The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the change in fine dining dress codes, and how it relates to general menswear.
More importantly, however, I don’t think there could be a better “Die, Workwear! picture” than the one they featured at the top of their article.
(original link via Valet Mag)
Heritage saturation has been building for some time. Last September, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “L.L. Bean Driving the Runway?!,” while the anonymous Tumblr “Fuck Yeah Menswear” quickly gained notoriety for waxing satirically on the excesses of Alden snobbery and necktie obsession. Indeed, with heritage overload in evidence at Pitti Immagine again this season, the novelty of beards, Barbour coats and Indy boots is quickly wearing off.
But for the industry at large, the issue is this: the heritage boom has been incredibly successful at attracting a large new consumer base of young men who otherwise had little interest in fashion, feel comfortable with their American brogued wingtips and Band of Outsiders oxfords, and prefer the idea that style is a stable set of tastes and values. With a potentially seismic shift afoot, the question looms large: will these new consumers follow the industry’s shift towards darker, tailored European looks?
- W. David Marx for The Business of Fashion
(Source: caryrandolph)
N. Hoolywood AW11 show. There’s a better one, where someone actually used the BMC axe, but I can’t find it right now.
I’ve written about this before, but this is a great example of the value-baiting that you constantly see in workwear. This particular example is great not just because it’s so blatant, but also because it’s Levis using class war and culture war politics to market their metropolitan-based corporation.
Also, the stylist for this shoot would have done better to include a fashion axe, but that’s another issue.
From this issue of GQ, excerpts from an article by Mary H.K. Choi:
Ever notice how stylish city guys are now decked out in the most doggedly rugged looks? Twill. Waxed cotton. Yarns spun and dyed in colors that exist in nature. “What’s not to love?” they’ll tell you. “These pants are made to last a lifetime, not a season. Waterproof. Tear-resistant. Flame-retardant. Special.” For years, the Mayan calendar and the Internet have tittered about the world going noisily gonzo and ending in 2012. Maybe this old-obsessed new breed is just getting ready.
[…]
In fact, everyone on the cutting edge of culture seems to be yearning for simpler times that we’re too young to feel nostalgia for. If we aren’t subconsciously battening down the hatches for Armageddon, why are college-educated men learning to raise and butcher pigs? What’s up with techy guys cultivating rooftop gardens because heirloom legumes are cool? Men who live in Brooklyn, both Portlands, and Austin are studying the arts of pickling, canning, and skeet shooting. We’ve got grown-ass men with jobs learning how to make candles, for Chrissakes. Goodnight, moon.
[…]
And that’s what’s driving me nuts. I live in Brooklyn. I love the clothes and the facial hair. I understand the need to revert to steadfast sundries, and I find the overall spirit of enterprise of the men in my life to be virile, appealing, and Electra-complex-teasing. But a slavish Boy Scout devotion to preparedness feels foreboding. And puny. Like we’re just waiting for something to press the giant reset button on humankind, exposing way more brick than looks pretty.
So here’s the deal, guys: Sometimes I need you to stop swilling bitter liqueurs distilled by Carthusian monks. And I’d like not to cut my hand on the teeth of your insanely rugged Dopp kit. Let’s reintroduce a little irresponsibility into the mix. For morale. I’ll slip on five-inch heels and a gloriously impractical dress. You put on a suit and tie. We’ll quaff bubbly from the Champagne region and sample sea urchin flown overnight from Hokkaido. We’ll high-five over new-and-improved iPhone reception, argue about comic-book-movie castings, and when we’re still hungry at 4 A.M., shovel down a truly gross amount of processed food. Let’s live a little.
This, along with my response to this reader’s question about what’s wrong with workwear, essentially state the raison d’être of this blog.
Incidentally, Mary Choi was lusting over the urban woodsman just five months ago. How quickly trends, and love, pass.
The blogs want to know.
Who’s FYMW?
They whispering.
They wondering.
Well here I am.
R-A-W
Coming out for this war.
Called #menswear.
Jets vs. Sharks
Gentlemen vs. less gentle men
Tailored menswear vs. workwear
Here to fire (capsules)
@thisclownDieWorkwear
You tryna be the grad-student, anti-workwear extraordinare?
Fuck you.
You ain’t nothin but a half stepper, Dr. Pepper.
Here. Let me fuck your head up
I started this workwear shit.
I’m The Real McCoy.
That’s right.
This shit is on some Ralphy empire steezhood too.
Kids buying fireman jackets at J Crizzy
Cause they want to be extra crispy.
My wallet’s on swoll now
I was telling some Jewish kid in Vegas last night.
I’m kopping cocaine, aka makeout powder, every day now.
