Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

Clippings from news sources involving fashion freedom and other gender equality issues.
pelmut
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Re: Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

Post by pelmut »

JohnH wrote:Here are several gripes about the show:

1. Why do the models have to have such dour sad expressions?
When I said:
pelmut wrote:... some of the models in that show could walk straight out on the streets and barely attract a second glance.
I very nearly added "...as long as they stopped scowling and smiled occasionally". I don't know why models have to have such ridiculous fixed expressions, but it seems to be de rigeur for both male and female and isn't just confined to this particular show. The original idea might have been that the model shouldn't take attention away from the garments, but for me (and apparently for you, too) it has the opposite effect; it is very distracting
JohnH wrote: 2. Why are the colors so drab?
3. As far as skirts are concerned, why not have coat and tie outfits with skirts and shortened jackets that would fit into the wardrobe of a businessman?
These two points appear to contradict each other to some extent; brightly coloured clothes wouldn't be suitable for businessmen's wardrobes. There do seem to be two distinctly different opinions expressed in this group: there are those who want to wear brightly-coloured skirts and outfits as a flamboyant expression of fashion freedom and those who want to wear skirts that just fit in with normal day-to-day wear. This show, bearing in mind that it was a fashion show and needed to attract attention, was definitely aimed towards the day-to-day wear.
JohnH wrote:
4. Why do the models wearing skirts have such clodhoppers for shoes?
I agree with that one, it does look as though insufficient thought was put into choosing shoes for the event. Bearing in mind point 3., I think ordinary 'sensible' shoes would have worked best on this occasion.
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dillon
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Re: Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

Post by dillon »

I didn't object to the colors aside from the way they were deployed in color blocking on jackets and those horrid trouser stripes. In fact I found the lilac color he used on a couple dresses to be a bit feminine for my taste. I hate red/black color blocking and wasnt too fond of the geometric white on black blocking, and the grossly oversized coats with giant lapels reminded me of something David Byrne would have worn with Talking Heads 35 years ago. It makes the models look like they have pea sized heads. The shoes appear to be what used to be called "fenceclimbers", the long pointed toes useful to propel a fleeing thief over a chain-link fence. I'm not a fan either of that heavily layered look, and just don't get the wrist ties.

For some reason runway models never smile and photo models always smile. I guess there is some reason for that, but no idea what. If the model is not supposed to be looked at, then maybe they should wear bags over their heads?

I have to keep reminding myself that it's not supposed to be fashion; it's supposed to be art. For our purposes, however, we don't really need skirted fashion portrayed as art. We need it portrayed as well-designed, functional dailywear. I think that puts us out there ahead of the supposed fashion leaders.
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Re: Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

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dillon wrote:I have to keep reminding myself that it's not supposed to be fashion; it's supposed to be art. For our purposes, however, we don't really need skirted fashion portrayed as art. We need it portrayed as well-designed, functional dailywear. I think that puts us out there ahead of the supposed fashion leaders.
Indeed much of what goes down the runway is "art", and tends to be designed to shock and perplex, but once in a great while some forward momentum can be had, if only seemingly by accident.

I'll respectfully disagree somewhat that all skirted looks need to be "functional"; if we were interested in pure function then we'd probably stick with jeans or some other form of tousered rig. I believe we need a bit of whimsy from time to time -- a way to let some of our inner selves shine through in a playful yet elegant way. Men have been stuck in drab for entirely too long now; it's time to reclaim a bit of the "peacock" that's rightfully ours. Form does, largely, follow function, and as the function gets more highly specialised (or restricted) so does the form (this is one of the reasons that aeroplanes now tend to all look the same), and clothing is no exception. If the male human is restricted to a box where only jeans are appropriate, then jeans will be the only style to be generated in response to that restriction -- I think the point is to break the sides off the box and boldly explore the wonderful world outside.
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JohnH
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Re: Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

Post by JohnH »

I agree these fashion shows need to model items that can be worn by the average man.

Women have the options of suits with skirts and pants, and on the other hand, dresses for formal wear.

To reach those options for men as I see it:

For the suit option, have a skirt along with a shorter jacket, but have them with traditional men's suit colors.

As an alternative to ties have ruffled shirts and floral shirts whose area around the neck is not meant for ties.

For the dress option maybe an option would be to extend Hawaiian shirts downwards to dress length, anywhere just above the knees to ankle length.

For shoes introduce block heels with the rest of the shoe having the traditional men's look. Once we get past the heel issue shoes could get lighter.

All of these options would be adaptations of existing men's clothing.

It would be a bonanza for the clothing industry to get men to invest in these alternative styles. So why are these men's fashion shows so disconnected from what men would actually wear?
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Re: Interesting men's fashion fall/winter 2015

Post by Tor »

pelmut wrote:I very nearly added "...as long as they stopped scowling and smiled occasionally". I don't know why models have to have such ridiculous fixed expressions, but it seems to be de rigeur for both male and female and isn't just confined to this particular show.
dillon wrote:For some reason runway models never smile and photo models always smile. I guess there is some reason for that, but no idea what. If the model is not supposed to be looked at, then maybe they should wear bags over their heads?
I don't know exactly /why/ fashion models are so often made to wear such expressions, but I can tell you on good authority that there are folk in fashion who don't like it either, and are doing what they can to change it. As for the place I understand the expression likely comes from... well, that isn't politically correct to put into words.
human@world# ask_question --recursive "By what legitimate authority?"
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