• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Will you take normalization or individualization with your coffee?

Holdfast

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
10,559
Reaction score
6,354
I choose neither option.

I think clothing is about self-actualisation - moving towards being comfortable with who you are and being happy putting that out there for others to see. Now, for some, that involves idealisation towards a classical ideal of proportion. For others it's about deliberately echoing their own figure as closely as possible. Both are legitimate approaches... IF the wearer is doing it for the RIGHT reason (they enjoy how they look in the mirror wearing it), not in order to achieve some externally defined ideological purity of approach.

What I see on the forums a lot is people choosing clothes because it either gains approval of others here or (related) because it meets a philosophy of dressing suggested by an authority (either on the board or in the wider world). That's a really bad way of choosing clothing because in both cases, you end up looking stiff and unnatural - no matter how much or how little padding is on your perfectly formed or incredibly ugly shoulders.

Sorry, one too many glasses of sherry have made this post slightly garbled, but hpoefully you get my drift.
 

DocHolliday

Stylish Dinosaur
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
16,090
Reaction score
1,158
I lean toward the first option, but with reservations. Many portions of my physique warrant no accentuation, but, at the same time, I don't seek to hide beneath my clothes. There are some things that clothing just can't fix. For example, I don't want linebacker shoulders to make up for my scrawny build. At the same time, I don't want an unpadded shoulder to show off the lump left over from a broken bone. Clothing, I'd suggest, should be compatible with build, but not slave to it.
 

Viktri

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
1,104
Reaction score
5
I voted "reflect the wearer's idiosyncrasies and physique"

Guys with smaller arms and thin waists shouldn't get suits with very full arms and suppressed waists. Get a full arm and less suppressed waist or narrow arms and suppressed waists.

Guys with big legs and big arms shouldn't get suits with narrow arms and narrow trousers.
 

DerekH

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2008
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Originally Posted by Holdfast
I choose neither option.

I think clothing is about self-actualisation - moving towards being comfortable with who you are and being happy putting that out there for others to see. Now, for some, that involves idealisation towards a classical ideal of proportion. For others it's about deliberately echoing their own figure as closely as possible. Both are legitimate approaches... IF the wearer is doing it for the RIGHT reason (they enjoy how they look in the mirror wearing it), not in order to achieve some externally defined ideological purity of approach.

What I see on the forums a lot is people choosing clothes because it either gains approval of others here or (related) because it meets a philosophy of dressing suggested by an authority (either on the board or in the wider world). That's a really bad way of choosing clothing because in both cases, you end up looking stiff and unnatural - no matter how much or how little padding is on your perfectly formed or incredibly ugly shoulders.

Sorry, one too many glasses of sherry have made this post slightly garbled, but hpoefully you get my drift.


worship.gif


The most sense anyone has made on this forum ha!
 

voxsartoria

Goon member
Timed Out
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
25,700
Reaction score
180
I would consider voting it this poll if you would change the second choice to:

Reflect the wearer's idiosyncrasies and phallique.

Thank you.


- B
 

lawyerdad

Lying Dog-faced Pony Soldier
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
27,006
Reaction score
17,139
Originally Posted by voxsartoria
I would consider voting it this poll if you would change the second choice to:

Reflect the wearer's idiosyncrasies and phallique.

Thank you.


- B


Isn't that more of a SW&D thing?
 

mmkn

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2007
Messages
1,440
Reaction score
31
Originally Posted by voxsartoria
Reflect the wearer's idiosyncrasies and phallique.

Thank you.


- B


You weren't joking . . .

291422511_g6sEL-L.jpg


Or were you?
blush.gif


- M
 

itsstillmatt

The Liberator
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
13,969
Reaction score
2,086
Originally Posted by mmkn
You weren't joking . . .
291422511_g6sEL-L.jpg
Or were you?
blush.gif
- M

What manly chest hair. With looser shorts, the testosterone will flow freely.
 

Sator

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
3,083
Reaction score
39
Originally Posted by Holdfast
I think clothing is about self-actualisation - moving towards being comfortable with who you are and being happy putting that out there for others to see. Now, for some, that involves idealisation towards a classical ideal of proportion. For others it's about deliberately echoing their own figure as closely as possible. Both are legitimate approaches... IF the wearer is doing it for the RIGHT reason (they enjoy how they look in the mirror wearing it), not in order to achieve some externally defined ideological purity of approach.

What I see on the forums a lot is people choosing clothes because it either gains approval of others here or (related) because it meets a philosophy of dressing suggested by an authority (either on the board or in the wider world). That's a really bad way of choosing clothing because in both cases, you end up looking stiff and unnatural - no matter how much or how little padding is on your perfectly formed or incredibly ugly shoulders.

Sorry, one too many glasses of sherry have made this post slightly garbled, but hpoefully you get my drift.


Spoken like a true psychiatrist. And spoken well, if I may say so. When is the book coming out? The last time someone published anything authoritative on the psychology of dress was a long time ago. I believe it was Flugel in the psychoanalysis age - back in the 1930's or so.

Self-consciousness about image drives people to do strange things, and make odd clothing choices. Perhaps, the best thing about bespoke is that you have a garment cut by a neutral third party who bases the cut on objective measurements taken by a measuring tape. Many people choose RTW garments on the basis of subjective measurements taken in a mirror.
 

Fuuma

Franchouillard Modasse
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Messages
26,940
Reaction score
14,529
Originally Posted by Sator
Spoken like a true psychiatrist. And spoken well, if I may say so. When is the book coming out? The last time someone published anything authoritative on the psychology of dress was a long time ago. I believe it was Flugel in the psychoanalysis age - back in the 1930's or so.

Self-consciousness about image drives people to do strange things, and make odd clothing choices. Perhaps, the best thing about bespoke is that you have a garment cut by a neutral third party who bases the cut on objective measurements taken by a measuring tape. Many people choose RTW garments on the basis of subjective measurements taken in a mirror.


Reading some Habermas might be in order.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 36.7%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 59 39.3%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 15 10.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 26 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 26 17.3%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,131
Messages
10,578,706
Members
223,885
Latest member
Garyypangburn
Top