So I just spent far too much time paging through AAAC's Trad forum and seeing that nothing provokes longer discussions than who's trad and who isn't and how annoyed some people can become when told such and such isn't trad and how can people define the rules of trad so narrowly and so on.

And then I go over to Dandyism.net and it's the same thing just a search and replace 'trad' with 'dandy', and they have more defined 'enemies', being dandies they like to use their rapier wits against those they consider their inferiors.

The whole thing is just incredibly nerdy.  I thought comic book fans were bad.  How the hell did I get into this clothing thing?  Why can't I just freakin' wear T-shirts and shorts and stop giving a crap about this.


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I like fine food and good restaurants and gourmet cooking.   Along with my partner Peter we have travelled to some of the greatest restaurants in the world and eaten some phenomenal meals.  We have also journeyed to specific taco trucks in rather dodgy parts of California, remote farms in Vermont, rib joints in North Carolina.  I love food and will seek out the best wherever it is.  If it's a hamburger I want it to be a GREAT hamburger made by someone who cares about what they're doing.  If it's a steak, make it a great one.  If it's molecular gastronomy made with liquid nitrogen and a centrifuge the chef had better know their shit.  We have a saying: "It's on the plate."  The nicest wait staff, the best decor, the best wine list mean nothing if the food isn't up to snuff.  I would feel ripped off of a $20 meal that shot for a mark and missed, and I have happily spent over $1000 on a meal and it was well worth it.  And where the food isn't haute cuisine, I am interested in the best lobster shack in New England or the best corn on the cob in Nebraska.  "The Best" is a Xeno's walk, you can never reach it, but it's a lot of fun seeking it out.

The love of food is really a love of quality.  I like eating something made by someone who loves quality too. (even if it's myself, I give a crap about the ingredients and technique)  And I extended this love of quality outside of food to mechanical objects (watches, cars) electronics (computers).. buying where I could afford, and appreciating from a distance where my bank account did not allow.  Food is a cheap hobby to enjoy the best in the world -- you can eat the greatest food on earth prepared by the world's best chefs for a couple hundred bucks, I can honestly say I have eaten better than presidents and kings.  Unfortunately this appreciation of the best takes its toll on one's waistline and I'm working on losing a few pounds.

Clothing, at least men's clothing, is also a relatively inexpensive place in which to find "The Best" in something.  If I was more of an audophile I could drop a hundred grand on a stereo system.  The best car on earth is a million bucks.  It's a good thing I don't want the best house or the best yacht.  But I can go into Anderson & Sheppard and get a top notch bespoke suit for five grand.   That will be one of the best suits in the world. 

I mentioned I was losing some weight. I am currently halfway to goal, about a year after I started.  When I reach goal weight, I will be purchasing a new wardrobe.  This will include a bespoke suit and a couple of jackets from ... someone.  NOt sure which.  It was that question, "Which tailor should I use?" that led me to these forums, to aaac, SF, dandyism, londonlounge, and here. 

And I get to these places and the psychology of groups is such that the biggest question is "who is a member of the group and who isn't".  Of clothes used to mark one's cultural identity, either as a fan of a certain kind of music or as a fan of a certain period or as a follower of a certain political ideology or wanting to belong to a certain social strata.  All of that is fluff.  It's on the plate, my friends.  If I had a group affiliation it is not trad or dandy or indie rocker or streetwear - it is the group that gives a shit about quality.  Quals?

"The Best" is a Xeno's walk paradox, one can only approach the best and never reach it.  In addition, "the best" for me is not the same as for you or for anyone else, we all have different bodies and different social situations that demand different clothes.  But that doesn't mean there is no standard.  The food should taste good.  Nobody can say which is the best taco truck in the Bay Area but they can say "these five taco trucks are awesome".

The bespoke suit is the haute cuisine meal.  It has to be built by a master chef.  Jeans and T-shirts are the sandwiches and salads of clothing.  You have to have some, why not make them the best they can be?   A good meal obeys tradition where it works with the chef's personality, and the diner's expectation.  But it is not so locked into tradition that it stagnates.  French cuisine was locked into tradition so stultifying that Joel Robuchon had to blow the doors open in the 1980s.    It is the same with clothing.   Tradition must balance with innovation.  History cannot become a prison, but neither must it be completely tossed out the window.


I'm not sure where I'm going with this.  Mostly I'm wondering if anyone feels the way I do about quality of clothes.