Fashion Thread

Crosspost.

"To anyone here who uses them... what's the appeal of high heels? From my understanding they are pretty uncomfortable to use."

High heels were originally a dude thing. First they were used so that, when riding a horse, boots could take a fixed placed in stirrups. Then noblemen got them longer and longer as a way of showing off

• Their epic horseriding calves that only frequent horseriders (i.e. nobles) could have
• Their lack of need to do anything resembling labour, given how impractical that footwear would be

Then women started doing it as a gesture of masculine empowerment. Then men stopped doing it because chicks were doing it and that made it uncool. Then chicks ran with the showing off calves and impracticality, but it became less "I am noble" and more "I am a hot chick".

They make your legs look longer and sexier. As for comfort, it depends on the make of them. I rarely wear high heels as I find it very difficult to walk in them - I have weird, narrow feet

Cross post.

Can the idiom "legs that go all the way up" be used to describe the legs of a woman if she's wearing a knee-length dress/skirt?

I'm trying to figure this one out, because someone used it in a fic that I've recently started reading, and I pointed out in the thread for discussing the fic (which the author himself made and participates in) how I think it's not appropiate because you can't tell that the legs are long and shapely if all you can see of them are the parts below the knees◊ (for all you know, the thighs are quite misshapen and thus ugly-looking), thus the idiom should really be only used if the woman is wearing a miniskirt/minidress (or a microskirt/microdress if you want to really emphasize the legginess), rather close-fitting pants (baggy ones obscure the outline too much), or mid-thigh shorts (skirt-based example). Yet apparently more than a few people disagree with me, though at least one person said that I may have a point, and another eventually admitted that it might be a dated usage, as the phrase seems to have been in use back in the 1950s, which is a time when dresses and skirts were always below the knee, and anything higher than that would be utterly scandalous.

So... What do you guys think?

PS: The fact that both pics are of Neon Genesis Evangelion characters isn't really important.

I looked at that menswear guide from a page ago and it saddened me to just see suits everywhere.

I'm sure they look good, but I hate, hate wearing them. They make my shoulders cry in terror and pain. And it's really unfortunate because suits seem to be the go-to sexy clothing choice for men these days. Are there fashion guides for anything, but suits?

edited 18th Nov '15 11:59:15 AM by Luminosity

Oh, yes, certainly

But I think your problem is you got suits that don't fit you well. As far as I'm concerned, suits are the absolute most comfortable, reassuring, pleasing item of clothing for me. I feel so... safe, inside them. They frame me just right, like a father's arm around my shoulders, encouraging, and gentle, and warm, and protective, and yet structuring.

*does a Google image search* Nice. I am so getting me one of these sweaters.

That's a... fantastic description of suits. I don't know. I just never could find a suit to fit. the closest I got to a comfortable suit is by terminating the jacket◊ (pictured - not me :D)

The Waistcoat of Style is stylish indeed.

As finding a suit that fits, here's a nice guide.

edited 18th Nov '15 1:15:20 PM by TheHandle

In relation to what I asked in the History Thread, is it true the Victorian style of dresses didn't spread to other countries?

Define "Victorian Style" (that's seventy years of fashion right there!) and "Other Countries" (other than England? the UK? Europe?).

I was referring to this. As to what I meant by "other countries," refer to what Sabers Edge wrote here.

If you look at the article, you'll notice that there were a lot of different fashions throughout the decades. It is more sensible to think in terms of overall Western Fashion and go decade by decade, than to think in terms of the reign of one monarch of one country, and the subtle and fuzzy idiosyncrasies thereof.

edited 20th Nov '15 11:38:35 AM by TheHandle

Thanks, but in regards to name, what was the style seen here◊ called?

edited 20th Nov '15 3:00:50 PM by HallowHawk

Has fashion almost always been gender-differentiated?

Wanna narrow that down to a time period and culture?

About Victorian fashion: does the Empire count? Because it definitely spread to the red bits of the map on all continents. And, kind of got to Antarctica, too... if you squint a bit. :/

Well it DID...just didn't stick around much.

I am not sure if this is the best place to ask for it but...what is the name of what Baldwin IV in his appearance on the movie Kingdom of Heaven◊ is wearing?

Is it a veil and wimple? Just a wimple? Just a veil? Normal headcover? P.S: No historical reference of him wearing a mask exists but just in case, he wears that and a mask in the movie because he was Baldwin IV, the Leper

Not sure. It doesn't seem to wrap around the chin, so we can rule out a wimple. If I had to guess, I might call it a veil, but that's the best I can do right now.

By the way, I have a ykttw for a Useful Notes section on clothing. If anyone here wants to help with those, you are more than welcome.

How much of a thing are capes, ponchos, giant scarves, etc in current day men's fashion? I've seen women wearing them as well as on runway collections recently. However, I haven't really seen guys with them on the streets, though this could simply be a geographic limitation.

As such, is it an unusual sight for a guy to be wearing these things in a modern setting? If not, what countries/age group are they currently popular in?

edited 19th Dec '15 3:31:59 PM by peasant

SCARVES!

Thanks, though not really what I was referring to since the article only talks about normal-sized scarves.

You'll probably find them amongst classic series Doctor Who fans, but that's about it for giant scarves.

From the racism thread (which was also talking about dreadlocks):