What they really say about us

[DWFII]

It would be nice to see a return to swanky dressing as whole. I think a lot of people would actually enjoy it...

I doubt it. There are any number of men's (and probably women's) style forums...notably StyleForum...dedicated to elegance and refinement in men's dress. I post on some of them mainly to give advice about shoe quality and construction.

But it's the typical mix...people there who admire high end men's fashion but don know how to get there themselves and are looking for someone to tell them what to do...right down to the colour of the shirt.

People looking for someone to tell them what to do for no other reason than to argue with them.

People who come in looking for advice, post about 10 times and then become instant experts--experts at parroting what the real experts know and say.

But a large majority, sometimes with the best intentions, ask questions, get good reliable answers and then start trying to bargain the whole issue down. If they're told that a good pair of shoes start at $800.00 they either start scratching about for some...almost certainly impossible...way to achieve the same look and feel for less than $100.00.

Or, express outrage that people who really and truly understand and know, are telling them that the shoes they bought at Macy's are made of cardboard and corrected grain leather. Or that the purple shoes they had selected to go with the PV Men's Warehouse suit isn't considered really suitable for anything other than nightclubs and street dances.

And always, always, in the background is the same old arguments between the politically correct, "wear what you want", "how dare you tell me..." crowd (mostly neophytes) and the people who because they really and truly have made a study of it, who have sought knowledge and not just approval, could actually pull off a pair of purple two eye derbies albeit not for peanuts and not with a MW suit.

Don't shoot the messenger...