Random Rhetorical Hypebeast Fashion Thoughts

[cormac]

I'm getting to the point where I just want to wear basics every day so I don't have to think about choosing outfits

[meatjacket]

http://www.uniqlo.com/us/product/men-sk ... ir-denim/|

miracle air uniqlo jeans are in us e-commerce now

ooooo

[mittens]

with a name like miracle air i would hate to pass them up

[===]

tubular soles are terrible for driving, i don't know why i decided to wear them today when i had to drive for 3 hours

[purkinje]

[YoungCanoeist]

my roommate got Y-3 shoes at the thrift store for $6

he and his girlfriend call them his "asian shoes"

[ramdomthought]

you're the best

[raags]

I find people's fascination with military-inspired aesthetics and the connotations of that a bit weird and I don't really like it

but I kind of get it

kind of

[raags]

[IsaiahSchafer]

Are you saying you think people's like for military-inspired gear is weird just on a personal level or as a whole? And I'm not sure how to interpret the imperialist connotation... is that for all gear? And has certain gear escaped connotation by this point? What about coats and things from WWII specifically? Wouldn't that be fetishizing more of a "noble" era or positive "imperialism"? (if you would call it that, since the U.S. joining was reactionary).

I dunno, I definitely don't share the same view, but am interested in exploring the idea of it. Just so many things are born out of of necessity before transferring to fashion. Chore coats, ball point pens (fashion??), certain types of parkas, removable linings (I think?), you know on and on. And I imagine for a lot of people, they don't like it because it's from the military originally, they just like it and it happens to be that the military has a history of making cool stuff.

There's obviously gonna be a point where it becomes distasteful-- eg propaganda-type pieces, wearing combat-type gear in certain locales/events, wearing modified gear with patches/indicators of valor or even just things that might historically indicate distaste for certain people (I dunno- did soldiers in vietnam ever mark gear to indicate kills or have any symbols with racist connotations?). I am a king rambler, but in summary: I feel there's a pretty obvious line between taking things that are practical and cool or fashionable in their own right outside of being militaristic and things that are going to have imperialism as part of its connotation.

[MxmHrpr]

Paul Krugmanymjutsu k4a-lz

[wiggly--woo]

the thing with wearing military-inspired clobber is that the military world doesnt exist on some separate plane to the rest of us non-military folk. almost everyone on this forum will have a smart-phone with GPS capability and, unless you're in Russia, the GPS your using is owned and operated by the US military. they allow civillians and companies to use it for their own purposes, but the US can turn it on/off at any time and its very much a piece of military technology built by and for the military.

thats only one example, but to get back on topic, the point is that military stuff is very much intertwined with what we see as our normal everyday stuff and this inevitably includes clothing. so whilst i would personally feel uncomfortable wearing military-inspired looks, its no different to the way in which we civillians all use something like GPS. in the same way that we use military stuff to drive to around the country or tell our facebook friends that we just checked in to mcdonalds or to stalk people on the findmyfriends app, we also use military stuff to create a clothing aesthetic based around certain things that we might find interesting/appealing/practical/whatever.

there could be something interesting in thinking about it postcolonially what with all these middle class white men wearing military-inspired shit but whilst i dont particularly enjoy military-esque getups, i dont think theres much of an ethical issue unless you're doing it very directly or distastefully like if you start slapping the highliy successful logo of the nazi party onto all your jackets.

just my two pence

[Capt]

Well military aesthetics are generally made to highlight strength and power, to broaden shoulders and slim waistlines. It's little surprise that fashion has latched on to those visual cues. A lot of these pieces are functional too, which makes them even more appealing. I can see why designers wouldn't want to reinvent the wheel.

[ramseames]

Interesting thing about gps is that the military actually inserts error into civilian GPS signal so that it can't be used for missile guidance, to the extent that handheld units you get from best buy and the like will probably never be better than they are now.

But this is extremely off topic so I'll shut up

[IsaiahSchafer]

Ever so slightly closer to being on topic- military has access to silent velcro. Wanna get my hands on some, but then I'd be on a watch list for being able to sneakily access snacks in a library.

[ramdomthought]

this is the silent velcro

[bels]

Feel that even though wearing military stuff is so common that we consider it normalised there's still space to think it's weird for civilians to dress like the military. In the end everything about how it's practical and common can be disregarded if you want. You could wear sweatpants all day or hiking gear or any number of things that would have no military connotations if you wanted to.

Zero History has a bit about how though menswear has taken a lot of styling queues from military uniforms, uniforms are now also influenced by streetwear. It's important for any volunteer army that their soldiers look cool. So maybe if your label/look makes combat trousers and magazine pockets look cool you're contributing to army recruitment in an offhand way. I could understand someone being uncomfortable with that.

[ramseames]

Arcteryx told me in the interview for that job I didn't get because I have zero retail experience that a big part of their initial growth from a small company into a kinda large one was through military funding to develop their LEAF line.

you can't really detach the military from any aspect of performance wear.

[bels]

The military developed half the technology that we have today but I don't think that has anything to do with looking like a soldier.

Obviously the whole "looking like" line of thinking about clothes can be super boring and irritating though

Personally not harshing on anyone for dressing like whatever they want. I love my M65 and have some combat trousers on order, but I can see space in this world for what raags is saying.

[ramseames]

I agree that looking like a soldier and wearing tech the military developed are not one and the same.

I just think it's misguided to treat the military as if it's fundamentally bad or like you can even view it as a single entity.

[IsaiahSchafer]

I think what most of us are thinking is that we don't like military stuff because it's military and we like the military, we like military stuff because the military has and does put effort into making cool stuff.

And... I had a long ramble written out, but pretty much ramseames said it a whole lot shorter.

[ramdomthought]

coffee stains of unknown age in this jacket

sponge + high concentrate of oxyclean got them out

based oxyclean

[mike868y]

i don't know what GPS has to do with clothing but m65s will forever be cool as fuck

[ptozzi]

and I decided to step into the gap at the mall the other day.. they are really stepping their game up. Particularly in the outerwear and pants department. Looking forward to some stuff going on sale.

[chadnik]

margarethowell dot co dot uk

[chadnik]

bela—the slides

[aporea]

why they use the wrong your/you're... someone pls respond

[maj]

For this exact response irl

[UnwashedMolasses]

As much fun as dramatic long coats are they are also decidedly inconvenient when three to a backseat

Or as my brother phrased it "GOD DAMNIT ADAM YOUR FUCKING COAT"

[bels]

Margaret ss lookbooks are out. Not that taken with it to be honest. Something about this season's trousers/shoe interface is bugging me





http://www.margarethowell.co.uk/collect ... ollection/