Your recent purchases

[zamb]

So what happened to them? Lost their relevance? Stopped creating good designs? Become monotonous.. or SZ changed?

The people who care about their work have lost interest because the discussions inevitably deteriorate into consumerism. It's not easy to continue when you are shouting into the void.

i think that these two statements are on a continuum of reasons rather than standing in opposition to each other

SZ first and foremost is a mens dominated forum. Ann as a Belgian is well respected here, but to be honest, Margiela's menswear is really not that good right now, Raf has lost a lot of his luster, and the (older) Japanese except for Yohji is hit and miss

There was a time when Harnden didn't get a lot of play, but now for the last couple of months he has been a god.........
although Carol seems to have dethroned him today

I think when the SZ stated, people like BBS were not around, now he is well respected and bought by a lot of members here......while others have fallen off the spectrum.
As Peasant said "they've become monotonous"

If people who are very knowledgeable and savvy have stopped contributing because of the consumerist aspects of the SZ, that's on them rather than the forum itself. Had they stuck around and continued, naturally by virtue of thier contributions there would be less of the Where2Kop going
on.
I stand by my original position though, there are many brands I wore years ago, that I'm not gonna buy now, .........its not about the color or quality of their work per se, but what they represent in my mind. my personal philosophy of living has changed and as such my clothing choices are different now than then.
At one point I owned 5 pairs of Prada shoes.......the last one is under my desk right now never to be worn by me again

[michael_kard]

The last few pages of this thread as well as the CCP one (with copacetic's post being the perfect example) really show this forum at its worst. This 'elitism' and limited scope of SZ can also lead to good and inspiring things which, had the forum been more accepting and 'nice', would not happen. I think... And don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly satisfied with this situation, I used to get really offended from bullshit thrown at me because of what I like. But SZ is what it is, and I believe that as long as people treat each other with real respect everyone will be able to see that.

[BeauIXI]

The people who care about their work have lost interest because the discussions inevitably deteriorate into consumerism. It's not easy to continue when you are shouting into the void.

Not to insert myself into the politics here, but this is excellently parodic, considering the name of this thread.

Of course I'll continue to enjoy everyone's recent purchases with vicarious glee.

[copacetic]

The last few pages of this thread as well as the CCP one (with copacetic's post being the perfect example) really show this forum at its worst.

eh, this is something of an exaggeration. i regret being hard on dear federico, but the only thing i accused him of was being goofy and acting like a 5-year-old, which, i think, holds up if you look at his posts.

but, and this is always what is lost in pure text, i was actually quite fond of the idea of some happy-go-lucky guy walking into motel salieri and playing around with the ccp merch, snapping weird cell phone pics as he went.

i think it's right to be welcoming, but am i supposed to call out "welcome, brother!" to an obviously silly poster lacking any self-awareness? another example would be poellharnden, who is just begging to be lampooned.

[Faust]

If people who are very knowledgeable and savvy have stopped contributing because of the consumerist aspects of the SZ, that's on them rather than the forum itself. Had they stuck around and continued, naturally by virtue of thier contributions there would be less of the Where2Kop going
on.

This is very true and it's said to see that those people have given up. I always encourage diversity and try to support any discussion. But diversity does not mean that garbage can stand next to gold. The only measure here is quality. So all this talk about narrowness is bullshit. Show me quality outside of what we talk about and I am happy to support.

But there is something true to what Peasant says. The golden age of the 90s/first half of 00's has ended. Many fantastic Belgians are out of business. Raf is done. N(N) is done. Undercover looks done. Margiela is done. Helmut/Jil - done. Cloak - done. Dior Homme - done. Branquinho - done. McQueen - dead. Chalayan - alive one season, dead the other. We should hold one big goth ninja viking pyre funeral for the good old days.

[Raw]

Raw, I must say that the leu shirt looks way better in your pics than in the Ink pics. I didn't even consider it until I saw your posting. Did you get a chance to try the funnel neck version, which seems like the same material.

Yeah I tried on the high neck version but they only had a 46 left and I'm a 48 so it was way too tight on me. It's the same material but heavier and seems more bulky fitting, definately more a true thicker jacket.

[Dane]

This is very true and it's said to see that those people have given up. I always encourage diversity and try to support any discussion. But diversity does not mean that garbage can stand next to gold. The only measure here is quality. So all this talk about narrowness is bullshit. Show me quality outside of what we talk about and I am happy to support.