Meeting my dealer in front of an RRL store.
And now you trying to lean on my business?
Fuck that.
Only ball, never fall.
I’ll innovate past you.
I’ve already got kids taking baths in their clothes.
Washing themselves in vinegar.
But I got more
I’ll drop waxed wool vests
Colorway kodachrome.
Hunting pouchys on the B-side.
Fucking silhouettes so frumpy.
The Tumblr curators will even reblog the shadows.
And kids will still be asking.
Can we get much higher?
So high.
I’ll turn meat lockers into closets.
So kids won’t ever have to wash their jawnz again.
Eight layers of Chinese food patina.
4G level stuntin.
Can we get much higher?
So high.
F/W11 will be inspired by workers who make workwear.
Anything you can do I can do meta.
Can we get much higher?
So high.
Are your fingers trembling on your trackpad?
I gotta laugh.
You thought this was a game?
I fucking stay thirsty on my grind.
You know why?
Cause I got heart.
Iron Heart.
Carhartt.
I’m fucking dedicated to this shit.
I named my two sons Michael and William
Just so when they come together, you know they the ultimate.
This year I’ll turn every kid into proletarian perfection.
Or should I say Perfecto?
Soon, from every Brooks to every Ralph.
The crispiest du will be the stockroom boy.
Kitted out with the miner expansion pack.
That he bought at my clothing store called The Barber Shop.
Next to my barber shop called The Liquor Store.
Next to my liquor store called The Swäggermeister.
So much workwear on smash that you’ll call it hammertime.
What brands do you consider workwear mainstays? Like what do you think are the major workwear brands or brands that play to a major workwear aesthetic (always or maybe just recently)?
I’ve been getting this question a lot, or variations of it.
It’s not so much about the brands, or even pieces, so much as it’s how you wear them. In fact, I own many pieces that could be considered workwear (WWM Upland jacket, plaid shirt, jeans, Tyrwhitt military boots, etc), but I wouldn’t wear them together. I think workwear is one of those looks where you know it when you see it. If you look like you should be operating heavy machinery somewhere in Kansas, then you’re dipped in workwear.
In any case, despite this Tumblr’s name, my goal through this blog isn’t to shit on workwear but rather promote other aesthetics that I think are better. Whether I do that successfully, of course, is up to the few readers I have.
So, what's wrong with workwear?
I find it to be ugly and inelegant. I think its popularity is mostly driven by the values that we somehow imbue it with. It’s driven by people’s need for identity and “authenticity,” not their need for beauty or luxury. I also think those values draw from myths about the noble savage and an idea of American manhood that never really existed. It’s the worst kind of nostalgia. In my opinion, real men don’t need a costume to feel manly or connected to their communities or nation.
Plus, the whole gimmick of “well made,” “made with artisan care,” and “will last you a lifetime” is ridiculous. It’s not like Stephan Schneider or Patrik Ervell aren’t making their stuff with care, and it’s not like glue job shoes made in America are better than Goodyear welted shoes made in Vietnam. Those gimmicks are only thrown around because, like the clothes, it feeds into a really corny and one dimensional appeal to masculinity. How much do the consumers of this stuff really know about the materials used and the product’s construction? It seems to me that this stuff about “heritage,” “authenticity,” and “will last you a lifetime,” is just a way for men to feel safe about having a “feminized” interest - fashion. That’s a really lame insecurity.
Now, of course, most designer clothes to a certain degree are referencing some kind of ideal - lumberjacks, bohemians, artists, European aristocrats, etc. It’s the paradox of paying high prices to look like a poor person that’s strange to me, as well as buying into a look that I think is particularly unappealing, a value system that I find kind of silly, and a set of buzzwords that I think are really hollow. I also think this workwear stuff relies a lot more on its references than say Phillip Lim or APC.
If men really wanted to feel connected to their communities and nation, and re/connect to their gender, then they should just pick up a shovel and go volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or pick up a soup ladle and volunteer for some homeless shelter. Don’t go spending $5,000 to play what’s essentially Dungeons and Dragons. That’s a false fix for what you really want.
The future will be well-tailored: after years of fashion looks that have borrowed from railway sidings, rice paddies, shipyards and law enforcement agencies, it seems that the workwear era has come to an end. For sure it will still have its followers in tiny pockets of Brescia, Harajuku, Sydney’s Paddington and Portland, Oregon, but it looks like men’s wear is going to take a turn for the more tailored. This could have been good news for the UK’s garment industry but, sadly, little large-scale production remains. Portugal, Italy, Germany and Spain will be the winners in Europe and there’s a small opportunity for the US to stay in the tailoring game but it will depend on how suited and booted US men want to be at work and play.
