How do you relate your taste in apparel to your environment?

[hectorm]

Call me superficial.

You are superficial.

Scot, you didn´t have to obey me so quickly.

[Costi]

Hector, you WISH you were 20-superficial

You know it better than me - I am only learning: the tragedy is not that we grow old, but that we remain young...

[uppercase]

Generally, as much as I enjoy clothing, I think that we all know that they are rags and the business is the rag trade.

It is all an illusion. Ephemeral.
Clothing has no value to anyone except to ourselves.

A sentimental piece aside, if you have ever been called to the sad duty to clear a closet of a parent or friend, you will know that clothes pass with the passing.

Dressing is a daily creative act.
It is a daily affirmation that we are alive and engaged and defiant.
Here am I !

More so, attention to the underlying bones upon which these clothes hang is a duty and assertion of our individual standards and self respect. It is a daily discipline. A daily affirmation.
Here am I. I control this body and mind and manner.

As Alden regularly reminds us, style is the man, not the clothes. The man is alive, the clothes his expression that day, that moment.

I think that all of us who write here, write not about clothes but rather write to assert that we are alive, that we have a voice, that we have standards for ourselves, that we are proud individuals who embrace the world, our idiosyncrasies, and revel in all of its pleasures, and incidentally, clothing among them.

[Scot]

Clothing has no value to anyone except to ourselves.

What "value" does the body possess?

Remember man that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

[Luca]

What "value" does the body possess?

Right. Can I have one or both of your kidneys?

[Scot]

What "value" does the body possess?

Right. Can I have one or both of your kidneys?

When I am brain-dead (no jokes please), and assuming (a) that they are of any use by then and (b) that you are first in the queue, of course you can.

[Luca]

So, for a lark, where do you fall, on the OP questions?

[Costi]

Clothing has no value to anyone except to ourselves.

What "value" does the body possess?

Remember man that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

...or, for those in favour of the soft chest ,

"[...]We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.[...]" - no?

There is nothing but The Dream. But we need bodies to dream with. And clothes mean nothing, but we surely can't dress without them.

Now, whether we dress - or live, for that matter - to demonstrate something, or we are just happy we were born alive and admit having little merit for that...

WE ARE the proof.

[pur_sang]

Really, a nice T or casual shirt, trousers and shoes is all that one needs in summer.

I don't know if this is a joke or not, but I honestly agree. I love a nice suit as much as the most-suit loving person in the world, but I believe to dress different styles for different climate/occasions is perfectly fine. That is also why I really don't like summer much.

[pur_sang]

What would they drive if they chose their car like they choose their clothes?
Tesla or other high quality electric car. And this is not only because of the environment. Electric cars will soon perform better than conventional cars. And I feel that paying to the Russians and to the Arabs billions for oil so that they can use them to buy weapons and to fuel wars in the Middle East is both stupid and immoral. Seriously - all weapons in the Middle East are bought with oil. Iraq had the 4th largest army in the World by the time of Saddam, Saudi Arabia buys the latest weapons from Germany and US and plays war in Yemen, Russia is present in Syria because they had oil money to finance such expensive military operations and it is a public secret that SA and Qatar are financing rebel groups in Syria. And of course ISIS is finances with oil smuggling (and it is possible that they are also financed by some oil producing countries from the region).
So f* your oil consuming Aston Martin. One guy from Munich made a 4000 km Eurotrip with his Tesla in 48 hours without paying a cent for fuel or electricity - he used only the free Tesla super charger stations. And the performance is insane - Tesla Model S P90D accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in less than 3,3 seconds. Why would anyone buy a conventional car?

When you think about it, an electric car has achieved almost all that a petrol car wants to achieve, fast, efficient, quiet and almost no packaging limitations. However, call me traditional, brain-washed or anything bad you want, but it lacks passion. I am a petrolhead and I prefer a petrol car.

[pur_sang]

Generally, as much as I enjoy clothing, I think that we all know that they are rags and the business is the rag trade.

It is all an illusion. Ephemeral.
Clothing has no value to anyone except to ourselves.

A sentimental piece aside, if you have ever been called to the sad duty to clear a closet of a parent or friend, you will know that clothes pass with the passing.

Dressing is a daily creative act.
It is a daily affirmation that we are alive and engaged and defiant.
Here am I !

More so, attention to the underlying bones upon which these clothes hang is a duty and assertion of our individual standards and self respect. It is a daily discipline. A daily affirmation.
Here am I. I control this body and mind and manner.

As Alden regularly reminds us, style is the man, not the clothes. The man is alive, the clothes his expression that day, that moment.

I think that all of us who write here, write not about clothes but rather write to assert that we are alive, that we have a voice, that we have standards for ourselves, that we are proud individuals who embrace the world, our idiosyncrasies, and revel in all of its pleasures, and incidentally, clothing among them.

uppercase, I really do enjoy your posts, and have learnt much over the years. Did you come to this perspective recently? As I didn't seem to feel this in the past.

[uppercase]

^^^
Hello.
I was going to write a response but bumped into this quote by Karl Lagerfeld, the long time designer for Chanel and he pretty much sums up what I was trying to get at :

"Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants. "
KL

[uppercase]

I really cannot find a better example of a more incongruous, inspirational, jaw dropping example of the transformative power of apparel in a hostile environment than this gentlemen's club inside of Iraq:

Mr.Erbil.

https://www.instagram.com/mr.erbil/

Thanks to Parisian gentleman for bringing this to our attention.

https://parisiangentleman.co.uk/2017/02 ... your-eyes/

[HristoStefanov]

I really cannot find a better example of a more incongruous, inspirational, jaw dropping example of the transformative power of apparel in a hostile environment than this gentlemen's club inside of Iraq:

Mr.Erbil.

https://www.instagram.com/mr.erbil/

Thanks to Parisian gentleman for bringing this to our attention.

https://parisiangentleman.co.uk/2017/02 ... your-eyes/

The only reason why this is jaw dropping, is because people in West Europe and USA tend to think that the rest of the World is uncivilized and poor.
You have well educated and successful people in every part of the world - from Vietnam to Brazil.
Why should I be surprised that in Iraq there are dandies? Dress has always been an important status symbol in the areas of the Ottoman Empire. And the country has a population of 30 Million people. With such a huge population, just be a doctor. Or supply any kind of food, medicine or clothes and you could make a good living. Or be somehow engaged in the oil production - for example a chemist. And you will be able to afford a dandy dress.

[uppercase]

^^^

It's not about the money.

It's about the war.