I do like a list, but I agree there are better ways to frame a list than ‘affordable’. Affordability is a pretty weird thing to base a list around as it’s a bit dull and anyway cool things are available at every price point.
The art analogy here is kind of off, there are tons of "affordable" ways to display the works of any artist. Whether it's prints or books or images you print out off of the internet or even less expensive works made by artists themselves. Tauba Aurbach herself always makes open-ended relatively inexpensive editions that she sells through her Diagonal Press site. Though I do think that "steal this look" listicles are garbage that doesn't mean that all affordable things are bad and conversely all things that are scarce are good.
I'm not singling out younger people, but...younger people have a different perception of how much clothes used to cost and what labor costs to produce them. Standard jeans like Levi's cost more than $30 when minimum wage was just over $3, and people still expect jeans to cost $30 (or less, through fast fashion outlets.) Quantity/variety has really replaced quality for many.
Fashion-related shopping listicles are rarely ever useful; too many sponsored posts and monetization of links.
I don’t know man. My Kirkland made in Peru white and black tee’s are solid. Better fit, better quality than my Lady White and National Athletic Goods ones. And no worries when my three year old decides to wipe her hands on em. Hard to believe, but BELIEVE it.
If you dress like you truly belong in your clothes, and not like you want to be in somebody else's clothes, you dress a lot more affordably. I think the total wardrobe changeovers eat up a lot of resources that could be better dedicated to selecting a few great items every season.
E.L.I.T.I.S.T. : enact less isolated thinking in structuring truisms. Not everyone who points out expense is hurt by “luxury” lists/recommendations or is advocating for fast fashion. Maybe the thinking is that an overarching value system that appoints status to threads at a mere glance is in itself superficial and pointless. Maybe the ache attached with seeing solely costly items promoted comes not from a feeling of personal lack as much as a desire for a more high-minded sartorial society. And maybe keeping the fact that one’s audience is not only the global 1% (if that’s the case) is a way to combat our current system. There’s a difference between dressing as an art and dressing so that you hope you look like you do. The more pricey things one recommends the less chance one has to be authentic by the very nature of our current value system due to the slick, slippery mechanisms of marketing, its constant evolution and the terrifyingly striated separation of wealth. Maybe brands shouldn’t matter at all. I think personally I would love that world. But I’m not a fashion-head, so maybe I shouldn’t be reading this ‘sletter at all.
Pure spyplane wisdom at its finest.
I do like a list, but I agree there are better ways to frame a list than ‘affordable’. Affordability is a pretty weird thing to base a list around as it’s a bit dull and anyway cool things are available at every price point.
Spyplane x Menswear Guy interview when??
The art analogy here is kind of off, there are tons of "affordable" ways to display the works of any artist. Whether it's prints or books or images you print out off of the internet or even less expensive works made by artists themselves. Tauba Aurbach herself always makes open-ended relatively inexpensive editions that she sells through her Diagonal Press site. Though I do think that "steal this look" listicles are garbage that doesn't mean that all affordable things are bad and conversely all things that are scarce are good.
I'm not singling out younger people, but...younger people have a different perception of how much clothes used to cost and what labor costs to produce them. Standard jeans like Levi's cost more than $30 when minimum wage was just over $3, and people still expect jeans to cost $30 (or less, through fast fashion outlets.) Quantity/variety has really replaced quality for many.
Fashion-related shopping listicles are rarely ever useful; too many sponsored posts and monetization of links.
I don’t know man. My Kirkland made in Peru white and black tee’s are solid. Better fit, better quality than my Lady White and National Athletic Goods ones. And no worries when my three year old decides to wipe her hands on em. Hard to believe, but BELIEVE it.
If you dress like you truly belong in your clothes, and not like you want to be in somebody else's clothes, you dress a lot more affordably. I think the total wardrobe changeovers eat up a lot of resources that could be better dedicated to selecting a few great items every season.
I’m trying to do a better job of picking what I like and then waiting for the sale
E.L.I.T.I.S.T. : enact less isolated thinking in structuring truisms. Not everyone who points out expense is hurt by “luxury” lists/recommendations or is advocating for fast fashion. Maybe the thinking is that an overarching value system that appoints status to threads at a mere glance is in itself superficial and pointless. Maybe the ache attached with seeing solely costly items promoted comes not from a feeling of personal lack as much as a desire for a more high-minded sartorial society. And maybe keeping the fact that one’s audience is not only the global 1% (if that’s the case) is a way to combat our current system. There’s a difference between dressing as an art and dressing so that you hope you look like you do. The more pricey things one recommends the less chance one has to be authentic by the very nature of our current value system due to the slick, slippery mechanisms of marketing, its constant evolution and the terrifyingly striated separation of wealth. Maybe brands shouldn’t matter at all. I think personally I would love that world. But I’m not a fashion-head, so maybe I shouldn’t be reading this ‘sletter at all.