The Fashion Thread

[Elzamine]

I'm in fashion right now, even though I'm going all out costume. I can tailor though, and I'm going to make myself some dresses for summer.

To answer the questions about high prices though. After knowing what goes into complex designs, or designs that fit perfect, I understand the pricing.

For most people, it's not an issue. I assure you though, if you go get a tailored jacket that's fit to you exactly, you'll know what I mean. Same goes for pants and things. If you have something that's made for your body, and not some generic off the shelf clothing article, you know the difference.

That said, I'm not overly up on fashion, I don't care to be. Understanding the fundamentals of clothing construction and pattern development helps a lot though.
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[Schala-Kid]

I've been really happy with the end of the Party Season. A lot of pretty dresses have gone on sale, and I managed some awesome buys. Just something i bought last week which was 85% off, was now 95% off. That was pretty crazy, but I was lucky i bought it before hand, otherwise i wouldn't have found my size!

I really like dresses. I can feel so girly in them. the bad thing is all the dresses i have are designed for summer, or for weddings and special occasions, and there won't be much of those coming up - party season is over! Now the winter stock is out (i'm from Australia, so it's gonna get cold in a few months), and the look is long or short sleved dresses over tights, with turtleneck or crew neck cuts. it's more tunics or smocks with tights or leggings, and boots.

Now, why did this happen now? I have been a big fan of my wool tunic. It has this nice feature in the middle of pleats, and it's sleveless, with a V neck, and an Eagle stitched ino the back, almost invisible to the untrained eye. That's why I like it, It looks professional to the untrained eye. I wore this with a crisp white business shirt, and leggings, and some awesome heeled boots i picked up when i wasn't even looking for shoes once. Aurelien has seen me in this before, I'm sure, he'll tell you how cool I look. I team it up with a Blue Velvet Tailcoat with embroided pockets and sleves and feel awesome for winter. so basically, I'm a little annoyed that overpaid hollywood hoes are the ones who shift fashion. For me, I like looking at what everyone is wearing and seeing how they make it their own, not people dressed top to toe in what someone else told them to wear.

Some people here mentioned the outrageous prices in magazines, and I agree, some are outrageous - for me, outrage starts at anything over 600 dollars for items of clothing, and over 1100 for shoes and bags. Although, to be honest, I still get annoyed paying over 50 dollars for anything... but I do it, when the Quality, Durability, look, and everything is perfect. When I know it'll last me years, IT's not a bad buy. I got a pair of Dior heels, Hand me downs from my Aunt. I love them. They're probably from the early 80s. THAT is durability. so I can understand outrageous prices. I just wouldn't be willing to pay them - unless maybe I could afford to... even then, it would be the odd piece here and there.

What i find, looking through harper's or Vogue is an escape to fantasy and Luxury that I am not a part of. I don't mind that I can't afford the looks in there, but it gives me an idea on what direction fashion is headed, and how i'd like to dress, and things i can look out for. A lot of the times, smaller labels and brands draw inspiration from designers and make it more affordable, maybe still on a small scale (a bit more affordable), or on a broad scale (lower price). I especially love when I see Louis Vuitton shoes in Harpers for 1200 dollars, and then seeing them in a store for 180 dollars. I hate when I buy said shoes and 6 months later they go half price. ><

But you know, being in my... wow, mid 20s almost, I try to buy things that'd last me for the next 3-5 years, and I think i'm doing a good job lately!

On the cheap, I love to buy scarves and beanies and socks. anything fun!

[Yohn]

[Failure_Urn]

[quote="Yohn"]

[Schala-Kid]

[Yohn]

[Failure_Urn]

My Sister recently got an expansive one i think around $150, but it was on sale and it was a real big deal. I dont remember what brand they were.

And a $2000 bag!? thats rediculous. I can see wanting to have something expansive, and durability was mentioned, but do you really think it cost 2000 to make a quality bag? Its just a little overboard to me, unless maby if it was like one of a kind.
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[ferrouslupusrex]

I will never be caught wearing jeans. I hate the damn things. I prefer 3 piece suits at all times but I sometimes just ball up my tie in my pocket when I am not working or it gets a wee bit hot.. I only use one pair of shoes for the past 3-4 years. I love the worn things. I look like yuppie from the pants up but if you happen to look at my shoes you'd think I only stole my clothes.
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- 108 Soldiers, 1 for EVERY star.
Keynes' (Chapter 1 Hero) performing his kata

[Vincent Chase]

Let me just say that I'm so glad I'm not a girl. It means I don't have to accessorize, match bags to shoes to hats to belts...it just seems like a huge pain in the ass. Than again, if you're fashion savvy in any way you can instantly tell when a girl has her purse mismatched to her dress...

What you have to understand with fashion is that its all for your image; it's sad but true, but as we stand in society today, image isn't everything but it's pretty damn important. Another thing women get the shitty end of the stick on; every employer (or boss if you will) that I've asked about the issue has answered in a similar way; they all prefer attractive people over unattractive people and qualifications hold varying levels of importance from minimal to moderate (based on the people I've asked). This also constututes the reason most people take such offense when they're called shallow; we live in a shallow society, so the reason I'm shallow is because society has made me that way. With so much time spent being seen in today's world you begin to understand why this is the case; for example, who would you rather serve you your food at a restaurant? A clean-cut (and clean-clothed) attractive young man or a disgusting fat guy in dirty clothes?

For my budget, I try to take advantage of this ethos as much as possible, then again I'm lucky. I'm not male model material but I'm far from ugly (troll the picture thread if you need to). Probably close to 25% of the money I make in a year is spent on clothes, and I see them as more of an investment than a purchase, because people will judge you based on what you wear and how what you wear makes you look. It's nice to be an individualist, or at least it would be nice if the idea of the individualist in today's society wasn't a myth, because to be successful you have to adopt some of that mainstream mentality that most of us hate.

