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| Tender Co Denim |
Clothes for men often tend to be boring. There is the suit but let’s not forget that it’s easy to make jokes about suits, it is after all shorthand for the salaried worker tied to the office and a palette of grey, grey and more grey. Sure there are all kinds of suits and perhaps some men dream of being kitted out in a bespoke one from Saville Row or whatever it is that is considered the epitome of tailoring. Still, even the exquisitely tailored suit is like an exceedingly rich Kanchipuram saree. You admire the workmanship, you understand the underlying science of structure and weave but it is also so good an indicator of dull, stultifying status that once worn it is immediately uninteresting. That is the garment itself is a thing of beauty but on a person it moves beyond this and is both exquisite yet supremely dead.
The choices for men wanting to do things a little differently are limited. Most creatives end up in a uniform of their own; the tee and jeans and casual footwear. But each of these items is of course an equally good indicator of conspicuous consumerism. In fact at no time in history has a man so literally spelled out his state of mind as on the contemporary T-shirt. Irony prevails and its not too hard to see that this is the uniform for any number of professionals in the media and tech industries. There is a certain charm to its slackness and it has a good deal of indie cred but it’s not a garment for grownups. You do see 40 year olds in it but something is lost in translation.
Here and there you might see a man who is the new hipster in more relaxed linen and a scarf but it’s a rare sighting, regrettable because it’s a far more elegant and grown-up look than the guy aiming to look like an Apple employee.
Of course there are a whole lot of men who fall into unnameable categories and don't particularly care about clothes. Take scientists who wear the cheapest jeans around and the T-shirt from the last conference attended (Big Bang Theory’s clothing department has it all wrong). And there are people who do a lot of physical or menial work and require workwear, which is often a polyester uniform with a fluorescent vest often added on. It is unfortunate that polyester has become the fabric for the masses. It is convenient but can never achieve the purity and beauty of workwear of yore. I might be romanticising here a bit but the rough cottons, hemps and flaxes that were used even in the last century have a sense of being of the earth, a sense of honesty. They may be roughly made, patched and used throughout a lifetime but they are imbued with the Japanese sense of wabi-sabi, a worn beauty that is enhanced with incessant use. As an example, my teenage counterpart to the boyfriend shirt was a much used dad shirt and I still remember my disappointment when my father’s uniform was no longer an open weave OG (olive green) of natural fibre but made of polyester. Likewise my great grandfather had a couple of veshtis that he hand washed and maintained impeccably; though they were clean and white they were never, even remotely, the over treated brilliant white cotton of today which is loud in its whiteness. But times have changed and so the ordinary, workaday world belongs to polyester and the like.
Somewhere on the margins of men’s fashion, things can be a bit more interesting. Interpretations of workwear is an ongoing theme – I had blogged on this last year. The rustic workwear of yore is now an affectation and has little to do with adapatibility to the nature of work, nevertheless to my mind it is far more aesthetic than anything that I have discussed before. Though tailored, there is an ease to the garments, this no doubt stems from its workwear inspiration-there is not the straitjacketing , the fitting that office work implies. Plus the natural fibres suggest breathability, the natural dyes impart a more soothing look. My recent copy of Selvedge (which inspired this post) features clothing by Tender Co., though inspired by British workwear there seems to be a degree of Japanese inspiration too. It is of course contemporary featuring as it does a lot of denim and yes, the printed T-shirt. Plus it ties in with the recent handmade movement which is smaller, more intimate, more organic and also makes visible the process by which clothes are made. It is also more expensive of course. Like khadi or pure cotton, workwear has lost its roots and is now meant for the urban aesthete. Yet it has not lost its innate beauty.
The choices for men wanting to do things a little differently are limited. Most creatives end up in a uniform of their own; the tee and jeans and casual footwear. But each of these items is of course an equally good indicator of conspicuous consumerism. In fact at no time in history has a man so literally spelled out his state of mind as on the contemporary T-shirt. Irony prevails and its not too hard to see that this is the uniform for any number of professionals in the media and tech industries. There is a certain charm to its slackness and it has a good deal of indie cred but it’s not a garment for grownups. You do see 40 year olds in it but something is lost in translation.
