The Official Dieworkwear Appreciation Thread

[asaa1000]

I have both and also prefer the aesthetics of the work shirt, but the buttons just doesn’t work quite as well with the thick flannel as snaps do.

 

[dieworkwear]

I have both and also prefer the aesthetics of the work shirt, but the buttons just doesn’t work quite as well with the thick flannel as snaps do.

Very true. There's something oddly satisfying about how the snaps feel when you unbutton the shirt. The flannel is so thick. Combined with the snaps, the shirt just feels so sturdy.

 

[FlyingHorker]

I think I use too much SF because I had a dream there was a new blog post.

 

[dieworkwear]

I think I use too much SF because I had a dream there was a new blog post.

*despondently finds new post in dream is still just about wide-legged pants and kapital ring coats*

 

[FlyingHorker]

*despondently finds new post in dream is still just about wide-legged pants and kapital ring coats*

*is satisfied*

 

[sushijerk]

Always cool to see Eddie huang quoted in a dieworkwear post, although I did not agree with his original article. Interesting that he thought comparing lugars to supreme was a positive, when I consider both to be the height of soigne culture, and if you play into it as a consumer you are a sucker. I don't understand this buying into a club mentality for shopping or dining. Of course establishments will treat regulars better, but just about every restaurant will do this. I prefer the ones that great me well from the beginning and we'll take the relationship from there.

 

[dieworkwear]

Always cool to see Eddie huang quoted in a dieworkwear post, although I did not agree with his original article. Interesting that he thought comparing lugars to supreme was a positive, when I consider both to be the height of soigne culture, and if you play into it as a consumer you are a sucker. I don't understand this buying into a club mentality for shopping or dining. Of course establishments will treat regulars better, but just about every restaurant will do this. I prefer the ones that great me well from the beginning and we'll take the relationship from there.

I think he was speaking more to the community and culture that surrounds both establishments. I don't buy Supreme, but it's one of those few remaining brands, I think, that still has some element of genuine street culture to it, even if very modernized (and removed from the 90s form of street, but that's another story). When you see someone wearing Supreme, you know something about their cultural identity in a way that's perhaps no longer true of other former identifying markers of youth culture.

There are very few fashion cultures like that anymore, I think. The Guardian had something about this a while back.

Youth subcultures: what are they now?

Alexis Petridis: Mods, punks, soulboys, metallers, goths, hippies: there was a time when young people made it clear what tribe and music they were into by the way they dressed. Not any more

www.theguardian.com

Supreme has sort of blown up and attracted, for lack of a better term, a lot of corny people. But the things that outsiders hate about it is also the kind of thing that people have always hated about any youth culture. The fact that outsiders dislike it is almost the point.

Maybe a better example is Trapstarr and Golf Wang, two other streetwear labels that still have a real community around them. I think a lot of guys on this board will see them as weird and hype-ish, but there's also a feeling connected to buying that kind of clothing that I think is much more real and pure than trying to find some unfailing truth in clothing that I'm not sure exists (e.g. ideas about quality and timeless style).

 

[thatboyo]

the brand is strong

 

[dkboze]

man that eddie huang post is so strong. thanks for linking @dieworkwear.

I think he was speaking more to the community and culture that surrounds both establishments. I don't buy Supreme, but it's one of those few remaining brands, I think, that still has some element of genuine street culture to it, even if very modernized (and removed from the 90s form of street, but that's another story). When you see someone wearing Supreme, you know something about their cultural identity in a way that's perhaps no longer true of other former identifying markers of youth culture.

simon reynolds has a lot about this in Retromania if I'm remembering right, in the context of disappearing music tribes, but crossing into fashion too

 

[dieworkwear]

man that eddie huang post is so strong. thanks for linking @dieworkwear.

simon reynolds has a lot about this in Retromania if I'm remembering right, in the context of disappearing music tribes, but crossing into fashion too

I think the heart of Huang's post is about how we feel about brands.

Vox DM'd me to say that he thinks Wells' story doesn't have an analogy in menswear. And that Luger is an overpriced and disappointing establishment. Basically, it's just a commercialized cash cow that lost its way. I have no idea, tbh, as I've never eaten there.

But I think Huang's point is about how brands make us feel. The Ralph Lauren analogy resonated with me. Some menswear friends of mine also feel RL is ersatz, cheap, and overpriced (I actually disagree with the point about quality). But mostly, at least in the way I like RL, I feel like it's just one of those things you get or you don't (not that people who don't "get" RL are wrong). It's just a feeling.

I remember meeting up with Gianluca Migliarotti once for dinner and he told me he recently met Ralph Lauren, the man himself. I went nuts cause I'm a huge RL fan. Both Gianluca and I talked about how it felt to walk through an RL flagship for the first time when we were young. It's the sort of feeling that I think gets dismissed as hype and marketing, but man -- when I was growing up, that feeling was so pure. Putting on an RL suit as a young man just made me feel like a billion trillion dollars in a way that I'm not sure I've ever even felt with bespoke.

Same with having a certain social circle, where having that right pair of shoes or that jacket gets your friends excited, and everyone starts hyping you up. Maybe the stuff is overpriced, ersatz, or whatever else, but there's also something great about that feeling.

 

[WhyUEarly]

It's the sort of feeling that I think gets dismissed as hype and marketing, but man -- when I was growing up, that feeling was so pure. Putting on an RL suit as a young man just made me feel like a billion trillion dollars in a way that I'm not sure I've ever even felt with bespoke.

I just call that feeling magic. It's innocence, like falling in love for the first time. It's the sort of thing that builds true brand loyalty but I don't know if there's a straightforward formula to recreate it. There's something very nostalgic and emotional about going back to a place (whether it's Peter Luger or your favorite shop) where everyone feels that magic. I get that feeling when I dig through my closet and put on some old pieces; I put them on and they just feel...right, like picking up with an old flame right where you last left off. But time is cruel, the steak might suck now and the fabric might be sheering. But it doesn't make that feeling any less real or valid. So Eddie Huang is right, but so is Wells.

 

[dieworkwear]

But time is cruel, the steak might suck now and the fabric might be sheering. But it doesn't make that feeling any less real or valid. So Eddie Huang is right, but so is Wells.

I agree with that.

 

[dkboze]

So Eddie Huang is right, but so is Wells.

I agree with that.

Yeah, same. I also think that the way Huang is right is deeper and more important than the way Wells is right.

 

[UrbanComposition]

I’ll never get tired of RL or Armani. The latter was my first love, and the first I grew to love later, but both just warm my heart, like Starbucks Gold Coast blend. Sure there is better coffee, but that was the first good coffee I ever had, and it still brings a smile to my face.

Good on Derek for bringing back the feels into clothes.

 

[A Y]

The problem with magical feelings is that it feels exponentially worse when the brand turns around and stabs you in the back.