But there is something true to what Peasant says. The golden age of the 90s/first half of 00's has ended. Many fantastic Belgians are out of business. Raf is done. N(N) is done. Undercover looks done. Margiela is done. Helmut/Jil - done. Cloak - done. Dior Homme - done. Branquinho - done. McQueen - dead. Chalayan - alive one season, dead the other. We should hold one big goth ninja viking pyre funeral for the good old days.

I'm hoping more artisanal-feeling houses like Lost & Found and Guidi move in to the spotlight to replace the cutting-edge newness that seems to have past. If we can't have innovation, we can at least have skill and craftsmanship.

[kuugaia]

Anyway, my posts were not intended to "publicly humiliate" anyone...fact is, this is a fashion forum, and in this case, the items posted were ugly...regardless of who designed them or of if that particular brand was "sz approved".

Also, if someone posts something publicly, they should expect a public response...no need for private messages, and I don't see that particular member crying about the response...seems everyone else was more offended than he was.

My post was not directed at you in the slightest, more of a statement regarding the SZ-situation in general. I'm all for witty responses that we can all take as a good laugh, but there's plenty of ill-intended comments here that don't garner the same result. It scares potential posters away from making a contribution because they're too conscious of the potential burn. I'm not advocating for a happy-welcome-all type of attitude, not at all. But I am advocating for a slightly more positive environment that breeds more contribution from new members. Seeing waywts from the same 10 people gets boring, regardless if its awesome or not. Quality doesn't come out of thin air, it takes time and nurturing. We've all worn embarrassing shit fits at one time, and probably still are wearing them right now. 20 years from now, I'm sure I'm going to be like 'wtf was I wearing'. And truth be told, there's plenty of people here more than 20 years older than me.

Icarium - You bring up conformity, but is this really the case? I understand your point of view on the overall situation, and you're right, but maybe 'conforming' is not the right word. I find it hard to say that anybody on this forum is 'conforming' to a style choice. Stupid example but: we're all wearing dark and black clothing on here simply because it's something each member inherently likes. Not because it's the accepted and certified color choice. There's a fine line between 'shared interests/taste' and conformity it seems. Massive lolz on rilu being a pokemon - totally get what you mean though. She's indeed a rare species on this forum. :)

endorphinz - I think your posts are completely relevant to what SZ is about. Seriously, why keep putting yourself in the 'outsiders-box'? And if SZ is narrow, then feel welcome to post something of your own to change it up. I don't think there's a single person on this forum that doesn't like variety - as long as it's 'quality'. But let's not go into a discussion of what's 'quality'.

michael_kard - It seems the beginning of your post is contradictory with what you're trying to say at the end. And definitely an exaggeration on the 'worst' that this forum has to offer haha (we've all seen worse ). Being 'nice' is not the same as being 'accepting'. You don't have to be accepting of the bullshit, but nice about how you go about it.

Haven - No idea if you were taking the piss or not, but there's not really much of a hierarchy here. And even if there was I'm not far from the bottom either!

Great LeU shirt btw B, damn good choice.

[endorphinz]

[tldr]

one night in the early '80s I went out for a typical night of debauchery in nyc.... destination studio 54. I was well fortified with quaaludes, the drug of choice of the 54 crowd and my personal fav; my posse was the blow reenforcement.
I remember what I wore that night.... pinky & dianne perforated baggy /tapered black leather pants, some sort of billowy gauzy white shirt and addidas high tops. I also wore a barry kieselstein cord medium winchester belt.

when i woke up the next afternoon, i was in my apt, fully dressed . my pants button was gone as well as my belt. I have lost many things in my life but I can't even begin to imagine the circumstances that surrounded the disappearance of my belt. i had no memory of that nite but a few illegible names and numbers on bits of paper.

kiselstein was/is a jewelry designer that made belts and bags. most of his stuff is too ostentatious for me but the winchester buckle set was simple, beautiful and timeless. it was highly coveted at the time and quite expensive *(time relative). I was able to go to bkc showroom and buy it cheaply. I believe I paid $300 which was 2 weeks salary for me, a trainee.

The buckle is part of the moma permanent collection and. in fact, is a precedent setting design in copyright law. there's loads of articles on the net.

