absolutely no interest in fashion

[paislexy]

Personally I have absolutely no interest in fashion and find it amusing/superficial/ridiculous that people spend so much time, money and effort just in an attempt to look good. So many people seem to care about it though so I'm just wondering if someone could enlighten me so I can learn a bit more.

[camping jazz]

it's like being able to wear your favorite album

[Suquida]

Why did you sign up to a fashion forum to tell people this

[absurdmind]

one day when Plato had invited to his house friends coming from Dionysius, Diogenes trampled upon his carpets and said, "I trample upon Plato's vainglory." Plato's reply was, "How much pride you expose to view, Diogenes, by seeming not to be proud." Others tell us that what Diogenes said was, "I trample upon the pride of Plato," who retorted, "Yes, Diogenes, with pride of another sort."

[DeafIdiotGod]

an attempt to look good

It's not so much about that all the time, most people here pursue aesthetics that they find personally appealing rather than trying to adhere to what looks "good" (what does that even mean anyway). For people here it's an interest in the same way as film or music, just one they can enjoy in a different way.

[schiaparelli]

Personally I have absolutely no interest in fashion and find it amusing/superficial/ridiculous that people spend so much time, money and effort just in an attempt to look good. So many people seem to care about it though so I'm just wondering if someone could enlighten me so I can learn a bit more.

i question your motives in making other people explain to you their interest in fashion. it feels somewhat condescending that you expect us to justify what is for many of us a deep and sincere interest, and that you assume that it's important that people who are interested in fashion care about presenting themselves as not superficial and not ridiculous to you.

my instinct is to tell you to lurk more. it's not necessary that you individually and personally approve of what other people are interested in and care about, and if you genuinely want to know and understand, spend some time in our world. be open-minded. think about what people are saying and doing in response to fashion and style. i would suggest starting here, where @yoyobeat asks: "why do you care about clothes?" and reading people's responses.

that said, an abbreviated/incomplete explanation:

why everyone should care about fashion

• we are judged by appearances
• even dressing to "not care" about how you look is itself making a statement about yourself through your attire
• fashion influences practices of gender, class, group/subculture identity, consumerism
• just, uh, watch the devil wears prada or something

why we specifically care about fashion

• all of the reasons above but we went into the deep end of caring
• as a creative outlet and mode of self-expression
• appreciating the ways fashion can reinforce social norms or question/subvert them
• allows us to engage in communities that think critically about aesthetics, consumerism, things that fashion touches
• we have a point of view and it's hard to turn that off and not develop opinions about things, and it's hard to not see what looks good/bad/intriguing to us
• we have to wear clothes, might as well truly enjoy and appreciate those garments that we bring into our everyday lives

[can-]

then youre in the right place!!

[blanket]

Perhaps we could make this thread a "how I got into fashion" and "why am I interested in fashion" stories thread? Those are fun to read

@paislexy I hope you're not trolling, because I'm going to answer as if you aren't and probably embarrass myself a bit.

The first thing I'd do is put aside the idea that fashion is all about looking good or looking attractive. It's certainly an important part of fashion, but it's not the sole point.

An ok place to begin learning about fashion is craftsmanship in classic menswear, because it's fairly straightforward, but will expand your understanding of fashion beyond "looking good." The classic menswear aesthetic is not too weird and won't provoke that "wtf is this frivolous extravagance" gut reaction - it is easier to understand why someone would pay thousands of dollars to look sharp in a suit than it is to understand why someone would pay thousands of dollars to look like a goth ninja or an anime character or a giant pile of blankets.

