Stranger's Reactions to your Clothes?

[trentk]

how was your pops dressed?

My dad was dressed in a black tshirt and grey pants. I was wearing black penny loafers, twisted seam individual sentiments black pants, and a dark grey ccp dress shirt with thumb and finger holes.

[Shucks]

lol @ batman & dad buying vermouth.

some guy shouted at me from across the street last night how to get to the club i was headed (without me even being lost) and then he came over and offered to share his joint.

nice change to the usual weird looks..

[nomemorial]

Some guy working at Starbucks stopped me and pointed at the hoodie I was wearing and started asking "Is that the hood?", "What do you do with a hood that big?", "Can I get one in my size?", and the ever popular "How much did that cost?"

And not strangers, but I had some drop-crotch sweats on while hanging out with a few of my "more conservatively" dressed friends and one of them just said "Oh, weird, I thought you were trying to dress like a waiter." while the other one simply said "Well, I could never do it, but at least you make it work." Granted, I live in the middle of North Carolina, not exactly somewhere exposed to a ton of "alternative" fashion outside of the however many dozen crust punks around town at any given time.

[0JSIMPS0N]

I live in Vancouver. Not many people here are very fashionable.
I know 3 other people here that wear Rick Owens, one of them goes on this website and another one is a dickhead that I see at techno shows that I don't like talking to.

The one store that sells Rick Owens here sells clothes like Damir Doma and Juun J but at triple or more the usual price for some strange reason.

So going by how terrible this town is for anything cool (being a DJ, it really sucks because any sort of electronic music that isn't Brostep or Top 40 isn't playable in most clubs so they're forced underground, as another example,) I wasn't surprised at all when yesterday someone wearing ill-fitting blue jeans and a fedora walked up to me and commented on my shirt
"NICE DRESS, FAG! HAHAHAHAHA"

You're just where you belong then.

[cameraobscura]

Two weeks ago, I was in the montego bay airport in jamaica passing through security. I was wearing a drkshdw t-shirt with the black stripe in the back. The security girl was giving me weird looks. She took out the stripe and was like 'what is that?!' while pulling on it like I was a terrorist.

[darkbydesign]

Last night I was at a gala in Midtown wearing a Naska Rick Owens blazer, Julius formal pants, and BBS boots and someone said: "You look like you are from the future".....? Could be worse, I guess.

[interest1]

Two weeks ago, I was in the montego bay airport in jamaica passing through security. I was wearing a drkshdw t-shirt with the black stripe in the back. The security girl was giving me weird looks. She took out the stripe and was like 'what is that?!' while pulling on it like I was a terrorist.

That's a crazy little airport. Every time I've passed through it, there were german shepherds at the ready, while heavily-armed guards dig thoroughly through "random" suitcases along those long side tables..


In other news, I was at the market earlier today picking up a few things to make dinner. An elderly gentleman came over to me, smiled wide, and asked where "we" kept the peanut butter. Apparently, I was dressed similarly enough to the grocery store's employee uniform that I looked like I belonged there (never mind the cartful of food parked right beside me).

I was wearing this old Rick coat, closed:




After directing him to the peanut butter, LoL, I turned back to the person I was talking with and who'd I'd randomly run into just moments before: my best friend from high school. Hadn't seen her in years. We were such rotten little teenagers who laughed over everything, and clearly we hadn't outgrown that trait considering our girlie giggles after Mr. Nutter Butter walked off.

5 minutes later, guess who comes back around. He came to thank me for the peanut butter – which I didn't see in his possession.
"Wait, but where is it?", I asked. "Right there!", he says to me, pointing at the tub of Haagen Daaz in his basket. Peanut Butter Chocolate flavor, mind you. He was so happy. And that made ME happy.

Then off he went, smile still on his face. So cute to consider an 85+ year old man still having a sweet tooth. Even cuter, considering he no longer actually had any.

[Shucks]

Last night I was at a gala in Midtown wearing a Naska Rick Owens blazer, Julius formal pants, and BBS boots and someone said: "You look like you are from the future".....? Could be worse, I guess.

kinda depends on the future, don't it?

[lionlimb]

I'm my mom's personal shopper, so we were hitting up the Banana Republic &ct. over the weekend. Stopped into J. Crew even though she never buys anything there ("It just falls apart!") and, as always, ran into this totally SuFu looking kid that works there.

The thing is, he always notices something about some totally understated piece of clothing that I think is cool but no one else notices. I'd been chilling on the couch with my mom all morning and was wearing a plain grey 90's margiela tank, some super simple raw/selvedge jeans from a tiny artisan shop, and busted converse-lookin' yohji sneaks.

