The mafoofan and Thom Browne philosophies are not too unlike.

[Modernist]

Originally Posted by Xiaogou

Originally Posted by mafoofan

Someone understands me!

In my opinion you have a European edge to your dressing. But, as you said you choose to wear a distinctly and purposeful American shoe with an American look. Why the juxtaposition?

Actually that is how modernism manifested itself in men's clothing in the mid to late 50s. Modern jazz players, such as Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson etc mixed classic American clothes with the new at the time Italian style.

 

[jasonmarshalljazz]

i happen to be one of those modern jazz players. i think sticking to a uniform is a great idea because it allows your audience to develop an expectation of high level consistency and drama. individual uniforms also help when on the road because they allow the performer to focus on the gigs and not the digs.
on my last tour my self-imposed uniform was navy suits, brown shoes, and orange ties. i always bring white, pink and blue shirts. crazy socks. ties clips.

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by bluemagic

I was thinking about this early this afternoon on the train. Both seem to take a modernist approach to clothing, where you use a rational process to arrive at the most optimal configuration of something, and then stop at nothing in reaching that configuration. This stands in opposition to the postmodernist process that is the default today, where you just grab whatever seems cool. The uniform is a kind of declaration of a platonic ideal.

The above is at least my synthesis of mafoofan and Browne. I myself am going to experiment with some aspects of this approach of dressing, and will try to demonstrate what I mean in WAYWTs if I succeed.

I wouldn't say this is a postmodernist process inasmuch as the consequence of living in postmodernity. Postmodernism is much more complex than that.

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Postmodernism is much more complex than that.

Or much simpler.

 

[gdl203]

It would be a nice idea if it wasn't complete utter bullshit. Browne may have trademark proportions he likes to stick with but he comes up with dozens of different products every season, invents a new concept for each runway. Not to mention that he designs other stuff for whoever will throw money at him. His offering is far from a minimalist uniform. He likes to talk about it and people LOVE to listen to him, but he is in the business of creating new products and new collections to sell them, for a lot of money and a lot of them.

Imagine - what would the TB fanboys do if he only sold one grey flannel suit? How's that going to satisfy the fashonista thirst for more?

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

 

[TRINI]

Originally Posted by Phat Guido

My next step is to replace all my HB suits with Chan.. Replace all shirts to solid white or blue.. Replace all ties to dark solid or patterned ties..

I'm somewhat disappointed to hear this (somewhat because that means some of your stuff will be on sale!

)

But seriously, part of the appeal of this whole clothing interest for me is the variety of it all. While I agree that anything you buy should fit in with your existing pieces (which is why I never get all of these threads where ppl are like: Hi, I just bought this jacket - what can I wear it with? This is something you should have thought of before making the purchase...but I digress), when your wardrobe gets overly simplified to such an extent, the variety goes out of the window.

Long story short, your daily outfits because uniform and what's the fun in that?

 

[bluemagic]

Originally Posted by gdl203

It would be a nice idea if it wasn't complete utter bullshit. Browne may have trademark proportions he likes to stick with but he comes up with dozens of different products every season, invents a new concept for each runway. Not to mention that he designs other stuff for whoever will throw money at him. His offering is far from a minimalist uniform. He likes to talk about it and people LOVE to listen to him, but he is in the business of creating new products and new collections to sell them, for a lot of money and a lot of them.

Imagine - what would the TB fanboys do if he only sold one grey flannel suit? How's that going to satisfy the fashonista thirst for more?

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

I don't see why modernism must be non-commercial. Since there are many people out there with different tastes and needs, Browne, in order to provide something that satisfies these individual needs, must produce many different products. It is up to the consumer to choose an ideal wardrobe from among these diverse offerings.

 

[plotter]

I too agree with the PO's idea. I see so many of my colleagues just buying stuff just to have it and not building towards a uniform, a fit, a firm style, or a "code of style ethics".

For those who believe in a series of style ethics are stronger dressers in my opinion.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by gdl203

It would be a nice idea if it wasn't complete utter bullshit. Browne may have trademark proportions he likes to stick with but he comes up with dozens of different products every season, invents a new concept for each runway. Not to mention that he designs other stuff for whoever will throw money at him. His offering is far from a minimalist uniform. He likes to talk about it and people LOVE to listen to him, but he is in the business of creating new products and new collections to sell them, for a lot of money and a lot of them. Imagine - what would the TB fanboys do if he only sold one grey flannel suit? How's that going to satisfy the fashonista thirst for more? Marketing, marketing, marketing.
One need only look at his runway shows to put the lie to the idea that Thom Brown is the proponent of a minimalist uniform. Sometimes he is and sometimes he isn't. He is a fashion designer and fashion designers are in the business of selling and selling means creating something to buy. By requirement, you can't have one idea and then be done, even if the one idea is a good one. Every season, he needs you to buy something else so he needs a new idea and he needs it to replace the old one. Whether the new idea is better than the old one is not a useful question for him.

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by dopey

One need only look at his runway shoes to put the lie to the idea that Thom Brown is the proponent of a minimalist uniform.

He is a fashion designer and fashion designers are in the business of selling and selling means creating something to buy. By requirement, you can't have one idea and then be done, even if the one idea is a good one. Every season, he needs you to buy something else so he needs a new idea and he needs it to replace the old one. Whether the new idea is better than the old one is not a useful question for him.

Good luck finding and buying his runway stuff. He does it just for show, not for outfitting a closet.

His store remains much the same way it's been for quite a while. There are a few rotating pieces, but everything and even his shows are rooted in his grey suits, button down shirts, and simple cardigans. He has even stated that each piece for his shows starts off as simply his regular suits and then he goes crazy from there.

Read that GQ article about him.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by gomestar

Good luck finding and buying his runway stuff. He does it just for show, not for outfitting a closet.
. . .

Why does he do it at all?

My point is that it is foolish to think about Thom Browne as an intellect and his clothes as being about an idea. He is a fashion designer selling clothes.
I have never been in his store, but I have spent a good deal of time looking at the Black Fleece collection for Brooks Brothers. The "creative" process is transparent - he takes a nice design, usually culled from the classic repertoire (+1), specs good quality (+1) and then pisses on it with some design detail so you know it has been marked as Thom Browne (-5). That is why the shirts have silly locker loops on the back, as do the shoes(!) and cashmere sweaters(!). That is why a beautiful camel hair coat has a bizarre button stance down the front and a strange hood. The latter is a pity because his handling of the belt/half belt is brilliant and shows that when his intent is to do something intelligent, he can. But if he didn't do all the weird stuff, he couldn't sell it as Thom Browne.

 

[gdl203]

The mere presence of all these TB trademark gimmicks seems totally at odds with the idea of a modernist, minimalist intent.

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by gdl203

The mere presence of all these TB trademark gimmicks seems totally at odds with the idea of a modernist, minimalist intent.

To be fair, modernism and minimalism do not always equate. Still, I agree, the locker loops and quirky details strike me as distinctly un-modern. It's TB's purported philosophy that strikes a modernist tone: the idea of wearing a uniform rests on the premise that an optimal clothing solution exists and variety in and of itself has no value.

 

[bluemagic]

I don't see how Thom Browne's commercial actions detract from his interesting ideal.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

To be fair, modernism and minimalism do not always equate. Still, I agree, the locker loops and quirky details strike me as distinctly un-modern. It's TB's purported philosophy that strikes a modernist tone: the idea of wearing a uniform rests on the premise that an optimal clothing solution exists and variety in and of itself has no value.

That is interesting but Thom Browne can't advance that idea or he would advance himself out of business as a clothing salesman. Instead, he would write books.