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Why you dress the way you do, buy what you buy, like what you like, et cetera?

Synthese

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I'm not sure if I really count the obligatory AE/faded jeans phase as anything but that - a phase that most people go through (obviously, myself included), whether they're responding to advertisements, hype, or the fact that middle-school girls tell middle-school boys that they want them to look like the shirtless abercrombie models.

I do, however, remember that at some point in seventh or eighth grade I became obsessed with button-down shirts. To me, they made me seem "grown up" (and they still seem that way). Both my grandfathers wore them - one, an economist from New Jersey who grew up incredibly poor, and subsequently spent every adult day in a suit (and from whom I recently inherited several blazers); the other, a New England prep-school headmaster who spends all of his free time boiling maple syrup, repairing roofs, fishing, and clearing brush with chainsaws.

Despite growing up in Colorado, the preppy/ New England aesthetic is fairly firmly ingrained in my mind as a the way that adults dress - I'm not talking about owning fourteen pairs of pastel shorts and twelve pairs of "dress" boat shoes, but looking sharp, tailored, fitted, professional, like you work in New York and know about stocks. But I also remember going out on the lake with my headmaster granddad, wearing LL Bean galoshes and bright yellow raincoats, my great-aunt's performance-fleece and hunting gear company, and the age-old Sorel and Bean boots that we all used to to tromp through the snow every winter. I guess that Americana, in an East-Coast sense of the word, is going to be with me for a long time. I think that's why I understand the new-prep hipsterism; why wearing sperrys and apcs every day seems normal to me; why the "SF uniform" in general seems normal: it's an easy way to look like a grown-up.

That said, I also look at people like Kunk and Fuuma and am always blown away. Designers that I'm going to refer to, despite my good sense, as "goth-ninja" designers; high-fashion labels whose collections I admire every season - all of that is impossibly attractive to me. It has a different sort of romance than the Eastern Seaboard classicism that I'm familiar with - I can look at Fuuma and see Baudelaire's ineffable dandy, or SoCal and see the LastNight'sParty decadence that strikes yet another chord for me.

All in all, it makes it difficult to set myself to a single aesthetic - in my closet, I have APC, NDG, and Helmut Lang denim, alongisde vintage Burberry blazers, Acne hi-tops, sperrys, Shmack hoodies, gigantic LL Bean button-downs, and ridiculous, sheer All-Saints knits that I can't for the life of me figure out how to work into my wardrobe. Obviously, I'm a victim of caprice - and I gravitate between trying to look the way I think an adult should look, and wanting to look like anything but an adult. Clothing, to me, is more about mood than anything else; more about romance, and in a way, about literary archetypes - the Kennedy, the Highwayman, the Socialite - what I'm learning, slowly, is how to do these things well, to share a vision I might have and make others understand it - not to appear highbrow, nor to incite criticism/discussion, but to look like I know what I'm doing, which I guess would be, for me, the most important part of all of it.
 

jet

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Excellent post.
 

Superb0bo

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^^ well put, and I recognize my own approch, even though I probably come from a more working class background (which might be one reason I never feel comfortable in "overly prep" or too formal).
 

toothsomesound

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Started with New England prep and elements of workwear, got into clothes and fashion and began adding elements of dandyism. As my knowledge and tastes expanded, I began straying from prep and moving toward more fashiony stuff, I like modern and ironic and anti-fit and all that. I am a very big fan of old Raf, CK Collection's recent shows, still love my Mjolk and Acne and really love Damir Doma too, so I'm all over the place in terms of what inspires me in fashion. Music and art I guess influence a lot of my attitude and mindset and I suppose I sometimes take a bit more of a cerebral way of constructing outfits than I would've back in the day when it was sort of just finding the right color combos and a good fit; I do try to evoke feelings and channel emotions in the way I dress, I don't give a **** if you think that's absurd or pretentious, it makes me feel good.

