The London Lounge

As if there's not enough to be depressed about in the world, here comes Pitti Uomo in Florence.

Why does it suck the life out of me and put me in such a funk?

Well, I blame it on the characters who attend these events and who preen, strut, blog, photograph and interview each other and otherwise breathlessly carry on about men's clothes and their fabulousness. They make me hate men's clothes. Their style, their persona, their self absorption is so objectionable, that I just have to scream. These self congratulatory, self satisfied poseurs are unbearable, particularly when they congregate in such numbers, dressing for each other, it becomes a suffocating freak show.

Indeed, these are "the usual suspects."

Uppercase,

Hmmm..  The chap in your last image has managed to be the best dressed out of all of them - perhaps that thought should cheer him up.

Thank you for doing that, Uppercase.

All too true, but I'd have to concede that there is some nice tweed in that lot . . . .

Gentlemen,

people attending a trade fair are perhaps a bit a special league. It is not my world, really not. So I will not get too excited about these pictures . The sad reality in other more serious circles is enough to be worried about.

cheers, David

davidhuh wrote:Gentlemen,

people attending a trade fair are perhaps a bit a special league. It is not my world, really not. So I will not get too excited about these pictures . The sad reality in other more serious circles is enough to be worried about.

cheers, David

I agree, all the guys seen above are SALESMEN: tailors, clothing producers, shopkeepers, stylists, haberdashers and brand agents, of course they will try to promote new trends to fool people into buying new clothes: they gotta put bread on the table. Pitti Uomo nowadays is a marketing event as much as trade fair. The 'street style' photographs taken at these event equal free publicity, you would be a stupid rag trader if you would not take advantage...

The other side of it is that these scenes are widely understood as exemplary manifestations of style and personality and as such start functioning as a standard amongst people who aren't in the business themselves. Some of these people are also in these pictures.

T.K. wrote:The other side of it is that these scenes are widely understood as exemplary manifestations of style and personality and as such start functioning as a standard amongst people who aren't in the business themselves. Some of these people are also in these pictures.

Isn't this the heart of the problem?

NJS

think uppercase used the word 'poseurs', and i agree with him, the amount of posing that goes on these days in the menswear/blogging/facebook/instagram world is just ridiculous.

street style blogs worked because people used to be fed up with runways being unrealistic and artificial, so it was interesting to see the guy/girl next door putting something together nicely for their own pleasure while they were going to work. now work have become putting something together 'stylishly'! so this has come full circle to the thing that people were fed up with in the first place, just in a slightly different medium.

on instagram, seeing grown men posing and seeking attention is seriously offputting.

blogs like PermanentStyle have become an advertising board, which is fair enough, everyone has got to eat, but just don't claim that it is not a commercial venture.

NJS wrote:

T.K. wrote:The other side of it is that these scenes are widely understood as exemplary manifestations of style and personality and as such start functioning as a standard amongst people who aren't in the business themselves. Some of these people are also in these pictures.

Isn't this the heart of the problem?

NJS

Yes I believe so.

pur_sang wrote:think uppercase used the word 'poseurs', and i agree with him, the amount of posing that goes on these days in the menswear/blogging/facebook/instagram world is just ridiculous.

street style blogs worked because people used to be fed up with runways being unrealistic and artificial, so it was interesting to see the guy/girl next door putting something together nicely for their own pleasure while they were going to work. now work have become putting something together 'stylishly'! so this has come full circle to the thing that people were fed up with in the first place, just in a slightly different medium.

on instagram, seeing grown men posing and seeking attention is seriously offputting.

blogs like PermanentStyle have become an advertising board, which is fair enough, everyone has got to eat, but just don't claim that it is not a commercial venture.

Indeed. The posing aspect of those street/fashion blogs I find fascinating because you see people pulled from their daily lives and confronted with themselves by a camera. That is the difference with the bespoke oriented blogs, where you see people whose daily life is dominantly about clothing and so the posing becomes almost empty because there is no outer reference, no substance.

Luckily there remains a positive side, because I do learn things about good tailoring by looking at those pictures.

I think the tone of much of the commentary is a bit harsh and judgemental.
If it were simply a matter of saying "I don't like the fashionable atittude towards clothing of these men. I prefer (custome-made) clothing that costs a lot, is beautifully made and that no-one except 0.2% of the population can distinguish from an off-the-rack business suit without having it explained to them", I might agree.
But the vitriol is overdone. These men are vain, yes, and don't sport 'classic styles', true. They are no more preening than people who wear oversised baseball caps and expensive sneakers. As for posing, I think one can (and people do) level that accusation to anyone who doesn't look like 90% of the schlubs out there.

Sorry Luca, but what is this forum but a melting pot of sartorially initiated men, comprizing 0.2% or less of the population?

Although I do not agree that all the clothing pictured in this thread are tasteless or bad, in most cases the ambience of the pictures and the attitude of some depicted models denote, imho, a deceitful vogue and a false nonchalance that are extensively and almost daily criticised in this forum.

This Lounge is, basically and thoroughly, a non-commercial (correct me if I´m wrong, pls, but it is my take on in) sartorial compendium and discussion forum for people interested in cloth, tayloring, style. I understand that any-one may criticise people trying to sell images -- and clothing -- in Pitti Uomo, but the argument of the 0.2% elite does not seem to hold much water -- especially regarding the prices of the garments sold by some of the depicted culprits.

Best, LG

Luca - It is harsh. It is judgmental. But it is also true. Tough wottsits! If you don't like it: don't do it! And why are you virtually hugging Simon Crompston? Jeez...

NJS

Don't get me wrong; everyone's entitled to their opinions, however objectionable.
I guess my personal opinion is that this forum is at its best when it displays the impressive knowledge of tailoring and apparel, rather than when it descends into bitchiness, that's all. It resembles the silly sectarian conflict between the "Judean People's Front" and the "People's Front of Judea". The much-maligned fashion posers above at least care about how they dress, albeit we may not agree they are successful at it.
Also, would you want everyone to dress according to strict Edwardian rules? Really? Bit boring, ne c'est pas? I lquite ike seeing people with odd but arty or interesting clothes all over London. It's the people who don't make any effort that I find sad.