Finding Style From Within
by Jason Cabico on April 29, 2009 in Culture
Last weekend, I had my first al fresco dinner of the year. The evening was warm enough that I could finally pull out a pair of shorts from the container of warm weather clothes hibernating sadly under my bed. As my friend and I sat down at our table, he started going on about how spring had arrived. Despite the summery ensemble I was sporting, I quickly told my friend how wrong he was. True, the weather was pleasant enough for me to study outside during the day in jeans and a t-shirt, but it wasn’t top-off-sunbathe warm. So, for me, sunny day plus t-shirt equaled the beginning of a farmer’s tan, and two-tone appendages are never a good look. Read more
Style to Fight Off the Winter/Recession Depression
by Jason Cabico on February 11, 2009 in Culture
(Left to right: Bottega Veneta Spring ’09, Marc Jacobs Spring ’09, Michael Kors Pre-Fall ’09)
OMFG. It is ugly out there, folks. Ugly and uncomfortable. Last time I checked weather.com, it said it feels like two degrees outside. I don’t even know what that means – besides it being time for me to compulsively check airfares to destinations below the 34th parallel. The economy explores new lows on a daily basis, almost in direct and opposite proportion to my credit card balance. And the new administration just isn’t inspiring the kind of hope . This winter is definitely not cute, nor conducive to being our most stylish selves. But with fashion week and the Valentine pseudo-holiday upon us, I feel obliged to salvage this groundhog-forsaken season with a little faith that things can be better with a little ingenuity and effort. Read more
This Season, Some Styles are Better Left on the Runway
by Jason Cabico on December 10, 2008 in Culture, News
The hectic schedules, unflattering lighting design, and the dreadfully serious and practical social life of the K-School are about as style-friendly as a religious order (the Pope’s red Prada shoes and silk Buddhist monk robes notwithstanding). Function is all well and good, but without attention to form, there’s just no “fun” in function. And let’s face it, we could all use a little more fun in our purpose-driven lives. Read more
Dressed Up or Dressed Down, Guys Can Do Better
by Jason Cabico on November 19, 2008 in Culture
When you walk by Out of Town News in Harvard Square, you might notice that most style and design magazines are geared toward women. Meanwhile, men tend to be targeted by sports and lifestyle activity rags, which occasionally include spreads on dress or personal care.
This glossy marketing is both a symptom and reinforcement of societal gender norms. There’s still the tendency for mothers to choose their sons’ clothes from birth until college, or worse (as my mother tries to do) buying us those pre-packaged suit and tie combos that seem to be leftover from 1995. Either way, many men end up thinking that any attention to looks is the domain of women (and some gay men) without much sense of their own personal style.
Somehow the movement toward gender equality has meant both more substantive and stylistic choices for women, while men continue to stand by the same old thinking and the same tiresome looks. In some small way, it remains a countercultural argument that men ought to pay more attention to how they look and carry themselves. While I will point out some basic dos and don’ts, this is not an attempt to “queer eye” HKS guys. It is simply an effort to get them to break out of a comfort zone in an area of life that ultimately doesn’t matter all that much, but is nonetheless a personal space in which they can – to use a gender-loaded phrase – “be all that they can be.”
Fall/Winter Ready-to-Wear 2008: This season’s latest menswear looks incorporate lighter tones and seasonally traditional colors – brown, gray, cream, and a bit of black, richer fabrics, and softer structures. Historically, during economic downturns dark and somber styles predominate, but it might do us all a bit of good to look a tad more optimistic by dressing toward the lighter end of the spectrum, because as it is, it’s going to be a long, hard winter.
Pleated Pants: To quote Nancy Reagan, “Just say no!” Look for flat front pants and shorts. Pleated pants very rarely help to improve proportion or silhouette. Rather, they end up making guys look stuffy, older, and bloated. Pleated pants became increasingly popular with the rise of late 20th century conservatism, but I’m hoping the recent shift in politics will also shift pleats permanently out of style. Republican or Democrat, men are better off without pleats no matter what type of pants are involved.
Shoes: A couple of months ago, I was on a jet bridge with five other guys waiting for our valet luggage to be brought up, and I noticed that I was the only one not wearing bulky, dingy brown shoes. They were too clunky to be dress shoes and too boring and heavy to really be casual. I could only surmise that these shoes are what “masculine” shoes are supposed to look like. But why should masculine mean always wearing shoes that look like they’re ready for a hike? Let’s face it, most guys probably don’t make it out to the mountains all that much, and the streets of Cambridge really don’t require all-terrain tread. Depending on the look one is going for, basic canvas “tennies”, sleek Euro sneaks, funky American kicks, or traditional lace-ups, loafers, or heeled boots will help set it off better than those big, brown, multi-purpose clunkers. While we’re getting SUVs off the road, why not their footwear equivalents?
Coordination Over Consistency: Guys tend to be tediously cautious and redundant in their dress. The same drab cuts and colors day after day are relied upon to avoid looking horribly mismatched. However, don’t be afraid to change styles completely on occasion. Perk up a basic outfit with a bit of bright color or incorporate louder pieces (within reason) in some outfits. I realize many guys probably don’t even think of dressing in terms of “outfits,” but a better outfit is simply the coordination of pieces of clothing that aesthetically complement each other and present a point of view – and, ideally, work against a guy looking like every other dude in school.
Fashion and style is supposed to be fun and expressive of identity, creativity, and cultural context. However, the very idea of paying attention to one’s appearance rarely settles upon the minds of many men. Or maybe I’m wrong, because the same guy that says he doesn’t care what he looks like, what people think of how he looks, or that such things shouldn’t matter is the same one that is offended when his look is criticized, or nonetheless opts to participate in professions that normatively require specific attire.
So, while some may agree with Thoreau that one should “beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,” I think Twain more presciently observed: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence upon society.”
We wouldn’t be at HKS if we didn’t want to be influential in some regard. Why not do so with a strong sense of self and an equally strong personal style?
Until next time K-School, keep it classy.
One Contest Palin Won by a Landslide
by Jason Cabico on November 12, 2008 in Culture
OH NO, Michelle O.
No we can’t…approve of the way that Narciso Rodriguez dress makes you look. Read more
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
by Jason Cabico on October 28, 2008 in Culture
As much as I hate the fact that the arrival of autumn means having to wait in coat check lines, I do look forward to fall for one reason: better style. Read more
