The Oxford-Shoe-Worn-Casually Appreciation Thread

[Stylewords]

Sorry for changing the topic but please call the sartorial police. I’m wearing oxfords with chinos today.

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Looks great and oxfords work well there.

 

[apShepard]

I understand not taking your shoes of at a house party where the host tells you to not do it. But people do take of their shoes when they enter their own home, right?

 

[Keith Taylor]

I understand not taking your shoes of at a house party where the host tells you to not do it. But people do take of their shoes when they enter their own home, right?

I take mine off in my home office, the furthest room from my front door, because that's the room with the walk in closet where I store my shoes. Unless I've been walking through snow or mud I'm not doing gymnastics at my front door just to keep my floors pristine. I've got a bad back, damn it, I'd do myself a mischief

 

[JFWR]

Sorry for changing the topic but please call the sartorial police. I’m wearing oxfords with chinos today.

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Totally coherent outfit in my eyes. Very nicely done. The nice brown brogues work well with the nice chinos.

 

[JFWR]

I understand not taking your shoes of at a house party where the host tells you to not do it. But people do take of their shoes when they enter their own home, right?

I don't wear shoes in my house, but not chiefly out of cleanliness, but out of comfort. I walk around barefoot mostly at home, because shoes are meant to protect the feet from the outside, not really to be worn for no reason at all, as shoes are definitely less comfortable (even if they are comfortable) than bare feet.

When I entertain guests, I usually don't take my shoes off unless they're winter boots. I also don't request people take their shoes off unless, again, it's because of inclement weather, and I don't want my rugs and carpet to be messed up.

 

[Stylewords]

I understand not taking your shoes of at a house party where the host tells you to not do it. But people do take of their shoes when they enter their own home, right?

I don't (when I enter). Maybe I would if I had a carpeted floor and/or if I'd been walking in mud.

 

[Cause Moe]

Source?
Because generally speaking, 19th century people took plenty of baths ...

Source?

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Does no-one else sit down on the toilet to pee? I mean seriously, unless there is a urinal, it's only good manners and more hygienic to sit down. This is normal in many European countries and yet apparently rather too many British and American men seem to think it's somehow emasculating if they can't spray piss everywhere (and you are doing that even if your aim is good)... we're not tomcats, are we?

 

[yorkshire pud]

Well, it's been fun reading about everyone's toilet habits but can we please get back to slagging off loafers, ball caps and business casual outfits please??

 

[FlyingMonkey]

On that note, this is a fun, breezy piece which gets to at least one reason why there may not be any point in trying to persude anyone about 'standards' or what's aesthetically 'better' any more... and I like the idea of an irony collapse, although to be honest I am not sure that there has ever been a widespread cultural understanding of irony outside of exactly the kinds of elite, educated communities who are still trying to convince others that there is something called 'taste' that is worth preserving.

The Great Irony-Level Collapse

Used to be you could tell what people were like by what they liked. Not anymore.

www.gawker.com

 

[smittycl]

For someone who is famously not on Styleforum anymore he's sure on Styleforum a lot.

 

[dieworkwear]

On that note, this is a fun, breezy piece which gets to at least one reason why there may not be any point in trying to persude anyone about 'standards' or what's aesthetically 'better' any more... and I like the idea of an irony collapse, although to be honest I am not sure that there has ever been a widespread cultural understanding of irony outside of exactly the kinds of elite, educated communities who are still trying to convince others that there is something called 'taste' that is worth preserving.

The Great Irony-Level Collapse

Used to be you could tell what people were like by what they liked. Not anymore.

www.gawker.com

Literally had this exact convo last night with UrbanComp and his wife after dinner. We talked about changing dress culture since we were in high school, poptimism, youth subcultures and their dress codes, the staggering of what's cool and what's not, etc.

Right before the first US lockdown, I went to a music club to check out an event. The DJ played every kind of music under the sun -- pop, alternative, hip hop, etc. At the end of the night, a gothy woman dressed in all black got on stage and started singing what sounded like some Norwegian synth music. Everyone around me was very young and seemed to enjoy the eclectic mix of music. Thirty years ago, my music experiences were much more segregated -- there were punk events and hip hop events, and the two did not cross. I even hid my R&B cassettes from friends because that kind of music was considered uncool.

