What i hate this year

[LA Guy]

This year, I hate:

1 (Like No Other) shirts. Embroidered and striped shirts are sort of done anyway. But you know that your company sucks when each of your shirts are supposedly unique, but the same shirt is available in all sizes even when sale time comes along. Moral of the story is that men want to look unique, not uniquely stupid.

7-Diamonds shirts - Like the above, just crappier materials and a generally overly body conscious cut. Good for fratboys and American Jackasses in general. It's nice to see their reactions when they inadvertently take their party to a gay bar, and get hit on because they are wearing such a fab shirt.

Earl Jeans - why does this label still exist? The cuts are pedestrian, the washes supremely uninspired and often even a little cheap looking, and they manage to command the same prices as much better brands like Paper Denim, Levis Premium, and True Religion.

Boutique jean companies in general. Hudson Jeans, I-jeans (to be fair, they've been around a little longer), Chip and Pepper, etc... There is a proliferation of jeanswear companies with no really new ideas and are not doing any better than the originals like Paper Denim, Frankie B. and Seven (although the latter line has been languishing creatively in the last while. And Frankie B. seems content being in the middle of the pack.) I like the new Wranglers for offering something new (completely clean washes, not unlike A.P.C.) and I am curious about Earnest Sewn (Paper Denim's latest venture), and Loomstate (Rogan's sister line), but I think I'll stick mostly to my tried and true Paper Denims, A.P.C., and Levis.

The blazers with jeans look becoming ubiquitous. Okay, I admit it, I have one - the one by Built by Wendy's Wrangler 47. But everyone and their dog, from Capital Tailor to Paper Denim (okay, a pretty cool one) to James Perse to Rogan (okay, they have a pretty cool one too) to Holland Tailor to Nike are making blazers. Enough already. They are rather more limited in their usage than say, a cafÃ

racer or a military jacket, and the guys who can pull them off are farther and fewer in between. And matching the rest of the outfit so that it looks right is not an easy task. I say err on the side of the casual - an unbuttoned or partially buttoned twill shirt or a tshirt or a hooded sweatshirt or sweater on top, sneakers or really casual chukkas on the bottom. If you pair the blazer with a striped or solid poplin shirt, tucked in, with shiny leather shoes, you are... an All American Jackass. Congratulations.

Loafers (penny and otherwise), deck or boat shoes, and carshoes. No. It was a terrible look in the 80's, (my secret shame, I had a blue, a grey, and a brown pair back in the day), and it is still a bad look today. The low vamps combined with the low heel combine to make the manliest man look like Paul Reubens. Not cool, and a little creepy.

Overly appliquÃ

d or patchworked sweatshirts, sweaters, etc.. DIY should really be DIY. It's a hard thing to fake without looking really fake.

Please feel free to disagree or add to the list.

 

[Carlo]

Hip Huggers and girls who ought not to wear them.

I've seen probably 100 great looking girls in them in the past year - they looked good on ...one of them.

Like the grunge look this is a fashion statement that began as a conspiracy by ugly people to bring the beautiful down to thier level.

2. Overdone piercings or "I really wanted to make my daddy mad by wearing a lot of mommy's stuff sticking out of my face". Dude, it is a nose, blow it, pick it - whatever - don't stick metal through it.

3. printed tee shirts under a suitcoat or... "Hey Michael Moore, do your next documentary on personal hygiene inadequacies of the rich and famous"

4. The Ski-cap, ratty tee shirt and baggy jeans in the middle of freakin August look. If you are wearing a ski cap in august it should be because you are:
A. Skiing
B. Planning to rob a liquor store.
...those are the traditional uses for a ski cap.

5. Network talking heads who can't either
A. Stand while they talk
B. sit on the tail of their jacket
C. Buy a side vented jacket so that their shoulder is not bunched around their ears when they talk.

6. The peasant look - looks great on peasants, not sure I like it on the ladies as a fashion statement.

There is a very good reason why most of us have destroyed all records of our 70's look. Not even Dan Rather can find 70's era pictures of most of us. Why the hell the fashion disaster that was the 70's did not remain dead I will never know... again, this is a conspiracy of the ugly to make the beautiful come down to their level.

 

[Mike C.]

