PSA: "If you like it, wear it" does not constitute legitimate fashion advice

There's a difference between "it's not to my taste, but if you like it, wear it", and "it's objectively bad, but if you like it, wear it".

While I understand that there are some codified do's and don'ts in fashion, I think OP is far too dismissive of the inherently subjective nature of fashion itself.

disagree

and it perpetuates the myth that there's no such thing as objectivity in clothes and fashion

Because it isn't a myth. The things you take as "objective" are just really well established patterns/traditions. There are facts about those patterns, but the patterns themselves aren't facts. For example, "the MFA uniform looks really good" isn't a fact (tons of people around the world genuinely think it looks like crap), but "the MFA uniform is considered to look really good by a lot of people, so wearing it is a safe bet" is a fact.

You can of course go off the beaten path and do crazy stuff like we sometimes see in those "inspiration" albums, that are traditionally awful. But those guys clearly "know what they're doing", so people typically say they look cool, or at least back off from insulting them.

But on the other hand, if some fashion n00b came in here wearing the same exact stuff, we'd probably tell him he looks like shit. The main difference in my eyes is that the fashion guy is really confident about his strange/non traditional look. But if that's the difference, then the "wear it if you like it" isn't bad advice. I think that phrase is basically alluding to the other phrase "anything can be pulled off with enough confidence".

An addendum though: I agree that it probably isn't the best for noobier folk. I mean, if they go for something crazy, chances are the general public won't see them as a "fashion maverick", they'll see them as an unpleasant weirdo. So chances are until you've "mastered the basics", it might not be a great idea to do stranger stuff.

There is such a thing as personal taste, though...

happiness > fashion

you can tell him why he looks like shit but if he's okay with that then wear it

but anyone who just says "fuck the haters, if u like it, wear it" and offers no feedback needs to cut that shit out

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I agree that it isn't advice but when people post here, they are mostly unsure what to wear or if it works. If it doesn't match then we should let them know but let's not force anything on them. Individuality and uniqueness make fashion beautiful. I love tie-die, I wear it well. It's not for everyone but I wear it because I like it. Let's not forget to foster the self-esteem of fellow posters by telling them that the way they want to dress is perfectly acceptable.

It's not advice, but then again I sure as hell see a shit-ton of fit-checks on here and those aren't advice either.

To me, MFA is a place to learn how to dress well, but conservatively (which is good!). The advice you get here will be sound. If you don't want to listen to it, don't. But people ask for advice here because they don't know much about fashion while the consistent contributors do. Telling someone "if you like it, wear it" is stupid because they didn't post here looking for that advice. If they wanted to wear something just because they liked it, they wouldn't post here in the first place.

I teach workshops (creative writing courses). I have an active rule that you can't say "I like this story, but..." If you say it, I'll stop the workshop and give my entire lecture that we aren't here to (and I don't word it this way, but here I can give the uncensored version) suck each other's dicks and feel good about ourselves for writing crap.

We're here to learn to dress decently. I used to be a strong advocate for wearing vests...a few months on MFA, and now I understand WHY wearing a vest by itself just doesn't work. I'm smarter, and now I have a closet full of blazers and sport coats instead of a closet full of vests...I no longer just wear silk ties (with jeans), but wear wool ties or knit ties.

In all fairness, I kept a few of the herringbone vests and this one really nice lambswool vest from Brooks Brothers...but I got rid of the other ones! And I'm a smarter person. We're all, essentially, educating each other.

I don't agree with this policy, but if it makes the mods happy, they should enforce it.

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so about maybe a week and a half after jdbee left, the critique of MFA by both users and CCs hit critical capacity.

PSA: post in WAYWT

PSA: ..... does not constitute legitimate fashion advice

Realtalk thread (with a bonus malefoodadvice!)

LBM reveals his identity!

I'm sure there were more, but i can't remember them off the top of my head.

This begs the question of what is the purpose of fashion? I think it has two qualifications, to

1. make the wearer feel the best that one can, representing an existential representation of self (woah, just went there)
2. and, like all rules of etiquette, make other people around you feel more comfortable.

With that being said, yes, you do have the choice to wear pasties and a thong to your prom/wedding/mother's funeral, but this makes others feel uncomfortable, and so to make others feel comfortable, and ourselves as well, we wear clothing to suit occasions.

In terms of the first qualification, this is where trends comes into the equation. Following trends (wearing clark desert boots, rolling up your selvage denim, having slim lapels and a slim tie) can make you feel good about yourself, because you are a proving yourself a knowledgeable member of a larger society, showing yourself and others that you belong. But more importantly, clothing is worn to physically represent yourself and your personality to the world. It is the most basic way that we can show ourselves as unique. When one dresses oneself in the morning, the outfit created shows what you want to be. One can dress oneself outlandishly like nobody else in the world, but that makes the wearer feel most normal and most unique, and thus most happy. In our community here, we don't have to pigeonhole people into versions of ourselves. If someone really enjoys a coat with lapels a little too wide for 2012, so be it. It is making them happy, and that is exactly what fashion should do. But with that being said, MFA has strict outlines set down in our how to get started guides and such, which subscribes to a certain style of fashion (which is why I am here!), and so I agree, all advice on MFA doesn't need to be prefaced with "If you like it, wear it." But outside MFA, I would say it is necessary to preface advice.

Example: the people wearing pirate hats, anime shirts, Birkenstocks with socks, and capes follow the edict of "like it, wear it".

I agree. The comments are filled with disagreement but the basic point is that "if you like it, wear it" has zero value. It doesn't help anyone at all. If that question somehow helps them, then they didn't need any help at all and I wonder why they asked a question that prompted that response.

it's not an empty disclaimer; qualifying that as a statement is meaningful in that it establishes a set of priorities for the wearer. is dressing better important? well, if they're posting here, obviously it is. however, is dressing better so important that it should mean sublimating their personal sensibilities in the name of some absurd abstraction of fashion? no, i don't think it is.

a lot of the time (not all of the time, but often), when people say "but if you like it..." i think what they're actually saying is that there's a little wiggle room to the rules we give people. does shirt a look as good as shirt b, or perhaps more accurately, as right as shirt b? not necessarily, but a lot of well-dressed people fudge certain parts of their wardrobes if they think that the parts they fudge say something important about them that warrants deviation.

i think when you're starting out, it's easy to take rules too seriously. which is to say, it's easy to think rules are rules, and i think this leads to a lot of people wearing shit they probably don't even really like just because they're hell-bent on looking "mature" and because everyone here guaranteed them they looked great. they shouldn't be dressing for us; they should be dressing for themselves. and that means, in some instances, understanding that even if something doesn't really measure up to mfa's standards (and why it doesn't - which i do think is important to know), if it works or holds some value to you that's based more in your personality or experiences than in the immutable principles of fashion promulgated here, then maybe that's sort of okay??

that is, i think, arguably the most important thing to teach people about fashion when they come here wanting to learn. that they shouldn't necessarily have to give up things they like because we tell them that they're bad, and that part of a person's growth in style is finding ways to make that stuff work, not discarding it as soon as some pack of internet strangers tells them it doesn't. saying something like "people come here to look for advice" is meaningless because there exist all sorts of advice. some is based on the idea that people should do different things, and some is based on the idea that perhaps people should just do the same things differently. i don't think it's fair or reasonable to disparage a form of advice merely because it differs from your own - both kinds are important.

No. But it does constitute legitimate style advice.

But what if you can pull it off?