Now everyone listens to everything and (mostly) wears whatever they want. Although I think there are still demarcations for what's cool and not cool. There are "cool" ways to do normcore.

I'm reading Kennedy Fraser's book The Fashionable Mind, which is a collection of her New Yorker essays on fashion. Interestingly, she opens up with an introduction about how, when she was assigned to write about fashion in the 1970s, she felt there were no more standards or dictas on dress. Her intro sounded very similar to Cathy Horyn's The Cut article "The End of Trends," which was published around 2012 or so. So perhaps everyone feels modern dress is chaotic at every point in history.

 

[VegasRebel]

Now everyone listens to everything and (mostly) wears whatever they want.

FTFA: "There was a time when I felt I could know what kind of music or pants a person liked and be able to fill in the rest of their interests with reasonable accuracy; at this point, there doesn’t seem to be any connection at all. "

I suspect people were often more complex than what people assumed by the type of music they listen to or the pants they wear. Or maybe I'm just solidly at home in this new complexity-rich era, having listened to Trick Daddy on my way into the office to write legal briefs to the state's Supreme Court and post on StyFo, with plans to go home and play Final Fantasy 14 this evening. I don't know if any of that is "cool," but I'm well past trying to be.

 

[smittycl]

FTFA: "There was a time when I felt I could know what kind of music or pants a person liked and be able to fill in the rest of their interests with reasonable accuracy; at this point, there doesn’t seem to be any connection at all. "

I suspect people were often more complex than what people assumed by the type of music they listen to or the pants they wear. Or maybe I'm just solidly at home in this new complexity-rich era, having listened to Trick Daddy on my way into the office to write legal briefs to the state's Supreme Court and post on StyFo, with plans to go home and play Final Fantasy 14 this evening. I don't know if any of that is "cool," but I'm well past trying to be.

"Back in the day" we were all beholden to the radio. Growing up in Ohio we had lots of Classic Rock and I suspect there is still one station back home that plays Stairway to Heaven on endless loop. MTV came and sort burst everything wide open. Then, I used to love getting Paste Magazine with its monthly cd of new artists. Now in the digital age it's an embarrassment of riches with Spotify and such. Sitting at my desk in DC and have listened to KCRW from LA, the Current from Minneapolis, and WXPN from Philly so far today. Shifting over to WTMD from Baltimore soon.

It's simply amazing to have access to almost everything.

 

[dieworkwear]

FTFA: "There was a time when I felt I could know what kind of music or pants a person liked and be able to fill in the rest of their interests with reasonable accuracy; at this point, there doesn’t seem to be any connection at all. "

I suspect people were often more complex than what people assumed by the type of music they listen to or the pants they wear. Or maybe I'm just solidly at home in this new complexity-rich era, having listened to Trick Daddy on my way into the office to write legal briefs to the state's Supreme Court and post on StyFo, with plans to go home and play Final Fantasy 14 this evening. I don't know if any of that is "cool," but I'm well past trying to be.

I don't know. I think in the 90s, I could reasonably say what kind of music someone listened to by their dress. And if you dressed a certain way, and were interested in "alternative" or "underground" music, you probably hated Top 40 pop. Or top 40 anything.

Now people listen to obscure music and Britney Spears, and they like Spears unironically. It's not a guilty pleasure. It's a genuine pleasure. And you often can't even tell what someone listens to anymore from their dress. Kids who are into hip hop nowadays often dress like emo alternative kids. Or they might wear normcore. Whereas, in the 90s, if you stepped into a club, a lot of the guys not only dressed the same, they wore the same labels and pieces.

Saul Austerlitz wrote a critique of poptimism in 2014. Seven years later, I think poptimism still defines a lot of music culture nowadays.

The Pernicious Rise of Poptimism (Published 2014)

In an effort to undo the errors of its past, music criticism has gone soft.

www.nytimes.com