 I like the new Wranglers for offering something new (completely clean washes, not unlike A.P.C.) and I am curious about Earnest Sewn (Paper Denim's latest venture), and Loomstate (Rogan's sister line), but I think I'll stick mostly to my tried and true Paper Denims, A.P.C., and Levis.

I didn't know that PDC made Ernest Sewn. I saw them at Bloomingdales this past weekend and they were definatly the best jeans there. The cut and the wash was outstanding. They will most likely be my next denim purchase.

 

[faustian bargain]

again, this is a conspiracy of the ugly to make the beautiful come down to their level.

either that, or it's a conspiracy of the extremely beautiful to expose and winnow out the regularly beautiful and below.

there is an upper stratum of those with innate beauty who will look good in anything - burlap sacks, floor sweepings, etc - which is why some fashion designers like to design for them: it makes their jobs easy.

 

[shoreman1782]

LA Guy -

I don't disagree with your hate targets, but I think it's interesting that they're so specific. I know the Styleforum is far from "most people" but most people are blissfully or otherwise ignorant of the stuff we feel so strongly about. Where else but the styleforum could you hear someone lambast boutique denim? Maybe the Levi's boardroom...

1. It's not the styles I hate, unfortunately, it's the rabble who've appropriated them (like, I don't dislike phish, but...).

I like blazers, insert scenester "I liked em first" whininess, but I've been wearing thrift store blazers since well before I thought to look at the labels inside. It's definitely a done look, but I'm now old enough (24) that I think I can wear a blazer and jeans comfortably without looking like an urban outfitters employee. Plus, I'm not a skinny fauxhemian dude so I could never REALLY pull that look off anyway. I admit.

Next, I don't think there's a much better shirt for me than the Brit shirtmakers. It's unfortunate that, to the untrained eye, Banana Republic and T&A have some similar offerings. I don't mean to be elitist, but I am being elitist. And, hypocritically, it doesn't upset me that I can get Brit-looking shirts on sale from BR for like $30.

2. So, to things I actually hate. The recent emphasis on layering. I know, layering the right stuff looks good, and neglecting layers can lead to aforementioned t-shirt/suitcoat look. I cannot layer. If I'm wearing a sportcoat, a dress/sportshirt, and an undershirt, that's about all I can muster. Maybe a thin merino sweater. I just can't wear all those clothes, I'll look like the lil brother in A Christmas Story. Take off the coat and I can do it a little, but if I'm wearing a tie I like to wear a jacket, or at least have one handy.

3. Unsubtle, pseudo vintage t's. Ok, these went out with trucker hats, but they're still around, and I can't wear my valued, favorite, searched and found shirts without looking like an abercrombie shopper. Stupid old shirts are funny. "Look at the bulge in my pants, Montana" shirts are less so.

4. Metro-*%&$. grooming products. I'm picky about my soaps/shampoo/shaving stuff, but not THAT picky. I'm uninterested in products "for men." Shaving cream, aftershave, soap, shampoo; all these things have always existed for men witout explicitly saying so. If it's girly enough to require a masculine subtitle, it's probably not for me. Again, this is not a tough guy rant, I'm just satisfied with what I've got.

Alright. Got that off my chest. Where's my wax "for men?"

 

[faustian bargain]

along those lines, i hate it when they package something 'for men' and it's the same stuff they use 'for women', only in smaller quantities and higher prices. i think clinique does this, or they used to anyway.

also i hate 'prison pants'. you know what i'm saying, yo.

/andrew - not a hater, but i play one on tv.

 

[Oltmann]

I'd just like to point out that Earnest Sewn can be seen on activeendeavors.com, which raises an ongoing gripe for me. Whiskers; I have no desire to have the front of my jeans look like an impressionist rendering of the Cheshire cat. I've never had a pair of jeans wear in that way themselves either.

 

[LA Guy]

4. Metro-*%&$. grooming products. I'm picky about my soaps/shampoo/shaving stuff, but not THAT picky. I'm uninterested in products "for men." Shaving cream, aftershave, soap, shampoo; all these things have always existed for men witout explicitly saying so. If it's girly enough to require a masculine subtitle, it's probably not for me. Again, this is not a tough guy rant, I'm just satisfied with what I've got.

Don't agree with all your points, but agree 100% with you on this one. Men need: soap, shampoo (no freakin' conditioner unless it is a 2 in 1, in which case, it is very manly to get extra stuff for the same price) shaving cream and aftershave if you don't use an electric razor, and cologne - but only if you are going on a date. A guy who wears cologne around the house worries me. A man who uses any sort of facial cleanser needs a serious sit down with their father, who should do his duty and shame his son with laughter.

