Leo

Well-known member
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??
 

you

Well-known member
i mean it's been said on here before hasn't it, but obviously one of the main fashions, innovations, aesthetic things that's been going on in recent years has been manipulation of the body, of muscles and fat, putting your body into one desired shape or another

I'm trying to not be too quick on this point. My initial response was to say this has always been an aspect of fashion - the corset etc. But I think there could be something of value here, I say this because hasn't the corset had a resurgence? From the vaguely amoral trad cos-play of 00s burlesque to more recent Kardashianian curve-glamour? The fact that the corset has crept back into view without irony or pastiche is probably a telling symptom.
 

you

Well-known member
I would assume so yeah. To me thigh gap seemed like a particularly weird one though, like it was handed down very clearly from on high. Maybe lots of things are foisted on us from the offices of Vogue or wherever but they at least make sense, with thigh gap it just seemed that it was something that could never have grown up organically from real people cos real people are not attracted by a hole between someone's thighs (well, not this hole anyway). And I remember it stuck out for me cos it was something I read about and thought "that's odd, I don't believe in that" and then a few days later I was sunbathing in Hampstead and I heard some younger girls arguing about their thigh gaps - it really felt like it had been created and the word had gone out and then people were suddenly debating it and so on but not really knowing why. Kinda like... you know how on twitter when you can see that the GOP, say, or some group have suddenly been given a new position and it springs up all over the place, at once, in a way that can't possibly be natural.

Out of the frying pan.... thigh-gap always had the viral character of an internet meme. I think this is one of those sad instances where a shift to less top down aesthetic influence (e.g. Vogue) to more democratic, heterogenous and diverse aesthetic 'influencers' (Instagram, Tik-Tok) galvanised something toxic even by the traditional media's standards. A very sad aspect of 'social' media.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Out of the frying pan.... thigh-gap always had the viral character of an internet meme. I think this is one of those sad instances where a shift to less top down aesthetic influence (e.g. Vogue) to more democratic, heterogenous and diverse aesthetic 'influencers' (Instagram, Tik-Tok) galvanised something toxic even by the traditional media's standards. A very sad aspect of 'social' media.
If you like thigh gaps, you're going to love butt fangs.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
i'm at the airport in phoenix, it's a different world of modern male fashion. a totally different symbolic world to new york i think. much less detail as we were talking about in the other thread. it looks more like 2005 or something. less prim and proper than nyc. looser haircuts, no hair gel. massive sleeve tattoos rather than stick and poke. bright colours. everyone's wearing trainers. lots of t shirt and short-sleeved shirts. everyone is more or less an extra 50% bigger, either coz they've got a big belly or coz they're jacked (or in a lot of cases both). i feel like a waif. bright colours. less giving a shit all round i think
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
Been in Spain, as noted in multiple other threads. Everyone is a bit skinny, pretty much no one is jacked, clothing is conservative, basic and non-individualistic. The general European thing that we have in the UK too where no one is trying to stand out very much. Facial piercings everywhere though, loads of ear and nose ones.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Er... anyway. What about trousers? For me the hardest thing to find is good but non-boring trousers, does anyone have any suggestions in that field? What do you go for?
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
always interesting going to a country where the gym and muscles thing hasn't caught on, just because it de-normalises all of that. I'm always a bit surprised it doesn't get commented on more as an unusual and new exception and cultural practice, both historically and geographically speaking

I'm in Morocco in case luka wants to update his wall map of where I've been on my gap year

when I'm in the arab bits of the world, I always think that the 18 year old lads who have dolled themselves up, put a lot of effort in, put gel in thier hair, wearing their best new clothes, spent half an hour in the mirror before going out, horny and swaggering about, look a lot like how a lot of men in new york look all the time. it's a bit of an exaggeration obviously but I get this sense in America that the Friday night courting thing has seeped into everyday life a bit.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Same as with anything.... it's good to do the best version of something all the time... but then it's never special.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
the days of galactic sized quiffs seems over, sharp fades still everywhere with no3 to a no1 above the ear

more purples and turquoise’s (into weird not quite green) in men’s clothing - daps, coats, shirts, out on the lash or casual - 30+ years after ubiquitously featuring dancing in fields

@paulsmithfieldoperatives to illustrate to the observation further, even my mountain treaders integrated both

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IdleRich

IdleRich
I love this coat... if I bought thr hugest size available would it fit me... and if it did would I look as though I had tits? Probably safer just to accept that women get better clothes* and admire from afar. Although there is no reason why you couldn't have a men's jacket with that sane heavy seems affect. The thing is, if I wanted to look for a jacket with a particular given look.

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*Yes especially the underwear ha ha, very funny
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think I was talking before about fancy dress, how certain things I wear are in some sense parallel to fashion, clothes that are a costume not a style. There was an example of that last night as I was putting on my film night and I knew I would be standing at the front and introducing the films, maybe DJ-ing too, so I wore this shiny coat which name-checked filmmaker Kenneth Anger, haven't worn it in literally years but last night it seemed appropriate.

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