I have been looking to replace the buckle set for years but they rarely appear on ebay and when they do, they are terribly scratched or way too expensive. I recently found one in great condition @ a reasonable price and received it yesterday. I am happy... but would be ecstatic if I knew what happened to my original belt. I have been haunted by that mystery for 30 years.



I'm getting a black strap made




[/tldr]

[Chim]

honestly, the thing that bugs me about what happened with poniello's recent purchases and why it elicited such a strong reaction from the SZ populace is because that while there have been clear cut times to ridicule someone's purchases, poniello's (in my opinion) weren't that bad. The Mauro Grifoni looked like a well tailored coat with sharp details, the Nuur jacket looked well crafted and like something from the more dandy recent NN/Soloist collections, and the sheepskin shearling jacket looked like it was of excellent quality as well. I mean, I understand brand cohesion, but being a fashion forum I can't really find much of a fault with these items outside of the clothing not being from a forum approved brand. Have we reached a point where we can no longer give compliments in public without first checking the tags on their clothing first?

[Dane]

[tldr]

one night in the early '80s I went out for a typical night of debauchery in nyc.... destination studio 54. I was well fortified with quaaludes, the drug of choice of the 54 crowd and my personal fav; my posse was the blow reenforcement.
I remember what I wore that night.... pinky & dianne perforated baggy /tapered black leather pants, some sort of billowy gauzy white shirt and addidas high tops. I also wore a barry kieselstein cord medium winchester belt.

when i woke up the next afternoon, i was in my apt, fully dressed . my pants button was gone as well as my belt. I have lost many things in my life but I can't even begin to imagine the circumstances that surrounded the disappearance of my belt. i had no memory of that nite but a few illegible names and numbers on bits of paper.

kiselstein was/is a jewelry designer that made belts and bags. most of his stuff is too ostentatious for me but the winchester buckle set was simple, beautiful and timeless. it was highly coveted at the time and quite expensive *(time relative). I was able to go to bkc showroom and buy it cheaply. I believe I paid $300 which was 2 weeks salary for me, a trainee.

The buckle is part of the moma permanent collection and. in fact, is a precedent setting design in copyright law. there's loads of articles on the net.

I have been looking to replace the buckle set for years but they rarely appear on ebay and when they do, they are terribly scratched or way too expensive. I recently found one in great condition @ a reasonable price and received it yesterday. I am happy... but would be ecstatic if I knew what happened to my original belt. I have been haunted by that mystery for 30 years.

[/tldr]

Don't let the fact that the original is missing bother you...it makes the story of life that much more interesting...just think of the possibilities! Bianca Jagger probably nicked it when you were in a 'lude-puddle...she always seemed shifty to me.

Great story.

[lost53]

endorphinz, really enjoyed that. Trust you will enjoy having the belt back.

[tron]

That really is a great story. I'm glad you were able to finally get something that clearly held such meaning to you so many years later. If only all purchases were that satisfying.

[Faust]

honestly, the thing that bugs me about what happened with poniello's recent purchases and why it elicited such a strong reaction from the SZ populace is because that while there have been clear cut times to ridicule someone's purchases, poniello's (in my opinion) weren't that bad. The Mauro Grifoni looked like a well tailored coat with sharp details, the Nuur jacket looked well crafted and like something from the more dandy recent NN/Soloist collections, and the sheepskin shearling jacket looked like it was of excellent quality as well. I mean, I understand brand cohesion, but being a fashion forum I can't really find much of a fault with these items outside of the clothing not being from a forum approved brand. Have we reached a point where we can no longer give compliments in public without first checking the tags on their clothing first?

Did you see his recent WAYWT? That's where my personal reaction came from, and not so much from the recent purchases. And, again, let me restate this for the millionth time - I want the discussion on this forum to be about creative designers, ones that have an ethos, a concept, an aesthetic universe. I don't give a flying fuck for a nice tailored coat - go to Brioni and get one.

[Faust]

I'm hoping more artisanal-feeling houses like Lost & Found and Guidi move in to the spotlight to replace the cutting-edge newness that seems to have past. If we can't have innovation, we can at least have skill and craftsmanship.

The problem for me is that these houses are not bringing any letters to the alphabet of fashion. They do what they do, and what they do is wonderful, but they do not exist outside of the realm of a small number of cognoscenti and therefore have no influence on fashion as a cultural force. I am interested in fashion as such.