Friday WAYWRN Challenge: MC Does SW&D - YOUR WINNER ANNOUNCED

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by AJL

I believe it will turn out badly. As the inverse to this current exercise, it will be a SW&D tinged take on MC, which as TC points out, involves a higher degree of complexity, coupled with lower tolerances. Aside from those few who are able to bridge both worlds successfully, I predict failure on a massive scale.

Honestly once you find a suit brand/tailor that fits you well and providing you've got minimal amount of good taste it's super easy to do something decent. Problem is it might not be interesting.

 

[TC (Houston)]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Honestly once you find a suit brand/tailor that fits you well and providing you've got minimal amount of good taste it's super easy to do something decent. Problem is it might not be interesting.
Actually, I think if you're in pretty good shape and a regular size (which it appears a higher percentage of SWDers are), that's pretty accurate. Of course, taste is subjective, and as we've seen, the two factions vary wildly on that point.

 

[AJL]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Honestly once you find a suit brand/tailor that fits you well and providing you've got minimal amount of good taste it's super easy to do something decent. Problem is it might not be interesting.

Yes, and I believe this applies to both ends of the spectrum, proper fits aside. Boring MC is boring. Boring SW&D is...boring.

 

[chasingred]

Good God. This might be the biggest trainwreck I've ever seen. Do we seriously focus on suits so much that we forget how to put on other clothes? What the hell is happening here?

Exception goes to aeglus and Kaplan, but even those are meh.

 

[F. Corbera]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Honestly once you find a suit brand/tailor that fits you well and providing you've got minimal amount of good taste it's super easy to do something decent. Problem is it might not be interesting.
This is an insightful point. The ensembles that impressed me the least on Friday tended to be over embellished. One example: a cap explosion. Also, nearly everything posted in SW&D is truly terrible, unless the dude is a teenager or in their twenties, living in a fashion capital, working in a artistic or media profession, or ideally all three.

 

[chasingred]

MC should regroup and discuss why this turned out so poorly. How's it possible for MC to end up with such poor or boring fits? It can't be because of age. I'm sure everyone here is familiar with Berlin Report, but just in case -

 

[F. Corbera]

Berlin Report is great.

He also runs his own clothing shop.

The SW&D crowd us also much freer about posting their faces, which all other things being equal, makes for more appealing photographs generally.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by F. Corbera

Berlin Report is great. He also runs his own clothing shop. The SW&D crowd us also much freer about posting their faces, which all other things being equal, makes for more appealing photographs generally.
I think that the reticence to post faces is misplaced. If people know you post here anyway, blurring out your face is not really going to help your anonymity. And I've seen some of you guys. You are not that ugly irl. Berlin Report is great, and I hope to hang out with him at the Tradeshows in January. He matches colors and textures very well, knows how to use accessories, and has a terrific sense of proportions. He is really a very good stylist, if nothing else. And, surprise - his casual clothes are bought from retailers and designers who are generally expert at casual clothes. I think that there is a good lesson to be learned here. Just as I wouldn't buy my suits at a place known for it's denim, I'm not buying my casual gear from places where the salesmen are dressed exclusively in suits. I've seen how these guys buy their casualwear, and it's really an afterthought. Yes, the Vintage Luxury sweater may be made of remarkable cashmere, but you have to learn how to style it properly. Lots of Italian designers have expressed tremendous admiration for how well Americans do casual clothing, so why would Americans parrot Italians in this category, something I see in a number of the less successful looks here? If I need good business clothes, I go uptown. If you guys need casual clothes, think of going downtown. I could see that a trip to RRL and Odin (two shops you will probably feel more at home in,) would help you get into the right mindset. If you are shopping mostly online, try some of our affiliates, or shops like www.Tresbienshop.net, and www.oipolloi.com. I think that you guys would find stuff you liked there.

 

[Parker]

We're all such dorks.

The multiple choice poll thing didn't work for me, but I think aeglus, kaplan and baron best captured the idea of "men's clothing does streetwear".

 

[Holdfast]

I liked artoftime and NYR. I don't think many people looked disgracefully bad, but equally, few knocked it out of the park. I really do think the fundamental reason is that most MC posters don't understand the language of streetwear clothing. I certainly don't. But I also don't happen to think that's a particular problem. If your lifestyle never puts you in situations where you have dress in a SW&D-friendly manner, it's like not speaking German if you don't live in Germany. My subconscious perception of myself is not someone who is dressed casually or finds himself indeed a street setting. My lifestyle just doesn't put me in those sort of settings; it's too comfortably bourgeois/decadent for that. I mean, yes, I'm often in casual settings, but casual to me usually means at least a tailored jacket and sometimes even an informal tie. If your lifestyle is similar, it's not surprising you don't find it terribly rewarding to learn a whole new clothing language. So instead, many here when dressed ultra-casually like in this contest will go for a relatively neutral, unremarkable, boring look acceptable to both our self-image and the types of settings/people we know. I would say that what I really enjoyed about the contest was seeing the difference in mindset between the two boards; having two voting threads really does clarify the "language differences" in how we see the function of clothes/dressing. At the end of the day, it probably makes sense that people will wear what works best for their own lives and that becomes the language they're most interesting in learning. UrbanComposition picked a great contest theme; well done! On a more personal note, I'm surprised to have got any votes here, and truly shocked I got any in the SW&D half of the vote.

PS. LA Guy: the face-disguising thing isn't about being recognised on here; as you say, if you browse the board and know me IRL, you'd recognise me. In fact, a colleague did just that a while back. That's fine. No, the problem would be if the photo was taken from here, used elsewhere without my consent and/or photo-manip'ed in a way outside of my control and used elswhere. At least if my face is partly blacked-out, that reduces the number of different potential reasons someone might have for doing that. I've already had images taken from here and used elsewhere to illustrate other articles without anyone asking me for permission, so this isn't paranoia talking. I don't really mind, what I post here becomes available to anyone who can right-click I guess... But at least this way, there's some degree of control over whether the image is usable for any other purpose.

 

[bigchris1313]

I cannot help but think that NYRanger has escaped from a Wes Anderson flick.

 

[luftvier]

This was good fun. But I think this will be my final foray into SW&D. Just not my steez.

 

[brad-t]

Originally Posted by luftvier

This was good fun. But I think this will be my final foray into SW&D.

I'd rather go to 4chan /b/ for inanity. More entertaining and intelligent criticism.

nice stealth edit

 

[holymadness]

Weak.

 

[G0079]

Originally Posted by luftvier

This was good fun. But I think this will be my final foray into SW&D. Just not my steez.
Ninja edit there

Anyways, I think the MC/SW&D crossover has opened up dialogue that wouldn't have otherwise happened. Definitely an interesting week on SF. I think your fit in particular demonstrated a discomfort with stepping outside of your chosen niche, and also a misunderstanding of the difference between literal American streetwear, and what is encouraged and seen in the SF SW&D. It was funny, but I think most of us were left thinking that you couldn't rise to the challenge, and so chose an ironic fit instead.