is still refered to as 'avant garde' by some people.
Of course, there are still Parisian companies selling us eye-wateringly expensive tight jeans, boots and leather jackets so we can look like the Velvet Underground - who wore the cheapest thrift store clothes they could find. The names of the exact company or 'designer' shifts occasionally but let's face it, it hardly makes any difference.
Finally, we have the kitsch end of things, the Vetements, Balenciagas and the Bodes (and a lot more of what Kapital sells than its fans will admit to). Chop things up, steal (but only the worst things, natch), mix the cheap and gaudy with the expensive and gaudy. Gleefully smirk at the horror show you've produced - bonus points if you make your catwalk models wear impossible shoes or through a bit of spice into your lookbook - could be gender fluidity, could be racism, doesn't matter because its all ironic and nothing means anything any more, right?
So, what's my point? What is this thread for?
Well, innovation happens in all these areas (I don't really think everything is terrible... honest!), but we don't necessarily get to hear about it unless we're deeply involved in a particular style or subculture or follow particular threads on this forum. I want this thread to be about sharing and discussing genuine attempts to do things differently across the board. It could be:
1. Different underlying philosophies;
2. Different materials;
3. Different approaches to design (colour, cut, textures etc.);
4. Different methods of production;
5. Different approaches to sales and marketing;
& etc.
It doesn't necessarily have to mean that you (or anyone else) has to like the clothes. You can't please all the people all the time. But I want to be challenged. I want there to be enjoyable disagreement. I want to be persuaded that I'm entirely wrong about the lack of innovation. And I want pictures!
(please)
Not by COVID-19 (although that too, right?). But by the lack of intelligent innovation, the lack of challenge in contemporary menswear.
First, there's a kind of blanding going on. You'd have through the demise of J-Crew would have been a victory over blandness, but what it really showed was that J-Crew is unnecessary because everyone else is J-Crew now. Every other venture capital funded clothing company is doing "well thought-out basics" (AKA boring clothes for boring people). We are saturated with beige overcoats, slim-cut jeans, organic cotton hoodies etc. etc.
Even urban brands have 'grown up' and even grown bloated and lazy. Supreme could put its logo on an actual turd and you would find it reselling on Grailed within 30 minutes for stupid money. They've even killed Yohji Yamamoto. ALD is beige streetwear. Take the clothes off the celebrity models and it's nothing special.
'Heritage' workwear and militaria are ubiquitous, whether you're in the USA, UK, Japan, wherever... the only real difference being that enterprising Japanese companies seem to have persuaded us that their particular washed and patched denim is worth 5 times anyone else's... and their old **** is much better than old **** from any other country.
But it's not much better over in the 'artisinal' world where you can still have any twisted, rubber-coated, asymetric object you want to wear - as long as it's black (or possibly grey). The same companies have been turning variations on the same thing for years and the new companies on the scene merely seem to be doing more of the same at a different price point. And yet this is still refered to as 'avant garde' by some people.
Of course, there are still Parisian companies selling us eye-wateringly expensive tight jeans, boots and leather jackets so we can look like the Velvet Underground - who wore the cheapest thrift store clothes they could find. The names of the exact company or 'designer' shifts occasionally but let's face it, it hardly makes any difference.
Finally, we have the kitsch end of things, the Vetements, Balenciagas and the Bodes (and a lot more of what Kapital sells than its fans will admit to). Chop things up, steal (but only the worst things, natch), mix the cheap and gaudy with the expensive and gaudy. Gleefully smirk at the horror show you've produced - bonus points if you make your catwalk models wear impossible shoes or through a bit of spice into your lookbook - could be gender fluidity, could be racism, doesn't matter because its all ironic and nothing means anything any more, right?
So, what's my point? What is this thread for?
Well, innovation happens in all these areas (I don't really think everything is terrible... honest!), but we don't necessarily get to hear about it unless we're deeply involved in a particular style or subculture or follow particular threads on this forum. I want this thread to be about sharing and discussing genuine attempts to do things differently across the board. It could be:
1. Different underlying philosophies;
2. Different materials;
3. Different approaches to design (colour, cut, textures etc.);
4. Different methods of production;
5. Different approaches to sales and marketing;
& etc.
It doesn't necessarily have to mean that you (or anyone else) has to like the clothes. You can't please all the people all the time. But I want to be challenged. I want there to be enjoyable disagreement. I want to be persuaded that I'm entirely wrong about the lack of innovation. And I want pictures!
(please)
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