Your mother is wearing army boots and a rayon dress.
Relevant: http://www.buymeonce.com/
Various of my friends have been enthusing about it in The Other Place.
I love my Timbuk2 messenger bag even though I dont ride a fixed wheel bike
Relevant: http://www.buymeonce.com/
I like the idea; but I'm not sure that I trust their current recommendations. Perhaps I will wait a while and see how it evolves.
buymeonce.com
On a quick look, they recommend Le Crueuset, which is my tell for recommending things that are too expensive. I have not seen any evidence that (vastly!) cheaper enameled cast iron is any less durable.
No wonder unfogged doesn't rake in the advertising dollars, it takes the bloggers 10 years to endorse a product.
I don't have either Le Crueset or a cheaper version (I like rust in my food), but what I've heard is that the cheaper stuff is chippier. (On a big black block.)
I just this week got this messenger bag partly on the recommendation of SweetHome, and partly because I really like the laptop bag I bought from them. It's a little larger than I was expecting, but that's no bad thing.
LLBean used to have lifetime repairs on backpacks, in particular their zippers would fail more often than they should, and you could just send it back and they fix it for free. Would also fix other mishaps/tears. But I think they stopped doing that several years ago and now charge for repairs, sometimes a significant fraction of the purchase price.
which is my tell for recommending things that are too expensive.
The cheapest jeans they recommend are $314.47.
You have to calculate A) The chance of your pants size changing and B) your life expectancy. This tells us that $314.47 jeans are appropriate for lumberjacks 35 and under.
10: I have Waterfield laptop and tablet cases - high quality and not outlandishly expensive. Got the first one at least 7 years ago.
FWIW, I've had a lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven for about a year and it seems every bit as good as the Le Crueset pot my ex got in the divorce. No chips yet. I do have to scrub the shit out of it to get carnitas bits loose.
I have not seen any evidence that (vastly!) cheaper enameled cast iron is any less durable.
I think the Le Creuset extra value is that you can damage enameled cast iron and LC will replace it for free.
I've had a Timbuk2 backpack for around a decade or more now and it's also basically brand new, though I haven't used it anything like nearly daily in a long time—in fact I've barely used it once this calendar year.
I've had a Filson bag (which is your tell that I'm some kind of hipster scumbag, I guess) for a couple of years and it's holding up admirably well too.
I, in fact, had a crack in an LC dutch oven and they replaced it. Though I did have to pay for shipping (not cheap).
You are wise, Moby, beyond your years.
Link in 4 does not account for repair expenses incurred by throwing phone across the room after reading "Heirloom quality tools, perfect for your capsule kitchen"
That copy was written by some heirloom quality tools.
I'm working on being wise beyond forty-six years, but I'm not there yet.
I wear my stuff hard, because I have a gray one from Timbuk2, and it looks worn. Rugged but well used.
22: In what form will they be passed down to future generations?
My capsule kitchen? What astronaut has space for a kitchen anymore?
I have a Timbuk2 backpack, too. Also holding up well, but looking for a decent semi-smart messenger/briefcase type bag for work.
I have some Crumpler camera bags, too, which have also held up well, but not crazy about the look of most of their messenger bags.
I've been considering a GOAT dress on sale, they are reportedly excellently well made, but usually only the boring colors turn up discounted. It depresses me to buy e.g. a navy dress until of course it's 715 on the morning of a hearing and I'm contemplating the vast choice of prints in the closet! I've almost convinced myself it's fine to wear a silk print in not too bright of colors for a trial court bench hearing, which would be terrifically convenient as I only do writs in the trial court.
4: the clothing at that website is dire.
Duct-tape doesn't stick to oilcloth at all. (Spent a while digging a wasps nest out of some mulch. Too eco to use poisons, not tough enough to skip suiting up. Filson jacket was excellent for the job, is why relevant)
Darn Tough socks really do have a lifetime guarantee.
30: Have you tried letting a little boy blast away with a high-pressure water blast?
Nooooo.... Is the idea to drown the wasps before they attack, or teach the kid a lesson? Or use the really high-pressure cleaners that will cut up the shrubs and siding if waved around at an errant wasp?
Just to blast out the nest while standing well away. If it's in mulch, you probably don't need much pressure. That's just to get you distance.
I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your yard service.
Do you have an epipen around, just in case?
I have the perfect laptop/book bag in terms of size, shape, compartments, and general appearance, except it's a "leather" "Gucci" bag that I bought on the street 13 years ago in China. The "leather" is now coming off and leaving black specks all over my skin, and you've reminded me that I used to have a Timbuk2 messenger bag that I loved (my mother has it now), so I might look for a replacement there.
