The What Are You Wearing Today (WAYWT) Discussion Thread, Part II

[cocostella]

Fokken - Your sentiments are on the money, but I think most of your dates might be 10 years off. Still, I understand where you're coming from and mostly agree.

 

[Fokken]

Got it
Thanks you all for the details.

 

[eazye]



[/URL]

I LOVE this shirt.

 

[FrankCowperwood]

^I agree. @fokken the shirt is really nice. Wonderful pattern. Trousers too. I like the cut and the weave.

@cyc wid it what Schneider piece is that?

 

[Pili]

OL
Bernard Zins
Converse

 

[metranger8694]

.........

 

[derrida26]

Ehh I would say the older a person is the more easily they can "pull it off"...

 

[Benesyed]

 

[the shah]



But I think the younger the person is the better the chance they can pull it off.....

I have no idea what your background is or what kind of aesthetics you are interested in but you keep posting these ideas that seem to betray at the very least an ability to conceptualize outside your own comfort zone (obviously you are entitled to your opinions and should continue enjoying whatever it is you already do)

tangentially related, an article from NY Times (1983) I posted a while ago

"Fashion : Loose Translator"

Spoiler

By Bernadine Morris
Published Jan 30, 1983 in the New York Times

To Western eyes, the clothes have a bold, new look that is not easily assimilated. Some call it ''ragged chic'' or the ''bag lady look.'' ''They are for the woman who is independent, who is not swayed by what her husband thinks,'' Miss Kawakubo says. While she feels that her clothes represent a dramatic change from conventional forms of dress, she also believes that women are ready for such a change. Perhaps not every woman and perhaps not yet, but retailers who have stocked the clothes on a small scale in the past few seasons believe they have great potential.

''They don't condescend to intelligent women,'' says Barbara Weiser, who, with her mother, Selma, runs the five Charivari shops on Manhattan's West Side. ''The clothes are interesting as design.''

In February, Bendel's will open a new shop devoted to Miss Kawakubo's collection, which is called Comme des Gar,cons. Why the French name? ''The clothes are not particularly feminine,'' Miss Kawakubo explains. ''They tend to be in dark colors, like men's clothes.'' Even more importantly, she says, she liked the sound of the French phrase.

"We must break away from conventional forms of dress for the new woman of today. We need a new strong image, not a revisit to the past. I have been trying for three years. This time, I think I have been most successful.''

Rei Kawakubo, a small woman wrapped in black, is sitting in her new, as yet unfurnished, workroom in Tokyo. She speaks through an interpreter, her associate Stella Ishii, but her words seem as powerful as her designs. She is the most articulate of the new breed of Japanese designers.

The designers have, in a decade or two, passed from the kimono through the history of Western fashion. As has Issey Miyake, Japan's most widely known designer, they have won a following and no little success on their native ground, where the women are infatuated with fashion. Now they are preparing to conquer the world.

They are not beginners. Miss Kawakubo, who has just turned 40, has been designing clothes for her own company and others for 15 years. Yohji Yamamoto, 38, has been in business for 10 years.

They are working out their own ground rules, geared to contemporary living and not bound by dressmaking traditions. Their approach has little to do with the Western conceit of making clothes that alternately conceal and reveal the body. Showing off the figure is not the point of their designs, all of which tend to fit loosely.

This is essential since, for home consumption, at least, the clothes are made in one size to fit everybody (at least from size 4 to size 16, and possibly larger). Some concessions are made for the West. For export, Mr. Yamamoto produces two sizes for bottoms - small and medium - though for tops and dresses there is still only one size, as in Japan. The advantages for the storekeeper, as well as the customer, are obvious: There is little chance of a customer's selecting a particular style only to then discover that it is out of stock in the proper size.

The long-range possibilities are staggering. Since most of the Japanese styles can be packed flatly, elaborate closet facilities could become unnecessary. And perhaps some day, a person will have to carry only a toothbrush and some books when visiting a friend for the weekend; the friend will have a supply of easily stored clothes for borrowing.

That is for the future. Right now, the big advantage of Japanese styles lies in their total comfort and absence of restrictions on body movement. They also tend to be made of natural fabrics -mostly cottons and silks - many of which have been treated so they do not require ironing. Skirt lengths are irrelevant and trousers tend to be easy.

