I have, of course, spoken before about the possibilities and limitations of men’s permissible formal wear. As I said then, there are places you can take the suit that few ever dare to go, or in some cases few can afford to go.
This is just my excuse to do a quickie post linking to Dandy Portraits, a blog by a woman named Rose Callahan, dedicated to visually chronicling men who dress “exquisitely”, and she makes a strong case.
I’m just enjoying scrolling through it all, myself. No clever commentary this time.
Enjoy!
Ollie
Well, in popular media, the success of a woman hinges on getting someone (i.e. a man) to buy you the expensive stuff.
(There’s an old quote about that, that i’ve seen credited both Mae West and Lana Turner)
While suits generally aren’t my thing (indeed, I’m one of the small (but hopefully not insignificant) minority of men who don’t own one), I was very impressed with some of the creations I saw on the linked site. Indeed, it might give me some ideas for something to wear to my younger brother’s wedding later in the year, as the dress code for that (at this stage anyway) is going to be formal. While I probably wouldn’t want to wear anything [I]too[/I] outlandish to that (I’ll probably be disowned if I do!), I don’t want to be totally drab and… Read more »
@Ben Berlin – thanks for reading! I’m new to it as you can see, but I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying yours, too 🙂 As for the sartorial situations of men/women, yeah women have an bad time of it, but men’s options are more limited (as Noah points out in his His Black Dress post) and, to add to it, there’s a size aspect which is, I think, harder for men to navigate. There’s a host of plus-size fashion options for women (and by ‘host’ I mean, there are some. It’s not exactly an over-saturated market!) but I don’t think men… Read more »
What a great site, thanks, Noah. 🙂
Oh, what beautiful men! Thanks for sharing, Noah.
Also WRT inexpensive clothing, check out any local film studios. If you are fortunate enough to have a small film industry in your area, they will occasionally conduct set sales where they try to liquidate clothing and other items used in a TV show or movie. I picked up a lot of very nice clothes for next to nothing. I once got a 700 dollar leather coat for 10 bucks.
This is kinda cool, even if it isn’t my thing.
@Ben Berlin – I’m not sure what your talent is regarding the creative arts, but you can pick yourself up a sewing machine relatively cheap nowadays and make your own clothes. A bit of imagination goes a long way. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to preserve your existing wardrobe from premature wear and tear.
@Noah Brand Thanks for the post! @Ben Berlin Lehman I agree that the bespoke stuff is so out of the realm for most men (and women), and but you might be surprised that some of the men profiled put it all together without tons of money by mixing vintage/new. Dandy Wellington, Natty Adams, Raymond Chu, Guerre, Dapper Lou, and Matt Fox are all young men that are sharp dressers and definitely not on bespoke budgets. What it does take is time to piece it all together, which these guys seem happy to do! There are are also some good sites… Read more »
@Dandy: I get my shirts from zootsuitstore.com, and everything else from secondhand stores. I can’t afford much, but if you can find quality stuff, it lasts.
Hey, these guys look like a lot of fun! Back in the Renaissance, men totally outshown the women in their apparel.
Ollie: Yeah, I dunno. I think that on the whole women have a worse sartorial situation than men (for one, men are allowed to be slobs), but men’s fashion is very frustrating to me because I would very much like to dress up but I also can’t afford to shop outside of a few trips to the thrift store each year. Like a lot of hobbies (I’m thinking about “gamers” which is a hobby of mine that I do on a very tight budget), participation in the hobby comes with a steep price tag attached. It’s sad. I wonder if… Read more »
That’s an interesting idea, Ben. But I’m not sure horrendously expensive clothes are gendered, to that degree. After all, fashion-oriented media depicts women in horrendously expensive clothes, too, and women certainly aren’t success objects. I don’t like the wealth bias in general, though, because it does seriously shame and exclude people of any gender who can’t afford clothes like that, and perhaps it’s more shameful for a man not to be able to afford the pretty clothes than it is for a woman. So maybe I just argued myself into your position there! Noah – please don’t kick genderfucky people… Read more »
I like this, and yet am frustrated by it at the same time.
Like it, because it is lovely pictures of beautiful men.
Frustrated, because of the inherent wealth bias (bespoke suits? really) really just hits on the “men are success objects” issue. Frustrated also because of the weird fixation with nostalgia and the old. I prefer fashion which is progressive to regressive.
Nice! I like men in bright colors, or white:
http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1998/1101981102_400.jpg
WOW thanks for the link! I’ve subscribed 🙂 I aspire to that kind of style, but sadly doubt my capacity for it in real life.
I know it’s stretching the tenets of NSWATM, but are you aware of http://www.queerbois.com? There’s some awesome dandified fashions on show there.
know it’s stretching the tenets of NSWATM, but are you aware of http://www.queerbois.com? There’s some awesome dandified fashions on show there.
Oooooh, schtylin’! And personally, I don’t see that as a stretch. If we’re gonna start kicking genderfucky people out, we’re gonna have to start with Ozy, and that’s just a bad idea coming and going. 🙂