If it's not actual performance wear, I think expensive clothing as investment is generally overrated. Most people don't want to wear the same pair of pants for 20 years, even if they could. Plus, if you shop with an eye for quality and don't mind looking shabby, you can buy cheap clothes that last a really long time, and no matter what the pants are made out of, even durable well-made clothes will look worn after awhile. I have H&M t-shirts that are going on 8 years, and an Old Navy blouse that's held up for 20. If you go up a price point or two (eg. Land's End) and avoid the trendy brands, you can find extremely durable well-made clothing for pretty affordable.
I think there are other reasons to buy expensive clothing, but durability isn't a great reason.
For what it's worth I have a 50 year old LC that is in great shape. I also bought another (0n 70% off, which made it about the same as a cheaper brand). I think the main problem with them cost wise is that they use archaic production approaches (sand cast, by hand). Bit the enamel is good. I've chipped a Battali and a lodge before. At full price I'd probably still buy the lodge, 'cause I'm cheap.
Bras are also maybe something where price does signal higher quality and is worth it. I have $80-$100 bras that have lasted 8-10 years, whereas cheaper (not even "cheap") bras lose their shape much sooner.
Most people don't want to wear the same pair of pants for 20 years, even if they could.
They don't? I would love to wear the same pair of pants for 20 years. I've actually been getting frustrated recently with how quickly my clothes wear out, but that's maybe just a sign that I should do less of my clothes shopping at Costco.
You'd need about three pairs of pants if you didn't want to smell like your butt without doing laundry every night.
I don't have the same physical pairs of pants from 20 years ago but I keep buying the same style (as indicated by style number) because I never wore jeans until the mid 90s when I found ones that weren't skin tight in various places. Now my wife has started making fun of me for it because they're out of style, which I agree is true because you can only find them at a few websites but I don't understand what the problem is since I don't really care if people judge the style of my jeans as too baggy, mom, whatever. She seems to think it sends some kind of bad message.
The new (like for the past ten years or whatever) tight pants are not comfortable, ball-wise. I like the pleats.
Anyway, I just came back from the store where a guy my age was wearing a straw hat, a shirt reading "Team Snooki", and a large Star of David medallion. So, I figure I'm a fashion plate, comparatively.
Unfogged commenters may very well be an exception to this, but most people even if they buy the same brand/style/type of shirt over and over aren't buying the exact same thing, because manufacturers subtly update things to look current. A standard white t-shirt from 2016 is cut differently than one from 2006 or one from 1996. People who think they want the same thing actually a thing similar enough to feel the same without actually looking really outdated.
Again, caveats that the men of unfogged might be true outliers on this.
I have a nineteen-year old suit I still wear to court, but I probably shouldn't.
I dunno, I've definitely heard a lot of people (mostly women) complain that a particular style or cut or whatever is flattering on them but they can no longer find it because it's not fashionable anymore so no one makes it. To me that sounds like a desire for the exact same thing.
And of course clothing companies are going to continually make changes to their clothes for various reasons. I'm just skeptical that consumer demand is a major one.
Home seamstresses can make the same flattering fit forever, but usually find that they need to modernize to not look weird. Also, to really look like ready-to-wear, we now have to use less durable techniques than used to be common for home sewing (which was always simplified compared to tailoring, let alone couture).
Or, of course, you can go all in on weird. The Haslam system is looking really interesting to me.
51: I think that is slightly off - in that a small percentage of consumers deeply care about fashion but a much larger subsection mostly doesn't care. So the former group had a lot of sway.
Buttercup's point that this is genderd is true too. In the right context guy today wouldn't look outdated in Levi's, a black tee, and converse ... All purchase in 1990.
I think I could make a fortune selling clothes online. My new store is called man.pants and describes clothes in the format man.pants.jeans.black. The clothes function and never change. To my prospective customers, clothing is a device that allows you to leave the house without being arrested. That's why they don't need any nonsense about cut or fashion: they need something with pockets that doesn't make them look like idiots. I'm going to be a billionaire.
Suits and my one tuxedo I wear until they fall apart. My parents bought me the tuxedo for some high school performance (and subsequently proms) and I still have it in the closet although haven't had an occasion for it in many years. Likewise suits range in age from 9 to 22 years although the pants one the oldest are worn out.
I've actually been getting frustrated recently with how quickly my clothes wear out, but that's maybe just a sign that I should do less of my clothes shopping at Costco.
6.
What is the benefit of producing limited edition collections?
Do you think fashion needs more of that?