To Western eyes, the clothes have a bold, new look that is not easily assimilated. Some call it ''ragged chic'' or the ''bag lady look.'' ''They are for the woman who is independent, who is not swayed by what her husband thinks,'' Miss Kawakubo says. While she feels that her clothes represent a dramatic change from conventional forms of dress, she also believes that women are ready for such a change. Perhaps not every woman and perhaps not yet, but retailers who have stocked the clothes on a small scale in the past few seasons believe they have great potential.

''Three years ago, when I first went to Japan, I had no idea of the magnitude of their fashion image,'' says Gene Pressman of Barneys New York, who visited Tokyo recently to see the designers on their home ground. ''It's a wild, avant-garde look. I expected just to find knockoffs. Some of it must be toned down, but it certainly will have an influence on American clothes.''

''They don't condescend to intelligent women,'' says Barbara Weiser, who, with her mother, Selma, runs the five Charivari shops on Manhattan's West Side. ''The clothes are interesting as design.''

A lot of women understand the message, Miss Weiser has found. ''As soon as we get the Yamamoto clothes into the store, they sell out,'' she says.

Geraldine Stutz, the president of Henri Bendel, calls the newest Japanese designs ''exciting and somewhat exotic to Western eyes,'' but predicts that they will soon become familiar.

''Fads happen every five minutes in fashion, but a change of real strength and real importance is rare,'' she says. ''The Japanese are offering us this kind of change. They are certainly opening our eyes to a new way of looking at clothes.''

In February, Bendel's will open a new shop devoted to Miss Kawakubo's collection, which is called Comme des Gar,cons. Why the French name? ''The clothes are not particularly feminine,'' Miss Kawakubo explains. ''They tend to be in dark colors, like men's clothes.'' Even more importantly, she says, she liked the sound of the French phrase.

Esthetic considerations are significant in the Japanese collections, taking the form of a hidden pocket in an unexpected place in the clothes of Yohji Yamamoto or cutouts that are employed for textural effects in Miss Kawakubo's clothes.

These are a natural extension of the Japanese sense of artistry apparent in their flower arrangements, their prints, their presentation of food.

Coupled with the traditional attention to detail - some call it professionalism - and mastery of technology, it contributes to the impact of Japanese fashions.

For about 20 years, the Japanese have imported some Western fashions and contracted with other noted designers to reproduce their clothes. They have come to Paris and New York, assimilated how clothes were made and sold and how women looked.

''When I first visited Japan 20 years ago, the women were still in kimonos,'' says Marc Bohan, the designer for Christian Dior, which was among the first fashion houses to license the manufacture of their clothes in Japan. Today the Japanese business is second only to that done in the United States, according to Mr. Bohan.

''Now all the women there are interested in fashion,'' says Mr. Bohan. ''It is a tremendous stimulation to a designer, and the designers are responding to it.''

Calvin Klein, whose licensing arrangement with Japan goes back seven years, is impressed with the technology. ''If they don't have a fabric we use, they can reproduce it quickly and efficiently,'' he says. ''They have a fantastic ability to understand and to follow through.''

Given the Japanese facility for designing and manufacturing clothes, some Western observers fear eventual competition in fashion that will be as formidable as that which already exists in the automotive and electronics fields. Others admire the designers as blazers of new fashion trails that are indisputably modern. Whatever the attitude, the feeling is widespread that the Japanese fashion tide is coming and that, if nothing else, it will stimulate thinking about the kind of clothes we wear.

 

[the shah]

Fokken fit is great i like the dvn but for what it's worth i think there is an awkwardness in how the upper vs lower proportions play together. footwear/socks could be different. still great to see more dries

 

[cyc wid it]



^I agree. @fokken the shirt is really nice. Wonderful pattern. Trousers too. I like the cut and the weave.

@cyc wid it what Schneider piece is that?

Old blackwatch bomber (cotton) from FW12 or so? Would be awesome for @gdl203 to reissue TBH. It's my most worn Schneider piece.

 

[colabear]



I LOVE this shirt.

I have the tee shirt version of this print

My childhood nanny used to wear dusters in these style of printed fabrics and now I wear it

 

[metranger8694]

.......

 

[bry2000]

the shah, thanks for posting that NYT article. I enjoyed reading it. The reference to Charivari brought back some memories of one of the best retailers in NYC. Wonder if Charivari could make it in today's retail market?

 

[metranger8694]

.....