WAYWRN: Classic Menswear, Casual Style

[gdl203]

Did I say that? It's possible that I may have felt that way on any given day, and it's most certainly true that I'd like to have more opportunities/days to wear "unformatted" outfits than just two days a week. But, overall, I enjoy wearing the suit and tie format and would not want to give that up entirely. Yes, I feel that this dress code is an obligation associated with my occupation, but that doesn't mean I don't like wearing these clothes, or the process of getting new clothes made. I do. I like both.

 

[indesertum]

rubinacci for weekdays. yohji on the weekend. ballin erryday

 

[F. Corbera]



Did I say that? It's possible that I may have felt that way on any given day, and it's most certainly true that I'd like to have more opportunities/days to wear "unformatted" outfits than just two days a week. But, overall, I enjoy wearing the suit and tie format and would not want to give that up entirely. Yes, I feel that this dress code is an obligation associated with my occupation, but that doesn't mean I don't like wearing these clothes, or the process of getting new clothes made. I do. I like both.

Okay, I believe you. Only someone who likes it can do such a great job with it and care enough to seek some of the best versions of it.

I just don't think that most guys here can easily juggle two cats.

I also think that what causes simple casual ensembles to fail in this thread would also wreak havoc on choices selected by the same person from the SW&D forum.

The stammer would be the same even with more vocabulary.

 

[fritzl]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Only a small segment of the activity in SW&D can be "useful" or illuminating for guys who are primarily or entirely active in MC.
This is because most of the stuff discussed in SW&D is not a casual aesthetic that fits in with wearing coat and tie: most of the stuff in SW&D represents a replacement aesthetic.
There is no "formal" or "casual" in SW&D, by and large. It's the same stuff top to bottom, day in day out, morning, noon and evening. Jeans to work. Jeans to a casual sports bar. Balmain by day. Balmain by night. There are many different types of it, and many different designers and retailers, true. The concepts might range from low brow to high, but there really isn't a forum-common "off duty" concept for SW&D as there is neither a forum-common "formal" concept.
In contrast, there is a common "formal" concept (such as it is) in MC: that is suit, shirt, necktie and leather shoes. The way that this common concept plays out in the contemporary world implies a lot of the day and week might be spent in other clothes; thus, "casual" clothes.
So, I don't view SW&D's favorite topics as "casual" clothes, but a minority selection...a tip of intellectualized or designer-y clothes atop a larger iceberg...of a casual world wearing cheap, floppy, slobby clothes. This casual world ever encroaches on and displaces the world of formality that still endures in the habit of wearing coat and tie, in dressing for occasion and place.
This is why it is very hard to fit the two together. The few guys on SF who wear things from both types of makers tend to abandon the other when they're doing one.

gdl203 has mentioned that if he could, he would stop wearing coat and tie entirely and that American traditional casual dressing depresses him. He also mentioned that Parker is almost exclusively active now in SW&D. Neither seems like a method to bridge any gaps;

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

it just seems like an attitude that says everyone should dress in SW&D types of things, and coat and tie only if they must because of external forces.
Switch one light on. Switch the other light off.
And then there's fuuma, of course. He's made some ridiculous and amusing statements in the last few pages that come from a very narrow place. That narrow place is a type of good taste that will have zero utility for the guy who loves...not likes, not must, not forced...but who loves to dress in coat and tie and can do so in the ever-diminishing world in which others do so as well.
That's really it, I think. There is a lot of uncomfortable evidence in this thread and in the main WAYWRN that a lot of the posters are actually from the casual world that dominates the present, and are new to the habit of wearing any type of classic clothes, whether "formal" or "casual."
This is the point, usually, when someone will say, "At least they'll find out about nicer jeans."
Yes, that's true. Big deal.
When something fails in this thread, it is not from lack of knowledge of what people like in SW&D. There would almost certainly be equal levels of failure if that knowledge was acquired.
After all, dudes in SW&D fail right and left no differently than in MC.

exactly. gdl seems to struggle with this for one reason or another hence he sounds like a broken record, imo.

 

[fritzl]



Did I say that?

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

It's possible that I may have felt that way on any given day, and it's most certainly true that I'd like to have more opportunities/days to wear "unformatted" outfits than just two days a week. But, overall, I enjoy wearing the suit and tie format and would not want to give that up entirely. Yes, I feel that this dress code is an obligation associated with my occupation, but that doesn't mean I don't like wearing these clothes, or the process of getting new clothes made. I do. I like both.

yes, you did... ...several times. fwiw, i liked the old gdl better. less aggressive, imo. just sayin...

