made me think
Just a couple of things I found time to read while (sadly) eating dinner at my office desk.
1) A really nice roundtable on GQ about menswear blogs. Read it here.
A lot of good points raised, and I found that I could identify with this particular sentiment (which doesn't sum up the discussion, so you should still go read that):
Aliotsy Andrianarivo (blogger, This Fits): "What's challenging to people who are just starting out [is] trying to pull off [Brunello] Cucinelli in a weekâyou see it in a lookbook and you want to buy all the pieces. I had a certain degree of that starting out. The blogosphere can encourage that."
I admit, I felt that sometimes too, when I started paying attention to shopping for clothes, although I don't believe I have acted on that impulse to buy an entire look. Did you?
2) This piece by Kurt Andersen for Vanity Fair questioning just how much has design and culture changed in the last two decades. I'm still thinking over his argument and how I feel about those two things.
1) A really nice roundtable on GQ about menswear blogs. Read it here.
A lot of good points raised, and I found that I could identify with this particular sentiment (which doesn't sum up the discussion, so you should still go read that):
Aliotsy Andrianarivo (blogger, This Fits): "What's challenging to people who are just starting out [is] trying to pull off [Brunello] Cucinelli in a weekâyou see it in a lookbook and you want to buy all the pieces. I had a certain degree of that starting out. The blogosphere can encourage that."
I admit, I felt that sometimes too, when I started paying attention to shopping for clothes, although I don't believe I have acted on that impulse to buy an entire look. Did you?
2) This piece by Kurt Andersen for Vanity Fair questioning just how much has design and culture changed in the last two decades. I'm still thinking over his argument and how I feel about those two things.
Comments
I believe that the explosion of information in the last 20+ years has allowed individuals to have a wider variety of inspiration. This in turn has allowed us to dress to suit our tastes like never before. There is not necessarily a "uniform" anymore for a decade or even a location and I guess I don't have a problem with that.
I do find his assertion that there is no innovation interesting and perhaps troubling but I'm not sure what I think about that point yet.
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I liked his commentary on how we have all become "amateur stylists" (his words), and how companies/people like Martha Stewart have sold us lifestyles and aesthetic tastes. I think it's interesting that we've had this explosion of "taste" over the last 20 years or so, during the time which the middle class has actually not expanded (in fact, it's contracting), and so logically you would expect fewer people to have access to these interests, not more.
By the way, I really enjoy your blog!
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stacie: I don't 100% agree with him either but on his point about the trend for nostalgia and referencing the past, I have to say I have had the same thought before. I think theoretically I agree with him that a lack of innovation in design is disturbing and yet I feel that the point of good design is something that doesn't need improving on. For instance, how would you improve a white shirt? The proportions may change but a white shirt stays a white shirt.
And you are right, people channel looks from any era they like these days, so maybe we not "bound by time" any more.
joy: I agree, I really enjoyed the enthusiasm in that roundtable.
petrichore: I do think some looks from the 90s are essentially the same as what we see now - there's a change in proportion but there isn't really breakthrough signature look of the 2000s. But whether that is necessarily a bad thing is another question.
I like the idea that good design has been made democratic - ikea has made it possible for anyone to own clean, minimal furniture, and high-street brands make it possible for us to style ourselves as we like by providing affordable choices and variety. Of course, it's boring if we all end up with the "same good taste" but I think people don't stop seeking the rare and unique. I think he highlighted an interesting phenomenon but I'm not sure how it's related to his overall point about innovation...