THEORY of fitpics

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bels
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THEORY of fitpics

Post by bels »

What makes a good fit pic / waywt post.

Not what makes a good outfit, what makes a good f i t p i c.

I can think of a few "genres" of fitpic, which have moved in or out of vogue as time has gone by.

- The fitpic where FIT is all that matters, where you must be dead on, hands not in pockets, so that various measurements of your suit jacket can be scrutinised relative to your body.

- Fitpics where BEING fit is what counts, where the clothes seem irrelevant (normally they are boring)

- Fitpics where the price of the fit is the central attractor and the picture itself is dry like that psycho dad who wears loads of Visvim.

- Nice lighting/image quality never hurts. I seldom see a deliberately "lo fi" fitpic get much traction anywhere.

- Personally I come from a time when the background of your fit pic was very important. "This would be a good background for a fit pic" was something I said to the estate agent before buying my house (apocryphal)

- Selfie pics have come in and out of vogue (currently very IN) delivering a certain "devil may care" attitude, as though you are taking a picture of your outfit to share with strangers on the internet, but it isn't so important to you haha. Recently I saw that "influencers" sometimes hold their phone up as though they were taking a selfie, whilst actually taking the photograph with another camera. Is this true? I quite like to see a selfie fit pic, though I can't seem to take them well myself. (the details don't show up due to lighting etc)

- Video fit pics never really took off did they, but perhaps they did in some other side of the internet (tik tok ?) (Many years ago I had a theory (which is being born out) that as bandwidth/image quality/editing proficiency increased people would stop using still photographs in the same way they stopped taking black and white photographs.) ( People tell me that tik tok is meant to have a "real" "authentic" vibe unlike instagram which is "fake af" (lol) but I think these people have probably got brain worms. (I do like tik tok more than instagram though I don't have an account on it or anything ( I have an instagram account but I've been logged out of it for the last two months for the sake of my Fragile Mental Health) )

What are some of your fav fit pic moves? I like a hand in pocket myself, but I'm partial to a "taking one step forward" or "covering your face with your hand"
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by maj »

Imo an important genre of fit pic is “has clout on the forum”

This is a fit pic which is objectively bad, irregular, maybe barely focusing on the outfit but lifestyle or shitposting, yet will receive heavy rep from “the heads” of the form, usually followed by comments from people who’s last post was 2 years ago saying something like “lmao remember when you bought those diors, great night, lost mine in my move a few years back”

While some up and coming high effort posters may find this a disrespect to the waywt, while their curated picture gets ignored, maybe even negged for reasons they don’t understand. This form of fit pic is aspirational to those in the know
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by wiggly-woo »

I used to take fit pics by precariously balancing my iphone 4s on whatever objects I could find in the immediate vinicity...usually a small stack of books on top of the desk or just on the kitchen counter - the latter added the perilous thrill that comes with praying the phone wouldn't fall off the counter and smash on the tiled floor. I don't think contemporary phones are bulky enough to stand up on their own accord though.

I can't comment on tiktok/insta as I haven't really used social media since the myspace days but I've always found fit pics fascinating as they're ultimately really weird. I don't think there's any "natural looking" way of doing them, especially for a decent quality one. I suppose having somebody else take the photo would help but if you're going solo then the harder you try to look 'normal' or 'natural' the less normal it tends to look.

I think too many people strive for a sense of authenticity or spontaneity in their pics but this is surely as sisyphean as any task can be as there's nothing authentic or spontaneous about taking a picture of yourself wearing an outfit - which you've probably taken and re-taken a dozen times to account for weird bunching around the ankles, or one hand looking abnormally giant or whatever else the issue was - then uploading said photo to an image hosting provider and then sharing it in an online forum for strangers to see.

I would be in favour of a pescribed set of guidelines for all waywt pics - similar to how passport photos have to be within certain parameters. I would suggest the following as good starting points:

- Video fit pics (including gifs) are pretentious and never acceptable under any circumstances. it's a fit pic, not a fit movie

- Scenic backgrounds are equally pretentious although this does depend on the circumstances - if you're specifically going somewhere just to have a cool backdrop then that is frankly outrageous, but if you just happen to take a pic while you're out and about in a nice place that's fine albeit ostentatious

- The hand over the face thing is not unacceptable but is cumbersome and best avoided.. I assume people do this purely to hide their face but 2 seconds in microsoft paint would do a better job - a solid black or white filled circle over the face is ideal although a haphazard scribble adds a certain charm despite never being very effective. Fortunately the fact that everyone now owns a face mask means this should no longer be necessary.

- One hand (but never both) should always be in a trouser pocket; the other should be left free, by which I mean dangling awkwardly. The dangling hand should not be holding a cigarette - in fact none should be in sight, unless said cig is unlit and nicely tucked away behind the ear

- Squatting is for gopniks, sitting is for toilets, just stand up straight (able-bodiedness permitting)
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by maj »

The polar opposite to “has clout on the forum” waywt is the “conventionally very good looking” waywt

This is a waywt pic which hits the nail on the head in every way, the lighting is great, soft and forward, the camera? Excellently centralised and a good depth of field focusing on the subject, the clothes? Well this thread isn’t about them and it’s for the best it isn’t in this case.

