Random fashion thoughts - Part II (A New Hope)

[penanceroyaltea]

That may be because there are less people truly appreciating it (whatever product that may be), and more pretentious, annoying posers. Also, lame ducks jumping on the artisanal bandwagon just to make more profit.

 

[dieworkwear]



And that's the thing, people just don't give a **** about artisan goods.

I have this dope cosmic wonder knit that was throstle spun and it went into detail about all this **** and I thought it was so ******* cool. Like to most people that stuff just doesn't matter if it means the price is a lot higher, and really, it's often viewed as pretentious or whatever.

People still balk at a $5 cup of coffee, but it's so worth it when you find a coffee shop you like that uses good beans and makes it the way you like that it's really worth $5 a cup, but that's a luxury, you know? I think even craft beer is getting plenty of pushback these days.

You have to get people to read 100,000 pages of SF posts to condition them to the idea of paying $1,000 for a "dope cosmic wonder knit that was throstle spun from Japanese yak hair and hand dyed in beetle juice indigo dye."

Then they become too poor to afford anything else and have to resort to free, mass-produced coffee found in academic lounges and cheap hotel conference room presentations.

Seriously though, I only have so much time and money for artisan goods.

 

[g transistor]

I am really embarrassed by how much I spend on clothing, but then I'm a ******* peasant compared to most of y'all here.

It takes me 3 weeks to convince myself to buy a $200 tech gadget I've been wanting, but it only takes 5 minutes to convince myself that $900 on a coat that's ON SALE is so worth

 

[dieworkwear]

Wow.

http://jalopnik.com/fiat-heir-lapo-elkann-arrested-in-new-york-for-faking-h-1789449049

 

[BBSLM]

I always suspected these sizing details were wrong half the time.

 

[basil rathbone]

Did I think that Wes Anderson ad sucked because it was an ad or because it sucked? I randomly watched Hotel Chevalier randomly last night and it was fantastic. Plus, Natalie Portman's butt.

 

[basil rathbone]

I am really embarrassed by how much I spend on clothing, but then I'm a ******* peasant compared to most of y'all here.

It takes me 3 weeks to convince myself to buy a $200 tech gadget I've been wanting, but it only takes 5 minutes to convince myself that $900 on a coat that's ON SALE is so worth

I resemble this remark.

 

[Parker]

Did I think that Wes Anderson ad sucked because it was an ad or because it sucked? I randomly watched Hotel Chevalier randomly last night and it was fantastic. Plus, Natalie Portman's butt.

Both. Art and commerce are not ideal bedfellows. And it was not his best work. The end was especially schmaltzy and abrupt.

 

[APK]



You have to get people to read 100,000 pages of SF posts to condition them to the idea of paying $1,000 for a "dope cosmic wonder knit that was throstle spun from Japanese yak hair and hand dyed in beetle juice indigo dye."

Then they become too poor to afford anything else and have to resort to free, mass-produced coffee found in academic lounges and cheap hotel conference room presentations.

Seriously though, I only have so much time and money for artisan goods.

This is a point that seems to get overlooked or glossed over when this subject comes up. It takes some effort to get yourself to a point where you can fully appreciate this stuff. And even then, you can't provide much more than admiration from afar if you don't have the capital to support these makers.

I can still appreciate these things, along with a lot of the clothing still discussed around these parts, but I've all but moved away from actively purchasing any of it. I don't necessarily take pride in purchasing mall-brand-level stuff, but I don't shun it the way I used to. Aesthetically, a lot of them have caught up to what I like. While I know the price points mean someone in the chain of commands is getting the shaft, they're more in line with what's financially responsible for my situation. Sure, I'd love to ball out and nab a bunch of outerwear from a shop such as NMWA, but it's not realistic for me at this time. Maybe it makes me less of a social warrior, but in the battle of paying bills versus consumer activism, the former is going to win pretty much every time. And that only becomes more true as prices of brands I've followed continue to rise each year.

I think this stuff gets lost on people who make really good money, or come from money, or maybe have no family to support. If you can support these makers without sabotaging yourself financially, then more power to you. I just think that applies to a lot fewer people than we collectively care to admit.

 

[g transistor]

Yeah, which is why it's

This is a point that seems to get overlooked or glossed over when this subject comes up. It takes some effort to get yourself to a point where you can fully appreciate this stuff. And even then, you can't provide much more than admiration from afar if you don't have the capital to support these makers.

