Some thoughts on DC fashion

Mar 27, 2007 17:06

1. On my way to school this morning, I saw, on a single block, seven guys all dressed in identical pleated khakis and blue oxford shirts. They looked like some sort of Hill staffer gang ( Read more... )

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Comments 44

never_the_less March 27 2007, 21:40:45 UTC
Funny, you think it's lame when guys are too schlubby, I think it's lame when girls get all gussied up for a night drinking Jaegermeister.

w/r/t all of America except NY, I have to say that I find the mid-atlantic to be particularly onerous in terms of its predilection for fratty fashion.

I am cool with guys in shorts but only on the weekends and only in particular ways, which 99.5% of the population of DC doesn't abide to.

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brooklynnotes March 27 2007, 21:46:21 UTC
the frat thing here is totally out of control. A guy here was wearing a teal polo (collar popped, of course), Nantucket red shorts, flip flops and a white baseball cap, and no he wasn't kidding.

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never_the_less March 27 2007, 21:48:21 UTC
I went to high school with him!

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bing_crosby March 27 2007, 21:54:33 UTC
nantucket red should be banned in general.

I am fairly neutral on shorts but generally dislike flip-flops on all people. Not a popular attitude, I know.

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commandercranky March 27 2007, 22:31:55 UTC
Much as I hate preppy fashion and preppies in general, I have an odd affection for nantucket red pants. Maybe it's the old guy on the golf course charm to it?

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brooklynnotes March 27 2007, 22:35:29 UTC
ugh. i mean, they're find, i guess, on the beach, but not in my property class.

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bing_crosby March 27 2007, 22:37:51 UTC
I am actually more on the fence about them than I sound here. I think part of the problem is that they seem sort of outside-the-box but the wearers usually aren't. I have an affection for seersucker, which is probably even sillier.

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saltbox March 27 2007, 22:17:19 UTC
DC fashion is pretty awful. So's my/your law school's fashion. I don't know if it's the same way now, but I remember a lot of tsk tsking at the time for looking "nontraditional." Not really dislike, per se, but more "you're never going to get a job." Oh, that careerism.

That said, I'm okay with shorts on men. But my partner isn't, so I don't much deal with it anyway.

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commandercranky March 27 2007, 22:34:56 UTC
I used to be totally opposed to shorts, at all times, in all applications. That lead to some needless suffering in the sweltering summer.

I changed my policy, first out of desire to cool down a bit, and while I was cooler, I didn't feel very cool. It took a while for me to feel more at ease wearing shorts. But now that I have, fuck if I'm going back. Shorts rule!

That said, shorts are only appropriate in appropriate settings. I wonder if I can explore the idea of "dressier" shorts? Is that only skeevy?

And yes, a triple fuck you to the dudes who can't get it together to look half presentable while their date is all put together. I hate college.

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brooklynnotes March 27 2007, 23:06:44 UTC
dressier shorts? Who are you?

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bing_crosby March 27 2007, 23:12:45 UTC
yeah, I'm going to vote no here! though I am definitely anti-sporty shorts for daily wear, there is a limit on the other end..
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html#955162176542224383

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commandercranky March 28 2007, 00:28:56 UTC
Well at present my only pair of shorts are black pants, sloppily cut off, and unhemmed. Anything would be "dressier" after that.

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optimussven March 27 2007, 22:53:51 UTC
I was never a huge fan of shorts and large amounts of time spent abroad have nearly completely weaned me off them. I no longer feel comfortable wearing them, even in summer. I just feel grubby, no matter how "dressy" they are.

That said, I have absolutely no fashion with the traditional New England preppy look. Nantucket red is fine, so are pastels, but as long as you wear it well and you have the background/attitude to wear it.

If you are going to wear all that you'd better not be pounding Miller Lite and kamikzees at McFadden's. You should be sipping gin and tonics and discussing your summer on the Cape. The frat-boy-ization of a classicly American fashion irks me to no end.

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brooklynnotes March 27 2007, 23:01:40 UTC
The frat-boy-ization of a classicly American fashion irks me to no end.

word.

On Nantucket red - I believe the genus of the color is from the fishermen who wore it so when they ended up in the fucking drink, they'd be easy to spot, and the salt air and hard work would bleach the color out. The fact that a color with such a working class history is now worn by people here at Gtown, who, I assure you have, only ever worried about falling off the yacht is sad testament to the frat-boy-ization of New England fashion.

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optimussven March 28 2007, 01:24:21 UTC
That's a nice humble (and functional!) origin. So the question is, when does hunter orange become a fashion trend?

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never_the_less March 27 2007, 23:19:33 UTC
I might be wrong, but I have a sense that genteel preppydom is a thing of the past.

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