A recent study has come out that indicates that one-third of all clothing produced in the world is unsold. A "29£" or "2,990 yen" or "29,99 dollar or euro" article that steals its design from a Paris runway collection, promotes and uses slave labor and consumes a long chain of energy and resources and produces an equally long chain of greenhouse gas emissions in its production and delivery to the marketplace, fits poorly, uses uncomfortable plastic petrochemical fabric, looks cheap, and falls apart after only a month and several washings, and then needs to be replaced and repurchased again 5-10 times a year, and then ends up in an African landfill where its synthetic materials obstruct water flow, degrade topsoil and increase malaria growth or in the oceans all around the world where UK scientists have discovered now contain alarmingly high percentages of microscopic plastic particles most likely caused by our industry... is no bargain at all. It is a waste of money and one of the most expensive, wasteful and destructive things you can possibly do with your money. The business model is totally flawed. Reducing the amount and quantities of product and making things that last as long as possible is a tantamount to the new wardrobe philosophy for those of us who wish to avoid mass extinction of the human species within the next few decades. It takes a tremendous amount of skill, time and work to make a Geoffrey B. Small limited edition article, and it is financially and logistically impossible to over-distribute and over produce. Every piece must count for maker and wearer. If making clothing is going to cost more in the future, and it is, it must contain less waste, and that includes pieces that are over-produced on speculation using slave labor tactics and extravagant consumption of energy, water and natural resources. Micro-scale design and high value production specifically targeted to individual niche customers' exact needs in exclusive and limited series is the logical sustainable, and humane, approach.
I would like to subscribe to your catalog. Although I guess once you get the first issue you never need another so not much of a subscription.
Oh, I should have included this as well:
Our unique position in the world avant-garde circuit in Paris for more than 20 years and our sartorial supremacy and extreme hand made technologies allow us to create and provide the most beautiful, comfortable and correct wardrobe concepts for our customers, who are generally, some of the smartest and best-dressed people on the planet. It also allows us to uniquely pursue our concept of long-term design, which puts a minimum target of 25 years useful life for every design we try to create for its owner. By being a leader at the Paris avant-garde level, we know well in advance where things are going aesthetically and can design as such to guarantee our client that he or she will be the coolest looking person in the room now and in the years and decades ahead. By building and investing ourselves to become the greatest modern tailoring house in the world, we are also able to build a product with that type of aesthetic that can also physically last that long. This is not a pipe-dream or just-hype-talk, we have many customers out there with pieces that we made for them 25 years ago or more, that they can still use and wear to prove it.
53.1: AIPMASPB, I had a boss who sewed all her own clothing. She used patterns from when she was younger (late 60s, early 70s), but the fabric was all modern (as modern as 1998 got). The effect was different.
I've worn dresses for 20+ years until the fabric next to seams wore through, and if possible then have a repair/alteration done for further wear.
Knitters - beware superwash yarn, it's coated in plastic that wears off in microparticles after a few washes and ends up in surface water.
I think one of the things that drove me to adopt a black smock uniform was worrying that I'd wear out my stash of super-high-rise (like sternum-high) jeans and wouldn't be able to get any more. Anyway pretty cool to be alive at a moment when my clothing neuroses are valorized.
I kind of like high-waisted pants but I have no idea if they are currently considered fashionable.
Also, to really look like ready-to-wear
Why is that a goal?
65 the vaping skateboard high school boys near my office have been wearing high-waisted single-pleat pants, tapered, sometimes cuffed. With Iron Maiden tees sometimes.
20 years old? My jacket was made before Alaska gained statehood. I have another jacket that predates Hoover Dam. And is built on very similar lines. It weighs about ten pounds and could probably stop a crossbow bolt.
But that kind of thing seems to last a lot longer than shirts, dresses etc.
Crossbow bolts should be made of wood and/or metal, so sure.
69 Please to wear it at the next meetup. I will bring the crossbow.
I also wear clothing that is 40-80 years old (well, I wore my great aunt's PE uniform until either my sister stole it or my mother threw it out, either one an unforgivable crime, but I still wear clothes my mother made as a teenager 50 years ago and the sweaters and gortex jackets my parents made/bought in the 70s), but that's the exception rather than the rule. Some clothing holds up fashion and durability-wise, and certainly people do seek out vintage clothing. But even if you have an old coat/sweater/pair of shoes/dress, you probably wear it with more contemporary pieces so you don't look like a time traveler.
I also wear clothes I bought in the 90s, but that is because I am fairly unstylish. I make no pretension that they still look in any way "classic" or "timeless," which is how companies try to get you to buy expensive stuff as investment items.