And this kid with the hitlerjugend haircut and button-down in J. Crew began asking questions that made it obvious he had identified the makers of everything I was wearing and appreciated them. We had a great little conversation about craft quality.

I guess it was just a reminder that folks can dress in a number of different styles, and still be informed / have interesting perspectives on clothes. Especially young'uns, broke folks, and people at work. A lot of people geek out that can't actually dress in head to toe rick or whatever.

[interest1]

⤴ Those are great little moments. They give an otherwise basic day something to remember it by. And when you're not somewhere where you think anyone would notice, it feels surprisingly nice when they do.

[messenoire]

i was walking through soho a bit ago and something similar happened to a different affect. there was a guy trying to hock cd's and named everything i was wearing which was a collection of maybe the past 7 years (rick owens, julius, common projects) and it made me smile. small things like that where i feel a bit less like i am on an island are pretty welcome.

[Shucks]

I guess it was just a reminder that folks can dress in a number of different styles, and still be informed / have interesting perspectives on clothes. Especially young'uns, broke folks, and people at work. A lot of people geek out that can't actually dress in head to toe rick or whatever.

i sort of agree, sort of not. in my experience the nicest comments i do get, are from people who have no idea about which brands/price-points whatever they are commenting on is/has.

i prefer an honest "hey, nice boots" from some person not into fashion at ALL, than a long discussion with fashion nerds who more often than not are just using the discussion to show that they are clued up.

but of course there are some exceptions.

[schemedream]

i prefer an honest "hey, nice boots" from some person not into fashion at ALL, than a long discussion with fashion nerds who more often than not are just using the discussion to show that they are clued up.

but of course there are some exceptions.

Do you care to elaborate? I understand what you are implying with the statement, but I'm curious as to why.

Do you feel like it's disingenuous of someone to talk to you about something they are interested in? This last page of posts is about people who are happy to interact with people about something they share a passion about but can't necessarily connect with others regularly. Granted, part of the pleasure is from the surprise and novelty of it when it does happen, but that can't be all of it. I'm sure part of it is the validation one receives when someone expresses interest in something that most wouldn't notice. I know that is the case for me sometimes.

I will admit that there are certain people I know that I'd rather not talk fashion / clothing / aesthetic with because of their tendencies towards the vapid end of the conversation and with that being said I do agree with your statement. Not to mention sometimes the length the of the conversation and the eagerness I've encountered can get tiresome.

[interest1]

i sort of agree, sort of not. in my experience the nicest comments i do get, are from people who have no idea about which brands/price-points whatever they are commenting on is/has.

i prefer an honest "hey, nice boots" from some person not into fashion at ALL, than a long discussion with fashion nerds who more often than not are just using the discussion to show that they are clued up.

but of course there are some exceptions.

Oh, stuff a sock in it, Shucks (designer or otherwise). Who cares what you prefer and how you prefer it; this thread is for sharing random moments that range from the quirky to the poignant. Posts here don't seek much discussion, let alone approval.

Not every thread is meant for throwing down judgments. Geesh...

[Shucks]

Oh, stuff a sock in it, Shucks (designer or otherwise). Who cares what you prefer and how you prefer it; this thread is for sharing random moments that range from the quirky to the poignant. Posts here don't seek much discussion, let alone approval.

Not every thread is meant for throwing down judgments. Geesh...

um i think u got me twisted...

i didn't intend it as judgement of lionlimb's view or experience at all.

it just brought to mind my own experiences - subjective obviously, and also very much dependent on my person and on who feels inclined to communicate with me (and thus also dependent on my physical location) - where most people (not so many) so far who have struck up a conversation with me in person about my clothes are not necessarily doing it because of an interest in the actual clothes, but more in positioning themselves ín some social hierarchy, by approving/disapproving/demonstrating their expertise.

so to answer lionlimb's question, i think people can have very different motives for wanting to start a lengthy discussion on clothing/fashion. for some of them, it is just a sounding board for building their own personal brands, for others it stems mostly from a genuine interest in garments or style. (in a way, reactions to what i wear helps me uncover the priorities of other people, even more than what i wear maybe says about me...?)

obviously i prefer the latter less narcissistic type of conversations, but unfortunately i mostly seem to run into the former.

it seems to me that the less people know about what they are commenting on, the less they seem to see the comment itself as a tool for consciously (can we ever escape our habitus..?) positioning themselves in a social hierarchy. (my most cherished comment i ever got was on my boots, by a drunk punk rocker at 8 a.m. it seemed 100% heartfelt.)

in no way was i trying to diminish or judge lionlimb's post. in fact, i'm glad his conversation was enjoyable. and i think a bit of conversation is valid also in this thread, no?

we good again now, interest1?