Which I guess leads to a couple of things:
1) I subscribe to the notion (I think first pronounced by Chrono here) that I dress the way I do largely to feel good about myself, but more specifically to feel sexy. It is really just me imagining what I find very attractive and appealing to that and trying to apply that over myself. Generally, what most people around me think doesn't have so much bearing. I am not interested in the dude in American Ealge polo and Old Navy cargo's opinion on my drop crotch pants.
2) I just love clothes, I love beautiful things, and clothing is very visceral and people will shrink at this, but I think clothing is also intellectual, in some cases too. I am instantly attracted to attractive people, intelligent people, and well dressed people. I think it takes creativity and often in certain places (many places in America) courage to dress a certain way. It is really an expression of who you are and you can take that in a lot of directions, but I just enjoy sticking out a bit and being perhaps needlessly philosophical about it.
 

justtemple

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Originally Posted by AndrewRyanWallace
I just love clothes, I love beautiful things, and clothing is very visceral and people will shrink at this, but I think clothing is also intellectual, in some cases too. I am instantly attracted to attractive people, intelligent people, and well dressed people. I think it takes creativity and often in certain places (many places in America) courage to dress a certain way. It is really an expression of who you are and you can take that in a lot of directions, but I just enjoy sticking out a bit and being perhaps needlessly philosophical about it.

Quoted because I doubt my feelings on this topic could be described any better.
 

gt33

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i started getting into clothes after coming to SF for new jeans as all the other noobs do, but then got interested in clothes in general. now i am left wanting a ton of **** but am unable to purchase it b/c i am peasant status. so i get inspiration from what i like and try to find a cheap alternative
 

Doin' Fine.

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I pretty much came to where I am now because of discomfort with what I was wearing. I remember going into a Hollister when I was younger, looking around, and buying a flannel and slim jeans for the first time. I had seen how I wanted to look in my head, more than likely made up by seeing men dressed in a way I thought was "cool". Thinking back to when I was about five, I remember seeing my dad in a tuxedo, and thinking how "cool" it looked. I became at some point comfortable enough with myself to try and dress how I wanted to. I've always believed that style is an extension of oneself. I feel that my style has progressed symbiotically with my self confidence and personality. After the mall brand phase, I became pretty hypebeasty, which, if our testimonials say anything, is apparently the next logical step. At this point I think I had become confident enough to try some new stuff, but was still trying to conform slightly. As I've shifted away from that, I now feel confident enough to do whatever I please style wise. I'm still trying to get that look in my head, pretty much.
 

cadillac37

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My grandfather was always quite sharply dressed, and it made an impression on me as to what it means to be an adult.
 

starcrash

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Skinhead x J.CREW with occasional fits of 80's romanticism and a dash of current trends if I feel so inclined. I'm also in my mid-30's so I dress a bit more subdued these days.
 

DLester

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edit: After posting I realized I left out "why do you dress that way," which is the point of the thread.
facepalm.gif
I will take a stab at that later when I have more time.
 

XenoX101

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Originally Posted by SuperBobo
^^Im not. Xeno´s just trying a new approch to avoid the flames. Nothing wrong with thinking through the "whys" if style is a personal interest.
No, I'm not. I said.. "Too many philosophical posts" to which I clarified "Nothing wrong with analyzing fashion, just don't quit your day job" (as in, don't spend all day thinking about it)
 

bluemagic

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To be honest and to borrow a little bit from mafoofan, it's not that I really like what I have, more that I really dislike everything else. What I like is just tolerable.

I'm dead serious.
 

mkarim

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Originally Posted by dv3
I think it is best summed up with this quote:

'' A man should look as though he bought his clothes with intelligence,put them on with care, and then forgot all about them.'' -- Hardy Amies


Excellent advice!
 

MiniW

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I feel my best when I am dressing my best, and while it may sound cliche, life's too short to be wearing anything besides what you really want to be wearing. I've been into clothes since middle school and it's almost been 10 years since I graduated HS so obviously I have had time to tweak my wardrobe (more than the majority of the members here I'd presume). When I am wearing the wrong things I am always overly self conscious. On the other hand when I am confident in what I am wearing, I am confident, period. More than other objects in life, I find that the right clothes can speak for me. Because I believe in this, I also find myself learning a lot about others by what they wear and how they style.

I guess what I am trying to say is that there is an intimate relationship between a person and what he/she wears whether it is realized or not. And while it is not easy by any means to express yourself exactly as you'd wish through clothing, it is something that I happened to have spent a lot of time trying to do and I still find it challenging and rewarding.
 

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