Just to belatedly one-up ogged I recently got a new messenger bag from these people because the one I bought in 1991 was a touch faded and the waterproofing was starting to fail. Now I have two basically identical bags, just one twenty-five years newer than the other. I haven't treated the old one nicely, either, it's been my daily bag basically that entire time, has been to baked in deserts and had all kinds of nasty spills and been trampled underfoot and skidded along pavement.
69
I want to know more about this jacket. Is it wool?
I have a coat from around when Alaska gained statehood, but since it's leather lined with wool I don't have a lot of cause to wear it around here.
I have a very minor dilemma, which is my go-to travel purse is in almost every way perfect--size, shape, color, durability, organization, etc. The problem is, I bought it 11 years ago in China and it's a knock-off Prada Sport bag (very well-done too, I've been told from people who would know). It has Prada logos on it, and I neither am the sort of person who wants to be seen having a Prada bag OR a fake Prada bag.* I've looked to see if I can take the logos off, but they're secured very tightly and wouldn't come off without ruining the bag.
I've looked into a replacement, and anything even remotely as nice is very expensive, plus this bag that I've totally abused is holding up amazingly, and even after 11 years of hard wear is still really functional and looks good.
*This is especially true since I might be spending some time in Italy, and Italians can 1) spot even well-made fakes, and 2) actually really care about that sort of thing.
If you're going to worry about what Italians think, you're in for trouble.
How has this not been a dilemma all 11 years?
It would be hilarious if the knock off Prada bag is actually a real Prada bag and the knock off seller was pretending to sell a fake.
great aunt's PE uniform
Your great aunt dressed up like Prince Edward?
Why is this a goal?
1. Don't admit you're poor.
2. Don't be different.
3. Really don't force your kids to do either of those.
The expo and magazine sewing world is mostly sewing as self-expression, with specialized fitting and prom/bridal/performance dresses close behind. But yard for yard I guess most of the US actual home clothes sewing is probably trying to save money. You have to be either really talented or really badly paid to actually save money making clothes, but the latter is a big category.
Is anybody else thinking of when Carol Burnett came out wearing a dress with a curtain rod during her Gone With the Wind sketch?
I think I have mentioned here before that I have had the opportunity to buy Mercedes Benz pants. At this very moment I am wearing a fine Jeep brand shirt, except the "e"s are "o"s so it is in fact a Joop brand shirt.
I'm actually pretty curious about the less durable techniques. Can you explain to the non-sewer? (I've never made anything more complicated than a pillowcase but I do handsew minor repairs and darn holes in knits.)
I tell holes in knits to go fuck themselves and then I buy new clothing.
84: More serging and gluing, less lining and reinforcing. Much lighter fabric. Raw seams and edges. Ruching and Lycra instead of fitting. Fewer underlayers - no slip or undershirt or dress guards.
OT: My toenail just popped off in one piece. I assume from the hiking trip where I didn't get lost or eaten by a bear. They turned bloody before from shorter hikes or running, but I never had one pop off.
pay as much as you can for proper lingeries, yes. 8-10 years????? shudder.
I was just watching a Peter O'Toole/ Audrey Hepburn movie "How to Steal a Million". I think that if you wore all of her Givenchy pieces as complete outfits, you'd look great but dated. However, there are definitely individual pieces that would look perfectly modern.
I find the newer style of jeans really uncomfortable -tight and too stretchy. So I sought out Stetson boot cut jeans that are made for cow girls. I don't think that those have been updated much. I probably look ridiculous, and I'd love to look a little bit more contemporary, but I can't stand the new Levi's or the GAP.
Her clothes in that movie are impeccable but what astonishes me is the complete, perfect lack of any chemistry between Hepburn and O'Toole.
Maybe he was wearing eight-year old underwear?
87: you could glue it back on, but don't sew it. (Hardcore, dude!)
77: I am puzzled by this because, if you are not the sort of person who wants to be seen with a Prada bag or a fake Prada bag, how come you bought a (fake) Prada bag in the first place and have been using it regularly for the last eleven years? That sort of implies that you are the sort of person who wants to be seen with one.
I wouldn't be surprised if the fake Prada wasn't cheaper or more readily available than unbranded bags.
Just change the 'a' in Prada to an 'o', and say you loved the Goya so much you just had to buy a souvenir.
Or remove the P and say you're a supporter of Ukrainian independence.
While I normally don't care very much about purses, I've wanted (something that looks like) an original Kate Spade bag since they came out. They're pretty, and if I could find a knock-off I'd buy it in a snap.
I did have some nice lingerie i bought in France that lasted nearly ten years because I didn't wear it very much, but I had to toss it post-surgery. One of these days I need to get fitted for a bra for those occasions where I want/need more "shape," but for the time being I'm enjoying not having to wear one. At l least that's one silver lining to the debacle that's been the past 14 months.
