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Anyone else just not understand fashion? I mean...at all?
I really just don't 'get' what makes one outfit more fashionable than another, or what is best to wear for evening vs. day. I never remember or notice what other people are wearing. I can't match colors or patterns.
As an example, today I was trying to help my mother pick out an outfit for a baptism. Each potential outfit was rejected for a different reason. One was 'too dressy'. One 'wasn't dressy enough'. One was a 'winter dress'. One was black and 'not appropriate'. One was 'clearly an evening dress'.
I honestly could not tell what made one dress 'dressier' or how a dress could be for winter when all dresses expose the legs. Or why a dress could only be worn in the evening.
Growing up I never cared what I wore (and still don't unless it's a job thing). But this is beyond not caring...this is like trying to understand a foreign language.
So anyone else completely lost when it comes to this stuff? Is knowing 'fashion' instinctive, or something you have to learn?
While I might not be what others would call "fashionable".....I can tell the difference between winter wear, evening wear, and sundresses!
Eveningwear is something that you would NOT wear to the grocery store, or school....usually the material and cut are what makes it "eveningwear".
You really don't want to wear heavy materials in the summer...too hot! And black for a baptism...not really appropriate for a "celebratory" event! For a funeral or business meeting...sure!
What are instincts, really and what does instinctive mean?
Well obviously I don't think people are born knowing fashion. I mean it seems to come much easier to others. Some people can look at two patterns or fabrics and understand they would (or wouldn't) look good together. I can't see how the patterns and colors match up, and I'm not sure that part of it can be taught. A dress is a dress is a dress to me.
Anyone else just not understand fashion? I mean...at all?
So anyone else completely lost when it comes to this stuff? Is knowing 'fashion' instinctive, or something you have to learn?
You haven't met many engineers, have you?
Here's a typical engineer:
Black pants
Brown shoes (not supposed to wear brown shoes with black pants)
Black belt (belt supposed to match the shoes)
White socks (never in an office environment)
Or
Off white pants
White shoes (can't wear off white and white together)
White based shirt (can't wear white shirt with off white pants)
And my biggest pet peeve out of them all (though this isn't unfaishonable - it just looks stupid): Jeans with a suit jacket. I really hate that "I'm sophisticated and cool at the same time" look.
Honorable mention: Flip Flips on guys when it is below 60F outside (and these guys often have untrimmed disgusting toe nails and pasty white skin with stocking indentations from their edema). Or, women who wear the white trash Uggs when it is over 80F outside.
Fashion is by default a social construct based on popular trends so a big part of "knowing fashion" must then be knowing what other people think are popular (social perceptiveness), paying attention to what others collectively think or "unspoken" rules they have (it could be arbitrary but that's the case for a great deal of things made up by people).
Anyone else just not understand fashion? I mean...at all?
I really just don't 'get' what makes one outfit more fashionable than another, or what is best to wear for evening vs. day. I never remember or notice what other people are wearing. I can't match colors or patterns.
As an example, today I was trying to help my mother pick out an outfit for a baptism. Each potential outfit was rejected for a different reason. One was 'too dressy'. One 'wasn't dressy enough'. One was a 'winter dress'. One was black and 'not appropriate'. One was 'clearly an evening dress'.
I honestly could not tell what made one dress 'dressier' or how a dress could be for winter when all dresses expose the legs. Or why a dress could only be worn in the evening.
Growing up I never cared what I wore (and still don't unless it's a job thing). But this is beyond not caring...this is like trying to understand a foreign language.
So anyone else completely lost when it comes to this stuff? Is knowing 'fashion' instinctive, or something you have to learn?
Do you mean "don't understand" as in find it difficult to pick up the social norms, or "don't understand" as in figure out the reason behind those social norms?
If it's the latter, you don't even have to look at fashion in terms of clothing to realize that a lot of things don't really have any logically consistent reason or principles/concepts to "get" in terms of why something is better, more fashionable etc. Sometimes, it got that way because someone popular, such as a celebrity first wore it (and because of that it became associated with high status). Someone designed something here and there and it caught on.
I mean I'm a dude, and can't speak much for women's fashions etc. but I mean, even something as mundane as a necktie for men really just got that way because of circumstance and history (eg. a necktie happened to be based off a kerchief inspired by a type of Croatian military uniform many centuries ago and just became popular).
Actually the metaphor of something like slang or language fits well and can apply to any kind of social trend that you have to "follow" and figure out how people use, even if it is at its base, kind of arbitrary. Why does German, in writing/printing, capitalize nouns that are not names or proper nouns, but English doesn't (it did in the past)? Some people thought it looked better on paper? Whatever, it's the rule now. Fashion's just like that.
Do you mean "don't understand" as in find it difficult to pick up the social norms, or "don't understand" as in figure out the reason behind those social norms?
The first...I find it difficult to pick up on and remember social norms. I know fashion is cultural and very subject to change. I know the very basics like 'black doesn't go with brown'. But anything more complex and anything having to do with matching colors and patterns...yeah, I'm lost. I still don't understand why my mother's nice beige dress was too dressy and fit for a wedding but not a baptism. It just looked like a nice dress to me.
When I shop for myself, I find a manikin wearing a complete outfit and just buy the same pieces. I can't find a skirt, for example, and then find a top that matches on my own.
And then I just hope what I picked makes sense for the situation.
Last edited by ParallelJJCat; 05-11-2012 at 05:08 PM..
i knew how to match colors when i was in school but once i got out into the real world (aka blue collar job market) i found that nobody really cares about stuff like that. Now all i do is dress according to the company's dress code and thats it. Really dont care what colors i have on.
As for evening wear im in agreement. I usually cant tell the difference. I mean sure i wouldnt go and throw on a cocktail dress to go get a gallon of milk. Thats just getting too dressed up. Thing is i see others doing that and i just think to myself 'well maybe theyre coming home from an event and had to stop for something'. One never knows.
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