I can still appreciate these things, along with a lot of the clothing still discussed around these parts, but I've all but moved away from actively purchasing any of it. I don't necessarily take pride in purchasing mall-brand-level stuff, but I don't shun it the way I used to. Aesthetically, a lot of them have caught up to what I like. While I know the price points mean someone in the chain of commands is getting the shaft, they're more in line with what's financially responsible for my situation. Sure, I'd love to ball out and nab a bunch of outerwear from a shop such as NMWA, but it's not realistic for me at this time. Maybe it makes me less of a social warrior, but in the battle of paying bills versus consumer activism, the former is going to win pretty much every time. And that only becomes more true as prices of brands I've followed continue to rise each year.

I think this stuff gets lost on people who make really good money, or come from money, or maybe have no family to support. If you can support these makers without sabotaging yourself financially, then more power to you. I just think that applies to a lot fewer people than we collectively care to admit.

That's the thing, more and more I start to feel like it's not worth it (or rather, it's just increasingly impossible to fully support artisan clothing and shops). As much as I love a throstle-spun alpaca knit, I still had to wait to get it at 70% off, and it was still more expensive than what most people would consider reasonable. I want to be able to buy things at retail, but it can't happen. I stopped buying anything but cheap, outlet outdoors-wear for almost a year, because it just kinda fit my life... and it's cool, because you can still look good and fit the aesthetic you want buying cheap clothing oftentimes.

I'm a bottom-feeding sales fiend, and I scour for used stuff, but even now that's starting to get out of reach. I splurged a bit recently, but it's been pretty austere for me for a while. Uniqlo collabs (and H&M to a much lesser extent) are so cool to me, because it makes a lot of designer stuff just so within reach for many people. The +J collection was awesome, I wasn't too big in the Lemaire one, I ******* loved the UU collection, and it was all affordable, nicely designed, and relatively well constructed. I really wish it happened more often.

 

[Superb0bo]

Back to my old point, are you guys getting artisanal alpaca knits from fashion brands? For surely there´s some knit maker that´s done the same thing for 500 years that sell something similar for half the price Or a latvian woman on etsy ..

Not exactly the same thing, but say Harris tweed clothes and accessories are often quite expensive from fashion brands using Harris tweed. And, yes you pay for the design, sometimes rightfully so. But you can get say beautiful scarves and throws in Harris tweed, made in a cottage on the Outer Hebrides, for next to nothing via some obscure website run by a middle aged lady on Harris.

 

[Parker]

I will pay more for designer version if I like it better. Sometimes the original makers have kinda boring cuts or colors so the upcharge for the designer version is worth it to me.

I don't know if they have alpaca but I really like the Howlin' lamswool knits. They do traditional fabrics but interesting colors and designs.

 

[dieworkwear]



Back to my old point, are you guys getting artisanal alpaca knits from fashion brands? For surely there´s some knit maker that´s done the same thing for 500 years that sell something similar for half the price Or a latvian woman on etsy ..

Not exactly the same thing, but say Harris tweed clothes and accessories are often quite expensive from fashion brands using Harris tweed. And, yes you pay for the design, sometimes rightfully so. But you can get say beautiful scarves and throws in Harris tweed, made in a cottage on the Outer Hebrides, for next to nothing via some obscure website run by a middle aged lady on Harris.

I don't know. I tried two custom Shetland sweater knitters years ago, and the results didn't turn out that great. Basically companies where a few women were operating handframe "looms." (So not two knitting needles, but as "artisanal" as you can get for Shetland sweaters). I prefer my CM RTW Shetlands, or even designers who use traditional makers.

There are lots of people out there doing cool work though. I've been in contact with this woman, who does handloomed scarves and textiles. Really nice stuff, even if the designs lean towards womenswear (less so on-screen, but moreso when you actually see samples in person).

http://www.karinanielsenrios.com/home.html

https://www.instagram.com/byrios/

Her prices aren't cheap though. At least for the handloomed stuff (if you're talking about something more "artisanal" than just dyeing). You're basically looking at designer prices.

https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/shop/byrios

Would be cool if we had a thread for non-fashion fashion brands. I like the idea of discovering new shops/ makers/ companies. I just don't know who we're talking about if the subject is "artisanal" alpaca knits that aren't still designer prices.

 

[hennree]



Did I think that Wes Anderson ad sucked because it was an ad or because it sucked? I randomly watched Hotel Chevalier randomly last night and it was fantastic. Plus, Natalie Portman's butt. 

It was a bit ****. Hotel Chevalier is one of my favourites of his, though.

In fact; it leads on to The Darjeeling Limited which I really like too, but that gets a lot of stick.

 

[Coldsnap]

Went real dad yesterday, got a pair of Levi's 501 stretch. Contemporary jeans are crazy slim now adays, like a straight fit is now 9" rise and 7" leg opening. Top block on jeans look like they were cut in half on me.