Is it bad that I agree with this?

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by blueerica

I don't wish to be a man permanentally, but the options are really out there in terms of looking good when you're a male.

What in the world are you talking about???

Are you saying that the male uniform that exists purely for ease, and barely differenciates us one from the other, presents us men in a flattering light?

T-shirt and pants or shirt and pants. That's two of five combinations.

T-shirts and shorts spices things up a bit. Then there's the cameleon commonality of the ubiquitous business suit. Heck, get a bunch of us to a formal affair, and in tuxedos you can scarcely tell us apart.


I think male fashion is a quagmire of boredom ... perhaps even an insideous conspiracy to dehumanize. It's but one step ahead of Einstein's identical suit worn daily, so as to expend zero energy on sartorial decision making.

The standard options also emit nearly zero energy of self-expression. Ooooh, the pattern of a tie, or perhaps even an entire shirt of beautiful textile!



The heights of fashion and of fashion's greatest expression are denied us, ladies. Dressing like a guy may be easy, but it does little for your humanity.



.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

What in the world are you talking about???


I think male fashion is a quagmire of boredom ... perhaps even an insideous conspiracy to dehumanize. It's but one step ahead of Einstein's identical suit worn daily, so as to expend zero energy on sartorial decision making.

The standard options also emit nearly zero energy of self-expression. Ooooh, the pattern of a tie, or perhaps even an entire shirt of beautiful textile!

.

My survey of this is anecdotal and informal, but while occasionally you read articles about men getting facials, spa treatments, etc., I think the majority of women's magazine surveys say that men should not look like they fussed too much with their appearance, and they certainly should not compare notes with women on it (unless, of course, the conversation turns to waxing and triming). Men should just look at ease in their clothes and comfortable with themselves. (This is why hip hop guys with their pants belted in the middle of their ass don't look good. They don't look comfortable.)

Don't underestimate the power of a nice tie. I have a bunch of nice ties. Men and women alike like to touch my ties. It's a grace note like diamond earrings with a little black dress. How much do you actually want to be thinking about a person's clothes anyway?

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

The heights of fashion and of fashion's greatest expression are denied us, ladies. Dressing like a guy may be easy, but it does little for your humanity.

Oh my goodness! There are so many options for men!! How could you only have T-shirt and pants and the variation of shorts! Oh, the plethora of choices that are available. Hats, fedoras. Oh, the shoes you can choose without having to decide on heel width and height! Sure, there are fewer choices for males than females, but to deny the power of a well-chosen tie, the right shirt, the cufflinks... The thing I like about male-dressing is that yes, you can go overboard, but it's difficult to screw up, yet you *can* be interesting. One could say decorating a house is difficult, and ends in the same boring result, but they're ignoring choices in paint color that vary away from some form of neutral. The same could be said for how many men dress.

One of my all-time favorite male looks is a deep purple or deep red shirt with a black and grey striped tie, grey slacks, black leather shoes. Then again, a friend of mine a little while back wore some khaki pants and a very finely patterned blue and white gingham shirt, and he looked fantastic... Not to mention, he was slightly unbuttoned and rather comfortable.

The choices are out there, you just have to be willing to look.

I find that yes, the choices are out there for women, there are just so many more pitfalls in our fashion choices.

[Tramspotter]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

The heights of fashion and of fashion's greatest expression are denied us, ladies. Dressing like a guy may be easy, but it does little for your humanity.

So what are you advocating for? Exposed Ball Cleavage? Low rise Jeans? Michael Jorden to come out with a line of stripper pumps for men?

[Ghoulish Delight]

On the subject of cultural influence, CP and I are running into a prime example of how one can be both culturally influenced and have your own mind/tastes/personality.

For the new place, we're shopping for a club chair. Now, I can say without a doubt that had club chairs not been all the rage over the last several years, we would not be looking for a club chair. Before that, I kinda appreciated club chairs, but they weren't on my radar as something I liked. It took their sudden ubiquitous apperance in every furniture display known to man for us to realize that, yeah, it was something we liked.

So now that we have the opportunity to do some furniture shopping, a club chair was high on our list. But we're quickly learning that the fad has passed us by. The selection of club chairs in most furniture stores has gone down, and prices up. But, unlike people who are slaves to fads, that doesn't change the fact that we like them. Sure, the fad is what woke us up to the fact that we like them, but we didn't like them because they were the fad. We liked them because we liked them, and now that the fad has passed, we still like them.

Now, the new furniture fad seems to be bar-height dining tables. Those are lame, fad or not.

[Alex]

And as an example of how cultural influences can completely pass you by I have no idea what a club chair is.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Some examples of club chairs (techincally, the first and third one, where the arms and the back are on the same line are classic club chairs, but the definition's been expanded a bit)...

[Matterhorn Fan]

I have one of those, but it's not leather, so when I see it, I don't think "club chair." I call it my "big chair" or my "green chair" (because it's green). It's nice for curling up in to read.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Matterhorn Fan

I have one of those, but it's not leather, so when I see it, I don't think "club chair." I call it my "big chair" or my "green chair" (because it's green). It's nice for curling up in to read.

We actually have a big green chair. (You can see it in the craigslisting.) I like sitting in that one sideways, with my legs over one arm. The other term for "big chairs" is "chair and a half". "Club chairs" are not supposed to be "big", just large enough for one person to sit in normally.

[Matterhorn Fan]

I'm not sure mine is quite a chair and a half--it's not that big. It's just bigger than any of the other chairs in my home. Not comfy sideways, really (I've tried). Perhaps it's bigger than a normal club chair.

In any case, it's green and rattan and I like it.