That sort of implies that you are the sort of person who wants to be seen with one.
Not really.
For example, you could conceal it inside a slightly larger bag that is less conspicuous.
A Prada wrapped in a Kate Spade wrapped in a Coach.
103: Or it could be that it was cheap and is useful etc., with no particular implications about her desire to be seen with it. It would be odd to buy it in the first place with a positive desire not to be seen with it, but using it doesn't imply a positive desire to be seen with it.
The miracle of self-consciousness and all that is that once you know that people will think your use of a thing in public implies your desire to be seen using it, it becomes harder to use it in public without having a taken a position on your desire to be seen using it.
Ajay's question is still reasonable, though, because if you really don't want to be seen with a Prada bag or a Prada knockoff bag, why would you buy a Prada knockoff bag? Maybe because you actually don't care all that much and after all, it's a useful bag, but in that case, why start caring more now?
P.S. the ability to spot even well-made fakes and the inclination to give a shit is not imparted by Italian air or water or upbringing or whatever.
She may also have bought it before acquiring an Italian boyfriend, which would have made all of this less of an issue.
Well, that was a big mistake. Once you commit to a knock-off Prada bag you really need to just stay away from Italian boyfriends.
Saviano's Gomorrah has some really interesting chapters on knock off clothing, along with being just a great book overall.
Surely the easiest solution would be to acquire a knockoff Italian boyfriend (a Chinese bloke with a good suit who owns a scooter).
I'm not sure the suit and scooter are the main factors influencing Buttercup's attraction.
Chinese people can totally buy both of those, though. If she went for an actual Italian there must have been other reasons.
Don't know about the mainland, but 113s are a dime a dozen round here.
117 Then Buttercup ought to think big and start a gang.
BC does seem to have - and I mean this in the best possible way - a very O-Ren disposition.
I also wear clothing that is 40-80 years old
I got married in a suit that I bought in a charity shop. Because it was better made from better cloth and fit better than anything I could buy new. I would guess it was probably just post-war. Dark grey pin stripe three piece, with double vents.
Shit and I'd heard the demob suits were low quality.
I'm appreciating the analysis of my "Prada" bag! 95 and 105 are right. I bought the bag because it was extremely well-made, practical, and cheap ($8), and in 2005 everything in China was a fake Western brand. At 23, I also thought it was a bit funny to have a fake Prada. The logo is small and if I wear it the right way it's hidden (except on the zipper), and I figure most people at least in the US won't notice it's a Prada knock-off. 107 is right, once I realized that some people noticed and remarked on the Prada, it was hard not to be self-conscious about it. Also, at 33, it feels more embarrassing to have a fake designer bag (both because I've changed and because expectations for 33 yo women are different than for 23 yo women), plus carrying it in a way to always hide the logo gets tiresome, and in Italy it really does feel way more embarrassing.
118
I would not be opposed to leading a gang of well-dressed Chinese men on vespas.
Dating an Italian man does come with benefits unrelated to vespas and clothing,* except now I find out his mother is planning on moving in with us after his father dies (which will be sooner rather than later). She's offered to bring me coffee in bed every morning, but I find it weird to wake up next to a mostly naked man with the man's mother bringing you coffee (and then hanging around to chat). Cultural difference is a bitch sometimes.
*Especially since he won't wear a speedo to the beach in the US.
How long do most people wear their underwear? I feel like I have lots of pairs so they don't wear out as quickly. I replace bras when I think they don't look better than not wearing a bra, and I'm not sure what other metric to use.
Usually a day although sometimes I forget and go two.
I put on seven every Sunday and remove one pair each day.
The inside one or the outside one?
Aren't they topologically equivalent?
"I replace bras when I think they don't look better than not wearing a bra, and I'm not sure what other metric to use."
You're on the right track but there is a long slide from t'other and the goal should not be to stretch it out to the brink. Or cusp! Both work, to my delight. Unless you've got a numerically stupendous collection meticulously rotated no bra is going to last 8 years.
I'm fairly sure I have worn my underwear for the last thirty-odd years without interruption. At least, as far as I know I've never at any time worn anyone else's underwear.
A well-made union suit will last a decade.
Look for the union label on your union suit.
The other day I discovered that jogging with prosthetic breasts is preferable to jogging with the real kind, but not as good as jogging with none.
The fishnet union suit was a big part of late 19th century erotica.
I would imagine that it's possible to make prosthetic breasts in every level of discomfort while used during jogging.
"This one is filled with thumb tacks and bird shoot. We've never sold one, but theory required us to make it."
Moby, it's true, the balconette models are unbounded above.