You know what this reminds me of?  Harley-Davidson owners.

I worked in the motorcycle industry for years; when I started out, we catered to motorcyclists.  These were people that really loved bikes and rode them a lot, putting up with the minor inconveniences of rain, bugs in the teeth and other motorists taking homicidal glee in trying to run them off the road.  It was fun stuff.  Then came the idea of the motorcycle as 'lifestyle accessory'; something you bought to look cool and ride to the coffee shop on sunny days with no chance of rain to meet up with a bunch of other like minded bozos.  This was a minor annoyance at first, but then these people started lumping themselves in with those of us who were actual riders.  Since they didn't really have the chops to actually ride with us, they started concentrating on buying stuff to decorate their bikes.  Pretty soon, every bike we sold had five thousand dollars worth of shitty chrome crap screwed or glued to it.  More useless decoration somehow came to mean more serious rider.

In their efforts to stand out as 'rugged individualists', they ended up all looking the same.  Same chrome shit, same leather vest with Boy Scout looking patches all over it, same fat old lady on the back.  They took something that was simple and fun and ruined it with a bunch of 'rules'.  The worst part was, at some point, the tables turned and these clowns began to be perceived as the 'real bikers' while those of us who just rode for fun were called the 'wanna-bes'.

Everything, whether it's motorcycles, punk rock or cocaine, is ruined when everyone else finds out how much fun it is.

Oh yes, the Miami Vice look in Birkenhead fun pubs - I remember it well!

why dressing for your own needs is better than listening to menswear gurus ..

many iGents would have you believe for instance that wearing a shirt with a pocket isn't necessary .. upsets balance ... and god knows whatever other reason. will from SW fame called the shirt pocket an 'abomination' ... I have to disagree after an episode a couple of days ago where a left shirt pocket saved my self respect ... I was doing various bits of business in the city and after lunch suddenly realised I had to go for a number 2 ... potential disaster ... I saw a decent enough hotel and walked in and made my way to the men's room stalls ... after finishing up I realised that I didn't fancy using their bog roll but had a packet of tissues luckily on me ... by keeping the packet in my top left shirt pocket I was able to handily use this facility .... my jacket was obviously hung on the inside of the door .. and you wouldn't really want to keep reaching into an expensive bespoke jacket during this delicate operation ... also you wouldn't be wearing a jacket in this situation (perhaps iGents do, who knows?). it was at this moment I thought fuck the 'rules' .. fuck the 'opinions' .. if it feels good and works for me .. then i'll do it. 

fruity

Last edited by Oldfruit1 (2013-07-28 08:32:29)

Last edited by The_Shooman (2013-07-28 22:16:36)

^I was actually suprised during my recent trip back to Blighty the lack of gangs of marauding feral youths, of course, there was still much sportswear and tracksuits being worn, but one thing I did notice, was young bearded nerdy types looking a bit like Woody Allen in 1977 in military M42's. They type who will go out and drink 8 pints of Stella and then have a chat about what books and music they are reading. The lack of threat at street level was most welcoming.