PROSE AND CLOTHES: A PICK OF THE BEST PIECES IN THE PRESS
“Why Fashion’s Future Will Be Shaped by Male Consumerism” by Eugene Rabkin From Highsnobiety.com, November 6, 2018
Even though women’s fashion still outsells menswear by roughly a 50 per cent margin, its menswear counterpart is outpacing it in growth, and has been for most years since 2009, according to a study published earlier this year by Euromonitor, a market research firm. But the larger point is that it feels l ike virtually everything that generates excitement in fashion these days comes from the menswear world. The reasons for this takeover of fashion are not new, but it looks l ike menswear is now at its apex of influence. The largest development here is the acceptance of streetwear into the mainstream of designer fashion. It is now perfectly normal for fashion designers to put the archetypes of streetwear, l ike hoodies and tees on the catwalk. Every design house from Louis Vuitton down is busy making sneakers. For its part, the audience has grown comfortable with high-fashion level prices and is willing to plunk down serious cash previously reserved for cashmere sweaters and dressy shoes. (…)Another important part of this story is that this newlyminted male cohort of fashion fans consists of straight men.
In the Western world, it has now become socially acceptable for young straight men, at least in big cities, to be genuinely interested in fashion and dressing up.
“Reign of the Scumbro: the Meaning of Justin Bieber’s Ugly Style” by Hadley Freedman From The Guardian, September 5, 2018
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to th eh ott est male fashion trend of 2018: “scumbros”. “Scumbro? What is a scumbro?” you ask, weeping into your Gapkhakis.Is hall explain. Scumbros wear oversized, overpriced skatewear by labels such as Palace and Supreme, obscure graphic T-shirts, r idiculous shoes and even more r idiculous hats. They also wear wildly expensive labels, such as Gucci, Versace and Prada, but deliberately make them look terrible.Shia La Beoufi sa scumbro, while the Justins Bieber and Theroux are wannabe scumbros (…) Jonah Hil l, according to Vanity Fair, i s “king of the scumbros”: he has “pretty go odt aste ”, amen’ s fashion ex per tis quote das saying bene at ha photoofH il lina T-shirtthatlooks likea ra in bowvomit ed on it,w id eleggedtro user san dapairofwhi te slip-ons of the t ype my grandfather would wear, thus conf irming that Zoo landerwas nota sa tir e,buta documentary. The celebrity who took thescumbrotr end tothemains tre am was a chap by the name of Pete Dav id sonw ho look ed likethefri end of your younger brother whom you occasional ly al low yourself to f ancy i n your drunker moments, only to quash the thought the next morning and swearoffalc oh olfo re ver.
“The Sneaky Way Clothing Brands Hooked Men on Stretch Jeans” by Amanda Hall From The Atlantic, November 13, 2018
If you wear women’s clothing, it might come a sa surpri set ha talitt le bit of stretch is a relatively new concept for most men. Stretchy jeans have been common inwomen’ s fashion for at least 20 years, but they’ve only found traction inthemen’ s mass market inthepastf iv e.Now nearly every major menswear brand offers at least one stretch option, and many go beyond the product’s t ight-f it reputation with looser cuts. To sell these jeans to men, though, brands f ace a conundrum common inthe fashion and personal-care i ndustries: How do you convince guys to buy something they believe is for women? In the case of stretch denim, brands have found success by obfuscating what their product actually is, allowing them to recast stretch pants as a tool of masculinity. Whether it’s GapFlex, Rapid Movement Denim, Wrangler’s Advanced Comfort, or just not mentioning the new fabrication at all, the theory seems to be that what men don’t know about their jeans can’t hurt them. Intentionally or not, these branding decisions have helped change the modern idea of what it means to look l ike a man. For something as innocuous as slightly less restrictive pants,stretch jeans h ave cause dalotof hand-wringing among men’s-fashion types over the past couple of years.
“We’re All Content Providers Now” by Lou Stoppard From Financial Times November 22, 2018
Thisisthee ra ofcontent.The word is omnipresent and sweeping. Sonder & Tell create content, a longside countless other agencies and brands. But newspapers and magazines make content too — t hey used to cal l it journalism or editorial. Netf lix provides content. Listen to the radio, and you’re hearing content. Buy ad ress online andthebreathy description bene athitiscontent. Real-life events a re mined for content opportunities - v ideos, recordings and sound bit es.Thisar tic leiscontent. If you read it online and arrive at it via atwee tor In sta grampost,t ha tis also content. Entire jobs now exist to create content to get people to look at other content (…) Indeed, the purpose of content can appear elusive. Sales? Hits? Viewers? Data? (…) Currently Farfetchis ad verti sing70jobs; 16 revolve around content creation. TommyHilfigeris look ingfo ra content development specialist. Both Bal ly and Calvin Klein are looking for content editors. The Economist is ad verti singforapr epos terously titled social media “fel low” (…) Is there an art to content? Not real ly, says Raven Smith. “It’s about reinf or cinga rig oro uso verallb rand communication. But it shouldn’t feel overly constructed. When I’m doing myjobwell,myr olei sin visib le .”