Ironic? This forum is about dressing well in a form that evolved what, a century ago ( give or take a few GQ issues?) And sadly most of the vox populi have embraced a 'casual' or 'slobwear' with attendant personal traits and redicules that dresscode.
The mdern kilt, itself a style largely promoted by one english weaver is but one example of ethnic clothing. Come Oktober and a trachten jacket is appropriate. A seersucker suit and prohibitions of certain clothing after an american holiday marking the seasonal turn is still observed.
So yes, 99.99% of us would come of as a transvestite cruiser in a kilt. It's that .01% we need respect. They weren't called 'the ladies from hell by the krauts in lodenfrey for nothing.

Last edited by ckav (2010-04-25 16:33:55)

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?62656-What-Are-You-Wearing-Today&p=1092528#post1092528
You know what? I love Cardcaptor Charlie, from the tips of his eerily long fingernails to the top of his boater. He actually looks much more comfortable and confident in his costume than most of the forumites do in their unspeakably dull clothes.

And in non-vintage clothing too!
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?48726-A-Trad-What-are-you-Wearing&p=1092304#post1092304
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?48726-A-Trad-What-are-you-Wearing&p=1092712#post1092712
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?48726-A-Trad-What-are-you-Wearing&p=1092478#post1092478
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?62656-What-Are-You-Wearing-Today&p=1092606#post1092606

Why do these guys always look like they're facing a firing squad?

Jesus Christ, Tony. I saw your post and took a look through the Fedora Lounge "What are you Wearing Today" thread. These people make the Ask Andorp trad forum crowd look mentally and physically healthy. I don't even want to mock specific posts. It was a parade of grotesques, in the original sense of the word since most of these people looked like they had crawled up from a subterranean grotto.

Remember when I said I wouldn't make fun of individual Fedora Lounge outfits? I LIED.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=958747&postcount=10745
"My look? Oh, it's a mixture of 'music teacher' and 'organic pet food store owner.'"

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=960219&postcount=10759
This guy has such a delightfully rapey face. Just lunging out of a snowbank, no big deal.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=929964&postcount=10413
HERE's our regular kilt-wearer!

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=931727&postcount=10428
I thought, Oh, this rugged outdoorsman is walking in the woods with his wife. Nearly normal! Later in the post he reveals that he was actually walking with his self-timer equipped digital camera.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=955197&postcount=10704
Whoops! Just hanging out by this rapey wall! No big deal!

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=956066&postcount=10721
"I was going for 'consumptive Russian soldier,' and I NAILED it."

I picked these essentially at random - most of the outfits merited at least a little mean-spirited bile. I think I'll save Fedora Lounge as a schadenfreude treat, for when the Ask Andy outfits get too boring.

I couldn't agree more, Eris. I do the same thing with WAYWT. It's not a huge leap between Ask Andy and the Fedora Lounge - it's all very costumey and embarrassing. Styleforum, too.

I think it's absolutely an internet thing. These people fail to put all this clothing advice into context with the world around them. I think AlanC might be the signature iGent example - he's a religious leader in Alabama (or some equally conservative state) yet he's trying to dress like an imaginary version of a British country squire circa 1939. I wonder what his predecessor at his church thinks of him and his affectations. It makes the skin crawl to imagine the awkward interactions these people must have when they leave their homes in their theatrical dress.

It strikes me that the Andyites and the Fedora Lounge denizens almost always look very stiff in their outfit photographs. Think of Holdfast's loathsome poses, poor old UprCrust's contorted daily stance (and neurotically repeated photographic templates), or the imbeciles on Styleforum who photograph themselves leaping into the air. They're literally forcing their bodies into postures that they believe their internet pals will find pleasing.

All of them are spending much too much time thinking about their outfits (and they do their thinking for the wrong audience). A few days ago high-priced streetfighter CuffDaddy wrote a totally serious post in which he claimed that his goal in dressing was to communicate a particular message on a subliminal level. He dressed his remarks up in some competitive lawyer-speak, but it struck me that it was in some way emblematic of the deeply deformed way in which many of the forumites approach the task of wearing clothes. As FNB frequently has said, they don't seem to have anyone around them in real life who could guide them or give them a sense of taste, or tell them that they're not wearing a suit to psyche out their enemies.

There's something uniquely galling about the phenomenon as well - I think it's the iGent combination of solipsism and smugness. They're playing by their own ridiculous rules, they don't look good, and they make fools of themselves wherever they go, but on the internet they can dispense advice (whether or not they actually know anything) and cutting witticisms like they're at the Algonquin round table. That's very irritating. I've been reading AAAC long enough that I've begun to see the cycles of new posters coming on, learning a few stock "style tips" ("Allen-Edmonds make a quality shoe! Consider a pocket square! Pants should have huge cuffs! Consider braces!") and then repeating them to other newbies. It becomes an echo chamber of infantile, poorly understood advice, and this too is incredibly irritating.