One of the most unfortunate misconceptions about dressing in this style is the misconception that it costs a lot of money, that you need to shell out tons to dress decently. It isn't true, it really isn't. This misconception shuts lots of guys down before they even start.
If you want to spend a ton of money on clothes, you can. If you want to buy everything new, you can. But you don't have to, you really don't have to. Guys who pretend you have to are only doing so because they are either shallow brained or don't know any better.
I try to stress the affordable pieces I find at thrifts or eBay to drive home this exact point. I don't have tons of cash, no way. I am not a money guy, I am not some wealthy guy, trust me. If you have cash, sure you can spend it. If you don't, you just need a little more time.
To the guy who says *adjusts glasses annoyingly*
"well, actually in order to acquire high quality fabrics from reliable makers you need to invest...."
Shut up, get out. I don't have any patience for this circling of the toilet bowl fakery.
Every guy, of every station in life, can present himself with the kind of ascendent modern dignity he seeks, it just takes some time, some searching, some digging. If you don't have the cash, you just need some time.
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It isn't normal to have the public domain awash with filth. The public domain, in sight and sound, should basically be G-Rated, a state should be able to ensure this. This isn't a shocking idea, that it sounds strange to some is a testament to how degraded our time is.
Maintaining some kind of decency in the public space is not some strange idea. Basically all functioning societies have done this to some degree, including very recently. This isn't strange, it should be a normal base level expectation.
A common refrain to this is "people don't want it, it never works". First, that isn't necessarily true. Second, if it is true, it is a great testament to the fact that our lower impulses win out often and there is basically no "grand wisdom of the people".
I was at the grocery store the other day. A cashier attendant walked over to help me with checking out. He, like all the other workers, was wearing a store issued t-shirt with a logo on the front and a bunch of stupid designs on the back.
Why should workers have such a stupid uniform? Why should your average worker be required to wear such a ridiculous t-shirt? Why not a shirt with a collar and buttons? Make it store-issued with a small logo on a chest pocket if you want.
Would this be less practical than a t-shirt? No. So why the t-shirt? You work your whole day on your feet waiting on 100s of different people. You are running around to assist their requests and you have to wear some stupid t-shirt the whole time.
This is hilarious and it made me laugh hard. Yet, excluding that tattoos, the actual aesthetic and approach of this era is 10x better than our Athleisure World. Brass-tacks you are talking about a guy wearing a shirt with a collar and buttons, leather shoes/boots and jeans.
Is it "nice"? No. Is it formal? No. But it does reflect a degree of intention. And intention does count because it reveals the spirit. You could say this is more trashification as opposed to slobification.
Trashification is much better spiritually than slobification because there is style and care in trashification, it is just misdirected. Slobification is the absence of any attempt and fully embracing descent. This is what we live in now.
People misunderstand dressing decently as "going back" etc... or "living in another time". No, that is totally wrong. It isn't about the past. It is about the constant. The sleek, textureless androgyny of Athleisure World today isn't the constant, it is disorienting.
Clothing has always had varying degrees of ornamentation. There has always been texture, seams, thread that is visible. There has always been a natural organic image that is revealed in the garments for both men and women.
There has always been slightly different iterations of garments for men and women, different garments for different times or activities. The collar which builds up toward our face has been around a long time. It is aesthetically pleasing beyond practicality.
Staring at the sky, you fix your eyes on a plane making its way through the blue. You stand there, paralyzed still, staring up at that small distant vessel. You don't want to move, you want to look. Why? Why look? Why watch? Why wonder?
High above the earth, the cabin soars. Far away, the people sit, read, eat, drink. Where are they going? Who are they? They look out the windows, they see the golden sun above the clouds. The great bubble mountains in the air like pillows around the steel. It is like a dream.
From their place high above they look down at you, wondering who lives where you do. They sleep with their head against the window, lulled by the rumbling of the engines. We are captivated by their soaring above. It appears to us like a book with nearly all the pages missing.
Chill Out-ism has had a dreadful impact in recent history, particularly on men. "Chill out bro" etc... is a rejection of spirit, heart and intensity. It rejects caring, earnestness, action. In a way it could be an attempt to remain a child, carefree. A rejection of manhood.
Chill Out-ism can come from the guy who secretly wants to remain a child, who wants to run from concern and care, who tries to tell you to "chill out" because he doesn't want to be reminded that he is abdicating some sort of adult impulse, the impulse to care about something.
It can also be false and a trick. Sometimes people will tell you to "chill out" because the only thing standing in between you, and them getting what they want, is you not "chilling out". So, they tell you to chill out to get what they want.