You had @japhroaig at “tweed”.
10 Likes
Honestly, it never occurred to me to try women’s clothing. I’ve been 6’2" since I was 15 years old, which would make me a hell of a supermodel but which won’t allow me to find a hell of a lot of women’s pants at the mall that would fit me. Plus I have quite narrow hips and stick-like legs and junk that kinda demands a fella’s cut of pants. (Like the Duluth Trading Company always jokes, I don’t want cheap hotel syndrome: no ballroom.)
Women’s socks may often be interesting to look at, but I’m a thick cotton sock guy. I’ll wear black dress socks to the Emmys and the odd wedding, but otherwise it’s comfy, thick white (or gray) cotton socks for me.
And what’s this talk of pleats, and selvedge, and lapels and such? I wear Levi’s 527 or 517 boot cut jeans nearly every day of the year, usually the slightly stretchy kind for comfort unless I’m doing something that needs heavier-duty denim. Boring? Sure, but who cares? I always look the way I want to look, and feel perfectly at home to boot. I never have to spend a moment’s thought wondering what outfit is going to make the best impression on any given day.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I use Va-Va-Vanilla Secret underarm antiperspirant (“Strong enough for a man, but made for people like me who wanna smell like cupcakes”), but I’ve yet to see an article of women’s clothing that would look or feel better on me than the stuff I already have.
Except for a particular flowing cottony dress my assistant occasionally wears. Looks like it’d be a luscious and comfy warm-weather snuggie for curling up with an hour or two of HBO. I’d sure look ridiculous in it, though.
sounds like you and your friend should market a more authentic version…that would be awesome!
just be prepared to stock a huge number of different wool tartans, because heaven forbid you wear the wrong one!!!
Ah.
Because Levi has consistently cheapened the quality of their denim, I find their jeans don’t put up with wear the way I’d like. And I’m a traditional 501 fit (not whatever weird new 501 thing they’re pushing these days), I wear jeans that emulate older styles. So the denim comes off looms from the 20’s and 30’s, and as a result it’s much higher quality. I like it much more, and it lasts me much longer. It’s a smallish premium in price to pay, but totally worth it in my details-obsessed world.
Also: cotton socks are fine and all, but I’d urge you to try some decent quality merino wool. Changed. My. World. And they last forever.
2 Likes
Speaking of excellent materials for socks: silk.
3 Likes
Excellent material for socks?
Eff socks, wash your shoes.
(I only half kid)
Even better: cashmere.
2 Likes
Ayup. It’s a ghost cat, like my username. Liked the look of it.
3 Likes
One of the weird co-indicators of ADHD is that clothing is amazingly uncomfortable. If an elementary school age boy has ADHD you can reliably predict that he wears as few clothes as possible at home, they’re comfy, and he’s torn out anything that might tickle him, including seams, tags, and pleats. Anything that’s non-uniform. I still don’t wear long sleeves of any kind, because I can’t handle anything brushing the palm-side of my wrists. I just can’t handle it. I’ll either wear short sleeves, or long sleeves with gigantic wrists so that I don’t ever have to be touched there.
Aaaaaaanyway, the point is, I hate jeans. Or rather I love jeans, they’re durable and go well with most things, and are easy to take care of, and are even decently easy to do clothes-surgery on. But they’re damn uncomfortable to break in, and I try to make my current, comfy, worn-in jeans last as long as possible because nowadays, I don’t have my parents around forcing me to walk around like a bowlegged cowboy breaking in a new pair. I’d rather just walk around in sweats or shorts.
1 Like
Huh. I did not know this. And one more thing makes sense.
(That explains a thing or two!)
2 Likes
By the time I was in middle school, I figured out that if I took fine-grit sandpaper to the seams, I can wear them down in 15 minutes to the point where they’re reasonably comfortable. I also have become very deft over the years at seam-ripping the tags out of things.
Who cares if it’s wash instructions, I can either have clothes with the tags in them, or clothes that I’ll wear.
1 Like
I had very similar experiences, and my ADD diagnosis predates the existence of ADHD.
Never connected them.
2 Likes
Mine does too, technically. I was diagnosed during the age of the DSM-IV-TR, so it was either ADD-impulsive, ADD-inattentive, or ADD-Mixed, with hyperactivity tacked on. Now in the DSM-V it’s all considered ADHD, and before the DSM-IV-TR it was all considered ADHD as well. I’m not hyperactive, but off meds I’m too inattentive to drive. In fact I’ve gotten into fewer accidents drunk on meds than I have sober off meds, so that’s scary. I don’t drive after drinking even one drop anymore. I nearly hit a kid and broke a wheel and decided to be a grownup and set some rules for myself.
3 Likes
Jebus. I’m one of them ADD’ers that hyperfocus when it’s interesting, and can’t give damns even when I want to if it’s not grabbing me.
4 Likes
Yup. I know that well. Thank fsm for molecules to fix that. Otherwise I might actually be doing things that interest me.
4 Likes
When your aspect ratio is basically the same as a cellphone, properly buttoned-DB jackets are wonderful. They make you look beefy and stout, the slimmer cuts with the single buttons end up making me look like a hamknuckle wrapped in wool.
1 Like
I gotta side with @nothingfuture when it comes to socks. Cotton is doable, but merino wool, or smartwool is where it’s at. No more foot stink, no more sweaty feet, not too hot, even in the summer, decent insulation in the winter and they layer more easily than cotton, and they do last forever. Get your pair after whenever you have lunch, just like with shoes, since your feet swell during the day thanks to gravity.
3 Likes
SmartWool is quite durable, but I have had more than a few pair where they have worn down to just the warp fibers in places. Merino is awesome though.
3 Likes
I was waiting for this. I would’ve done it myself, but I was too lazy to find the gif and then post it.