Here's what I wear and when, I've broken it down for you.

Sleeping - Mostly it's nothing (I know there's a thread somewhere that I posted in) because it feels the nicest, but if I'm in someone else's bed or some other extenuating circumstances I'll throw on boxers and a tee.

Day off work/school with nothing to do - Boxers under some of those lounging pants (don't know the terminology is for them but they're thin and light) and a regular tee that I may grab from the hanger or pick up off the floor. Socks are a game time decision that depends on how cold or warm it is.

At work - I currently have a factory job, but I've worked in factories and offices before. For the factory its just jeans or shorts, my workboots, thick socks and just any t-shirt. In the offices I'd throw on a nice, clean tee under a nice collared shirt and wear either black dresspants or khakis atop black boots. I'll also probably wear a watch if I'm in an office since all the office jobs I had required me to move around and I had no consistent clock, plus watches are cool.

At school - I always dress to impress at school (because of the pretty high female presence), but I like to mix it up. Some days I'll be gangsta (baggy jeans, Timbs, a baggy shirt, my watch and a wristband), others I'll be prep (collared shirt with collar popped, khakis or nice jeans, white Nikes), others I'll be casual (jeans and a nice tee) and sometimes to throw people off their game I'll mix it all together. I hadn't shopped for new clothes for a few years before University, and learned this the hard way and had to go drop nearly $1000 on new clothes in first year just to keep up.

With the boys, just hanging - If we're going to go out I get myself dressed nice early. If we're just hanging then it's similar to my day off attire. I have no need to impress my friends.

With the boys, going out - Usually a nice collared shirt, nice jeans and my boots, but it depends strictly on where we plan to go. A nice club or bar warrants nice clothes, a dive just gets a tee and jeans.

On a date - The 'A' material; my best and cleanest clothes, my watch, my best cologne, my small silver chain and so on and so forth. The opposite sex makes their first judgments on you based on how you look, so its important to rise to the occasion.

Basically when I'm going out, even just to the grocery store I always try to dress at least a little nice. Still though, I'm not one of these nuts who will do myself up for an hour just so I can go to the gas station to get gas then come home. If it's a prolonged trip out of the house I'm dressed nice, but for a quick one I don't mind being a little frumpy...but, if I know there's a chance I could run into someone who I don't want seeing me looking like crap I'll put a little effort in even before a short trip. If I'm staying in or around the house I'll pick something up off my floor and wear it to save energy, it just depends on who's around and what's on the agenda.

Do I follow fashion? I try to, but I don't make a lot of money (yet) so it gets hard to keep on top of trends, but still, how many trends are there for guys' fashions? The only things that really change are the colors and the footwear, and the footwear barely changes. When I have a job and am making my own scratch I plan to set aside a yearly budget for fashion because not only do I know how important it is, its something that interests me.

[Sun's Vicegerent]

I don't know, I personally like jeans quite a lot. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It is, after all, one of those garments that just tend to never go out of fashion.

It's hard to go wrong wearing jeans.
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[Blackjack]

Unless you wear the wrong jeans.
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"Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming." -- Myrna Loy

[Sun's Vicegerent]

Then that would be your fault :P. I don't understand what you mean by "wrong" though. Wrong size? Wrong color? It's hard for anyone to look wrong wearing light blue jeans or dark blue jeans. It's the easiest thing to pair up without looking bad.
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[Onimaru]

I generally wear white/black jeans and alot of flannel. In the summer all my t-shirts have the sleeves cut off....thats in right??

hehe, honestly - I dress very professionaly all the time, mostly because I spent all my money on dress clothes for work and had none left to get new jeans/t-shirts. So for me it's usually slacks/dress shirt/dress shoes. Though I am and always have been a naturally sloppy dresser. My shirts are un-tucked and my pants are always from the vintage store (my favorite dress pants are my brown wool ones, my girlfriend says I look like a retard but they fit me perfectly). I'm VERY picky about pants, and it would appear that in America all men are 7ft tall and 500lb, so it's hard for a guy my size to find pants that fit and fit comfortibly. I don't like seeing my shoelaces for some reason, and I don't like them overly tight or overly baggy, which is currently the style in the midwest.
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[Sun's Vicegerent]

The style for guys, for a while, has been sleek and slim. If you look at the current runway models, most of them are quite slender with some definition of muscle. Here's an example taken from last season's Dior Homme and Gucci show.


Dior Homme 07-08 F/W Collection


Gucci 07-08 F/W Collection

But fashion is just a trend that people follow. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and to keep to your own style. People might think what your wearing is hideous (heck, even I sometimes think people are dressed badly) but what matters is that your being yourself when you dress up.

I don't think I would ever change myself to dress up to suit someone else's style unless I thought it was actually aesthetically appealing. Saying that, I see fashion as an art sometimes and not something always "wearable" in public. Sometimes, it's just something beautiful I would love to admire, like an artwork.. and it's things like this, that make me think that way..

Gianfranco Ferre - F/W 2005 Ad Campaign

Emanuel Ungaro - F/w 2004 Ad Campaign

Dior Homme - F/W 2003 Ad Campaign
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[TruePerception]

I prefer the jeans and a T-shirt look. It's just really comfortable and I don't really care so much for being fashionable. Although, I don't wear very many jeans these days because my work requires I wear slacks. I used to buy the cheapest clothes I could find, as long as they were my type, but lately (for about the last year and a half) I've become ste on shopping at Anchor Blue. They're just better quality, so I don't have to shop as often and they look nicer, especially their T's (I usually buy collared because that's what I have to wear at work).
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Daily Funny Award for May 1st, 2008