Also hate the fake vintage tees. I like graphic tees, but fake *vintage* tees are something else altogether.

Carlo, can't really agree with you on most points. I like hiphuggers, especially if they expose a bit of inadequacy - it's a statement that says - "Hey, I'm not perfect. Deal, or don't look. And I don't care to spend 3+ hours in the gym - I have a life.

I actually like the tee-shirt under a blazer look - on some people. Works for Chris Martin. Works for Pharrell Williams. Doesn't work for most CPAs. Know thyself.

I like piercings.

I actually like the skate-inspired look, although a knit cap in Texas midsummer is really suffering for fashion.

And, I agree with faustian bargain - beautiful, confident people will look beautiful no matter what. The problem is that most people aren't so beautiful and/or so confident. Those people need the cosmetic things to help them out.

 

[LA Guy]

I'd just like to point out that Earnest Sewn can be seen on activeendeavors.com, which raises an ongoing gripe for me. Whiskers; I have no desire to have the front of my jeans look like an impressionist rendering of the Cheshire cat. I've never had a pair of jeans wear in that way themselves either.

My rigid dark jeans usually develop whisker lines on the inner thighs (going down towards the knees), on the back of the knees, and horizontally on the thighs starting at the pockets. These start look pretty pronounced after a few washings and a few weeks of wear. A lot of jeans have excessive whiskering these days, yes, but my feeling is that people don't wear their clothes nearly hard enough these days. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I believe that everyone should have some everyday suits, which should be of reasonable quality, but essentially made to be lived in, a couple of "Sunday bests", which are the best they can afford, and shouldn't be brought out except for special social occasions. And work clothes should be worked in. Jeans should be used for jumping fences with your friends and playing with dogs and spilling beer on - I don't care if they are $20 Lees or $300 Rogans. Clothes look better when they are worn in the manner they were originally meant to be worn. Profession of faith finished.

BTW, I think that even solid companies like Paper Denim are succumbing to overtreating their jeans (a trap the Italians fell into in the eighties and never got out of) and coming up with more and more outlandish cuts. My prediction is that the artificially ripped and torn treatments of 2003-2004 will one day, and one day soon, be looked on as the acid wash jeans of the young millenium - i.e. the one step too far that started the downhill trend towards a new minimalist orthodoxy. Prepare for the return of straightleg dark denim, make straight its path.

 

[GQgeek]

I walked in to banana republic (or was it club monaco?) for the first time in my life a couple months ago. I saw those pants that kylie minogue wears with high heels in one of her videos. You know, the ones that have a drawstring around the calf so that the pants hang over past the drawstring, EXCEPT THEY WERE FOR GUYS.

All the gay ass camper/puma inspired shoes. Sorry, LA guy, i like loafers. Not traditional penny loafers mind you, but sleek, well designed loafers, that don't make you look like an old dude.

I've gotten used to black guys dressing gangsta'. I can even almost tolerate it. It's a big part of their culture and I don't really expect them to dress like me. What REALLY gets me going is when I see white guys that not only try for the gangsta' look, but talk like they're black. I'm hoping natural selection will do its work and a large percentage of these guys end up getting shot. And hey, i'm sure nothing would make them happier. Then they can be gansta fo real y0 ;p

 

[drizzt3117]

I don't think Earnest Sewn is owned by PDC, I believe one of the designers from PDC started Earnest Sewn...

 

[matadorpoeta]

how can anyone not love hiphuggers?

gqgeek, i have two pairs of campers and i'm not gay, nor do i look or act gay. they are handsome, comfortable shoes. try some on one day.

la guy, i agree with you on the blazer/jeans look. also, i was at american rag yesterday on la brea for the first time. i noticed half the store had vintage clothing and the other half had clothes that were brand new, but appeared vintage. i thought that was lame.

i'm also sick of the anglophilia america is going (or suffering) through. okay, they helped us invade iraq, but do we really have to pay them back this long?

 

[faustian bargain]

pay them back...heh that's rich.

 

[LabelKing]

What's wrong with facial cleaning products?

 

[faustian bargain]

manly men have all the same skin type, and if not, they relish having oil blotches and/or peeling skin.