 

[gdl203]

wtf

 

[fritzl]



wtf

i don't mind that you don't mind. you live your live i live mine, no worries.

 

[gdl203]

ok...

 

[Fuuma]



To add to Fuuma's last sentence most serious boaters don't wear boat shoes. The best sailor I know wears New Balance when the wind is cranking and nothing in light air.

To be honest if someone needed to wear UGGs with crampons to be secure on a boat I'd encourage them to do so, actuel technical garments (clothing designed to precise spec to solve a specific problem) often look ridiculous but they serve a very narrow and important purpose.

 

[fritzl]



To be honest if someone needed to wear UGGs with crampons to be secure on a boat I'd encourage them to do so, actuel technical garments (clothing designed to precise spec to solve a specific problem) often look ridiculous but they serve a very narrow and important purpose.

exactly

 

[ethanm]

To be honest if someone needed to wear UGGs with crampons to be secure on a boat I'd encourage them to do so, actuel technical garments (clothing designed to precise spec to solve a specific problem) often look ridiculous but they serve a very narrow and important purpose.

Right. I think a big part of the appeal of boat shoes is the image of yachting but most serious boaters don't wear them. Oh the irony, wearing boat shoes is probably a bigger indicator that you don't sail! I still wear my Sperry's on the boat because I'm OG

.

 

[DLester]

A lot of the looks (not all) in this thread are either (1) way too formal to qualify as casual or (2) Corporate Beer Garden approved. I can't get any inspiration from that.

But the MC v. SWD argument is unwinnable. If you are content with the looks you see in this thread, stay here. If you want to explore other options, visit SWD. We won't be gentle but you might learn something useful. Note that you can visit SWD and get value and inspiration even if you are extremely elderly, say over 25 y/o.

 

[hendrix]



Only a small segment of the activity in SW&D can be "useful" or illuminating for guys who are primarily or entirely active in MC.
This is because most of the stuff discussed in SW&D is not a casual aesthetic that fits in with wearing coat and tie: most of the stuff in SW&D represents a replacement aesthetic.
There is no "formal" or "casual" in SW&D, by and large. It's the same stuff top to bottom, day in day out, morning, noon and evening. Jeans to work. Jeans to a casual sports bar. Balmain by day. Balmain by night. There are many different types of it, and many different designers and retailers, true. The concepts might range from low brow to high, but there really isn't a forum-common "off duty" concept for SW&D as there is neither a forum-common "formal" concept.
In contrast, there is a common "formal" concept (such as it is) in MC: that is suit, shirt, necktie and leather shoes. The way that this common concept plays out in the contemporary world implies a lot of the day and week might be spent in other clothes; thus, "casual" clothes.
So, I don't view SW&D's favorite topics as "casual" clothes, but a minority selection...a tip of intellectualized or designer-y clothes atop a larger iceberg...of a casual world wearing cheap, floppy, slobby clothes.

Ok, you're correct about the bolded, but that doesn't mean there's no scale of formality in SW&D.
For example, this probably represents a well done, somewhat typical outfit of what we may wear when we go out. Most of us would not lounge around the house in this.

detail of jacket

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Contrast with this, which although probably not representative of what most would wear (I wouldn't, for example), there's a clear formality difference. Some may indeed not give a **** and wear this to a club or whatever, it's still got a more casual feeling.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

So I don't think it's that there's no formality, just that the scale and slopes are out of line.

When something fails in this thread, it is not from lack of knowledge of what people like in SW&D

Well, you can say that if you like, but how many threads about casual clothes are there on MC? There was that "SW for the Stodgy" or whatever thread by Foo which was pretty decent, as well as the "Denim for MC". Anything else?

Do you really think that there is little knowledge about "classic" casual clothes on SW&D?

Moreover, with the lack of exposure to younger brands, you're just simply missing out if you choose to post exclusively in MC.

As nice as a Barbour and LVC 1947 can look, it would be a shame not to also be exposed to 45rpm, Wings + Horns, Spurr etc etc etc.

 

[fritzl]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

A lot of the looks (not all) in this thread are either (1) way too formal to qualify as casual or (2) Corporate Beer Garden approved. I can't get any inspiration from that.
But the MC v. SWD argument is unwinnable. If you are content with the looks you see in this thread, stay here. If you want to explore other options, visit SWD.

We won't be gentle but you might learn something useful.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Note that you can visit SWD and get value and inspiration even if you are extremely elderly, say over 25 y/o.

tbh, i doubt this. i can only visit, when i'm in the valley and i'm in the need of a good laugh. it never fails, otherwise it's a pita. gladly, it's been while... ...the valley.

 

[DLester]

Fritzl I concede that you could learn nothing useful from SWD