The person who posts in this style will only ever post in waywt, they never get any “forum head rep” but they absolutely rake in the lurker reps. Some see them as adding to the forum, others see them as worthless no contributors to broader forum health

You will often see this style of waywt pic on 3-5 other sites from the same person, it may be accompanied or, worse watermarked with their. insta/ blog/ business email
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by Trench Witch »

In my more depressed/insane days I would try and mimic how milspex held his phone, but my hands are too small.
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by titkitten »

bels wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:17 pm Recently I saw that "influencers" sometimes hold their phone up as though they were taking a selfie, whilst actually taking the photograph with another camera. Is this true?
guessing you're referring to that reddit post? here were the examples enclosed within:
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wiggly-woo wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:22 pm - Scenic backgrounds are equally pretentious although this does depend on the circumstances - if you're specifically going somewhere just to have a cool backdrop then that is frankly outrageous, but if you just happen to take a pic while you're out and about in a nice place that's fine albeit ostentatious
in the most played-out cliche way possible, i often think about this background process. i'm so militant against being somewhere nice and having the thought to "just happen to take a fit pic out here" -- because i think it """takes me out of the moment""" and """prevents me from enjoying the present""" and """am i really thinking about internet points/posts right now""" but, as i said, it's such a trite thought at this point that i tend to take the photo anyway. is it worth it to be so philosophical about fit pics? i still haven't figured it out.

i love a picture with a bit of movement, but i am not sure why.

another genre of fit pic is the couple's fit pic, where you get more internet points posting together than you ever would separately. behind the scenes, you have an awkward conversation about who gets to post the picture and reap that sweet sweet rep.
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by CMYK »

current fit pic process:

realize that I have to leave the house, put on like 3 different jacket combinations because i forget how to dress and haven't been outside yet so i don't know how cold it is

realize that the eventual result has actually produced something that people on the internet would find interesting

"Emma will you take a picture of me for the internet"

be very thankful that i live in a place where cool adobe walls and great lighting is prevalent

old fit pic process:

try way too hard to wear all my most expensive clothing in a way that doesn't make sense.

think about going outside and trying to find a cool place to take the picture but eventually chicken out and attempt to figure out the iphone self timer in my room.

take 10 photos, don't like my face in any of them, decide to just artfully censor my face

remove jacket and shoes, post photo on the internet, eventually change back into jeans and a tee shirt
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by lionfir44 »

outside lighting on a sunny day with zero shadows will make literally any outfit look more vibrant and textured than it would under any other circumstances. big game changer

also people who find a really cool way to photoshop their faces out of the picture tend to do well
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by frannyglass »

i have an almost perfect set up currently (decent sized mirror, room with good natural light—in a word, effortless) with only one major drawback (wearing my shoes on the rug)
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by ramdomthought »

the fitpic economy only exists for the teens. since i have become Old i now only look for Joy in pics.

* blurry pics from people enjoying their lives
* extremely posed pictures of people with their bicycles
* feet circles
* blurry mirror pics with clothes someone writes pages about because they enjoy the clothes
* normal photos of people wearing goofy stuff and smiling


the ones that are clear point farming or Lifestyle(tm) have no soul and thus i do not care for
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by seesaw »

we need to theorize the paratext of the fitpic: the brands list, the choice not to list brands. we are truly in a renaissance era: i've seen, on this forum, someone list FABRICS instead of brands. "miles" recently listed COLOURS instead of brands. a rejection of consumerism? a critique of capital? a dismantling of the apparatus of inscription? you tell me
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by lionfir44 »

now that i think about it, moving away from home and losing the ability to have my mom take my fit pics for me might be the reason i first quit the game
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by maj »

how do people feel about listing brands below the pic in 2021? has discourse moved on? or has it become more polarised

do people still think we should list textures or colours? [these people are wrong]

should the picture stand on its own, or do the brands add to the concept of the fit?

to me brands seem trite if the outfit is purely an aesthetic manifestation of clothes you had to hand and thought looked cool for your evening, but when constructing a FIT PIC (r) they add so much conceptually, brand synergy is important in that sense.

i do not care what acne, aapc and gap you wear together, but i need to know your 1990s Japanese streetwear look does not have obey in it
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by maj »

i also think its right to retract a rep if the brands are added after and it turns out you were wearing obey, it is not a gotchya by the poster, merely deceit
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by griffin »

listing out the colors or fabrics is too much. I'm pretty sure it's not being done as an aid to the colorblind, and as a signifier that you're beyond listing the brands that you're wearing and denoting some sort of simpler, less constrained or consumerist relationship to fashion is negated by the act of posting a fit pic
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by CMYK »

i think im going to start posting a song to set the mood for my fit pics
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Re: THEORY of fitpics

Post by wiggly-woo »

unless you're somehow getting commission i don't see the point of bothering with a brand list, it has literally no impact on how your fit actually looks and is largely done by those who have spent too much money and thus require external validation to soothe their filthy consumerist guilt

the brand synergy argument doesnt hold up as this is a false concept for people who take clothes far too seriously and/or lack imagination and is ultimately yet another flawed attempt to achieve a more "authentic" feeling "aesthetic" (ew)

at the end of a day a picture says a thousand words so let it speak for itself - writing 'visvim x 3' underneath it adds nothing
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