Here are some posts and blogs on classic menswear to begin with. n.b. I don't know that much about classic menswear helppp

Spoiler:

• A Harris on shoe construction and design, Styleforum
• brentwatson's post on r/malefashionadvice on making his own shoes
• the difference between cheap and $$$ shoes, on r/mfa
• mfa's basic guide to suiting
• English Cut, a blog written by Tom Mahon, a Saville Row tailor
• The Shoe Snob, a blog written by Justin FitzPatrick, a shoe designer

Even if you don't like suits and wouldn't wear them ever, you can still appreciate the skill and effort that goes into making them, and perhaps expand your understanding of fashion. However, the culture that surrounds classic menswear can be too focused on craftsmanship, which is also only one facet of fashion :/

Another thing to consider is that "looking good" is not some sort of static ideal everyone shares, but a fairly arbitrary product of culture. Men have worn high heels. Men have worn skin-tight tights to emphasise their manly calves. Women have worn giant bejewelled shoulder pads. Women have worn skirt frames to create the illusion of large bottoms. What looks good is always changing, never constant. Yohji Yamamoto, a Japanese man born during WWII, is going to have a very different idea of what "looks good" to Hedi Slimane, a French man who grew up with rock and punk, and they are both going to have a different idea of what "looks good" to you.

If you want a better understanding of unusual design, you first have to expand your idea of what "looks good" and squash your natural desire to dismiss things you don't understand. Read about contexts, histories of clothes, histories of brands, backgrounds of designers, environment, foreign culture, etc. It is useful to look at wikipedia, the vogue encyclopaedia, style.com and forums like ct, styleforum and stylezeitgeist.

Appreciation of fashion and design is not necessarily related to whether or not you would wear it. I admire how Ann Demeulemeester skilfully constructs dark romantic moods, but I am not interested in wearing her clothes because I want to look relaxed and cozy. The Cutting Class is a good blog that highlights how designers use techniques to create visual effects.

If you're actually more interested in the looking good/dressing yourself part of fashion, then r/malefashionadvice's sidebar and the subreddit as a whole is an good place to start.

there was a great overview of Raf Simons' work on Hapsical's blog that would be really nice to show people but it's gone now :(((

Edit: o: thank you germinal
http://care-tags.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61&p=38012#p38012 <--- Raf Simons overview by Hapsical

[Syeknom]

Clothes can be fun

[une_impasse]

But seriously, not caring about fashion is still caring about fashion, you can't completely remove yourself from it without commenting on it. You do put effort in how you dress and how others perceive you even by not caring, it's a very weird paradox but everything you wear or choose not to wear says something about you to other people, and being able to control that or use it to your advantage is quite fun.

For me, self-esteem took a long time to develop, and once I felt good about myself, it became much easier and more fun to put effort into looking good, and in turn being proud and excited about what I'm wearing helps me feel good about myself.

[Morlin]

these bots are getting really judgemental

[nick]

because of those days where you look at yourself in every reflective surface with your model face and say: "Damn look at that handsome fella"

[vgtbls]

I got into fashion because one time I was super high and accidentally clicked on /fa/

[yoyobeat]

To add to the pretty cool responses of schiaparelli and natural log above, I want to highlight one of the most incredible things about fashion: it is dynamic. Your perspective on it may radically shift over time because of how many different (but valid) viewpoints there are. I know mine has.

Fashion encourages almost schizophrenic identities, which, while bad for the wallet and maybe the inner peace of the soul, has the benefit of opening you up to different ways of viewing things. I feel like once I wear different types of clothes I inhabit subtly different worlds - the clothes really do affect how I see the world around me as well as myself. I also think that trying out new ways of dressing doesn't betray any kind of roots. There's a reason why a lot of the #menswear people of the last decade grew up as sneakerheads. Similar overlying culture, different surface content. I studied English and it might be that part of me that appreciates that fashion has no right answer. Or you could say there are many right answers.

Clothes engage the senses. Art is food mostly for the eyes. But fabrics, and the clothes that people use them to make, are the rare objects that are DESIGNED to give you a complex experience of touch. Beyond what fabric feels like to your fingers, or a soft cashmere scarf around your neck, the weight (or lightness) of fabrics on your body is an amazing feeling. Sometimes to the point of being an almost erotic experience.