Here and there you might see a man who is the new hipster in more relaxed linen and a scarf but it’s a rare sighting, regrettable because it’s a far more elegant and grown-up look than the guy aiming to look like an Apple employee.
Of course there are a whole lot of men who fall into unnameable categories and don't particularly care about clothes. Take scientists who wear the cheapest jeans around and the T-shirt from the last conference attended (Big Bang Theory’s clothing department has it all wrong). And there are people who do a lot of physical or menial work and require workwear, which is often a polyester uniform with a fluorescent vest often added on. It is unfortunate that polyester has become the fabric for the masses. It is convenient but can never achieve the purity and beauty of workwear of yore. I might be romanticising here a bit but the rough cottons, hemps and flaxes that were used even in the last century have a sense of being of the earth, a sense of honesty. They may be roughly made, patched and used throughout a lifetime but they are imbued with the Japanese sense of wabi-sabi, a worn beauty that is enhanced with incessant use. As an example, my teenage counterpart to the boyfriend shirt was a much used dad shirt and I still remember my disappointment when my father’s uniform was no longer an open weave OG (olive green) of natural fibre but made of polyester. Likewise my great grandfather had a couple of veshtis that he hand washed and maintained impeccably; though they were clean and white they were never, even remotely, the over treated brilliant white cotton of today which is loud in its whiteness. But times have changed and so the ordinary, workaday world belongs to polyester and the like.
Somewhere on the margins of men’s fashion, things can be a bit more interesting. Interpretations of workwear is an ongoing theme – I had blogged on this last year. The rustic workwear of yore is now an affectation and has little to do with adapatibility to the nature of work, nevertheless to my mind it is far more aesthetic than anything that I have discussed before. Though tailored, there is an ease to the garments, this no doubt stems from its workwear inspiration-there is not the straitjacketing , the fitting that office work implies. Plus the natural fibres suggest breathability, the natural dyes impart a more soothing look. My recent copy of Selvedge (which inspired this post) features clothing by Tender Co., though inspired by British workwear there seems to be a degree of Japanese inspiration too. It is of course contemporary featuring as it does a lot of denim and yes, the printed T-shirt. Plus it ties in with the recent handmade movement which is smaller, more intimate, more organic and also makes visible the process by which clothes are made. It is also more expensive of course. Like khadi or pure cotton, workwear has lost its roots and is now meant for the urban aesthete. Yet it has not lost its innate beauty.
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| Can you work in a namoto? |
While many workwear inspired pieces are formal and classic, occasionally you will also find something much more on the edges like lastwear. To quote them: “We make strange, wonderful and durable clothing and accessories. We weave stories, fight corporate colonialism and believe that sustainability is the new grand narrative.” This with their steampunk and gothic inspirations puts it in the realm of the political and anarchic - albeit in line with 21st century norms, it is more through clothes than incendiary pamphlets. The picture with this paragraph has its roots in workwear, inspired as it is by the hakama, supposedly as adapted by the shipbuilders of Empire. It is a voluminous trouser kind of garment with deep side pockets. So workwear and Japan again. Not a look for the workaday life of today but interesting in its origins.
The philosophy of workwear is that it be comfortable, durable and one not think too much about it. Much of the workwear inspired clothes today are a result of conscious thought on what one chooses to wear. and how they represent our selves The argument may be made that it is for pretentious tossers searching for authenticity, that polyester is a more honest and accurate reflection of our work world. Still, once in a while you look at a piece and it is truly sublime and intimately connected to history. And you see a sudden transcendental beauty to it you will not find elsewhere.
The philosophy of workwear is that it be comfortable, durable and one not think too much about it. Much of the workwear inspired clothes today are a result of conscious thought on what one chooses to wear. and how they represent our selves The argument may be made that it is for pretentious tossers searching for authenticity, that polyester is a more honest and accurate reflection of our work world. Still, once in a while you look at a piece and it is truly sublime and intimately connected to history. And you see a sudden transcendental beauty to it you will not find elsewhere.
*French for good work, beauiful work and the like.
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