Wardrobe Malfunction
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Wardrobe Malfunction
Why marketing fashion to men will never work.
Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 - 10:35am
Even if you could get your average Joe to admit grudgingly that he likes the new Rag & Bone vests or that lavender shirt, chances are that he'd refuse to wear them for fear of looking like "he's been told what to do." On this point, Freud often meanders into the discussion.
"There's a certain subconscious specter, a fear of looking like your mother dressed you," says Fielden somberly.
The bottom line: The 21st-century American man takes fashion in its most prescriptive form as a direct threat to his masculinity (many of today's leading designers don't help by shoveling models of their conceptual collections into tutus and spandex). Until this psychology changes, the menswear market will never resemble that of women's wear. For women, trend-driven fashion is an imposed, idealized fantasy. For men, the market must resemble the consumer's reality-or at most, a better, yet attainable, version of that reality.
Female consumers-exhausted from the ever-whirling wheel of expensive trends-the "It" bag, the statement shoe-might take a note or two from their male counterparts about noncompliance. As Simon Doonan notes: "These days, what women go through to adorn themselves is quite extreme-but remember that they've volunteered for it."
Maybe it's time for the dames to start acting a little bit more like the fellas.
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Thom Browne, fall '08 collection
Comments
Men and fashion
With all due respect, this article is really a barrage of cliches based on silly marketing research. American men care very much about the way they look - take the power suit, ties, cufflinks and such.
I've been living in Paris, where any man worth his salt has an extensive wardrobe. The real problem is that there is very little clothing of interest in this country. I live in New York and I hit Daffy's twice a week for their dirt-cheap Italian imports, because the rest of the offerings (Rag+Bone, Varvatos and company) are so bland - dark colours and unflattering cuts. Guys should get to show off their bodies too!
In Paris my male coworkers wore pants so tight that you could count the change in their pockets - and the ladies loved it (as did some of the guys). I dress this way at my relaxed-but-conservative midtown office and I get only positive feedback, even when I break out the deep V-neck tshirt and print scarf for casual day.
The only US designer who gives me what I want is Marc Jacobs - a Parisian resident, of course. H&M and Gap do European lines with sleek cuts, brighter colours and less extra fabric, but their US clothes are as sexy as burlap sacks. Men don't intrinsically want to hide their bodies; it is this nouveau-Victorian values crowd that has trickled down to the men's fashion world. In the 80s everything was tight, sexy, flashy and hot. I wore pants so tight I got lectured on testicular health!
My answer: retire the chino permanently, tighten the cut around the crotch, give us more tapered dress shirts and killer pointy Spanish-style boots and COLOR!