i'll never get over how skinny jeans have become so normalized, they're now worn by conservatives lamenting the decline of traditional masculinity.
you don't even have to go as far back as the early 2000s to see how this used to be taboo for men
in 2011, Levi's released their "ex-girlfriend jeans," which caused an uproar. many said the reference to women and skinny fit rendered men feminine/gay. this was part of a long convo about the "decline of masculinity."
Michele White dedicated a chapter on these jeans in her book
now one of the main voices around this political war is wearing jeans so skinny, his leg opening doesn't even cover the opening of his shoes. this would have been unthinkable 15 years ago, let alone around the turn of the 2000s.
should add: it's easier to feel comfy in skinny jeans now bc of synthetics. in 2011, guys wore this fit in pure cotton, and they were unforgiving. but even the use of synthetics was once taboo for men! stretch jeans were for women. now lots of guys wear stretch skinny jeans
the most amazing thing about this thread is that it has now attracted normal, non-fashion dudes and social conservatives who are now defending their skinny jeans. pretty amazing!!
conservatives in skinny jeans coming up to the mic to disagree
trying to be nice and assume that people either have not read this thread and/or perhaps are reading too quickly. nothing in this thread suggests that I'm against skinny jeans. i think they can be stylish if they fit your body type and style
i'm only pointing out the irony. 10 yrs ago, social conservatives hated skinny jeans as a sign of "low t, beta male hipsters" and a decline in traditional masculinity. now they wear the style while still lamenting the supposed decline in traditional masculinity.
Not true. Both Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom wear ready-to-wear or factor-made clothes produced on a block pattern.
I'll show you how I know. 🧵
First, what do you notice about this jacket?
For me, the glaring issue is how far the sleeve comes down.
In a 1966 essay titled "The Secret Vice," Tom Wolfe wrote about men obsessed with custom tailoring. He talked about "marginal differences" such as working buttonholes.
On first glance, you may be impressed but not know why.
The reason is deceptively simple: they hang pin straight. This is more obvious when you compare them to trousers that don't hang so cleanly.
It's not easy to get trousers to hang this straight. There are a few reasons for this.
First, if you were to take off all your clothes and look in the mirror (do this privately, not on the internet), you'll notice your body is not perfectly symmetrical.
As some may know, my family is from Vietnam. My parents fled Saigon shortly after the Tet Offensive, as bombs were falling around them and they weren't sure what was going to happen once the North Vietnamese took over the city.
When my dad left Vietnam, he wasn't able to take much with him — just some family photos of life back home, some clothes, and a 1960s Rolex Datejust he bought as a present for himself. Growing up, I always saw my dad wear this watch. It was basically part of his body.
Earlier this year, it was reported that JD Vance has a tailor in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was a charming story about an Italian immigrant named Romualdo Pelle, who has worked as a tailor since he immigrated to the US in 1960.
Watch the story very closely. What do you notice?
Those familiar with tailoring will see something very peculiar:
In the 19th century, gentlemen wore black frock coats or tailcoats with a white shirt and dark waistcoat. As the frock coat gave way to the suit, the white linen shirt — a mark of respectability and propriety — remained.
For much of the 20th century, this was the standard uniform of the American male that sat at any social station above blue collar. And even then, blue collar people often wore these clothes to churches and weddings.
A couple of weeks ago, Trump struggled with a broken umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.
Let me tell you how we got to this point — and the tragic downfall of the noble umbrella. 🧵
It's hard to imagine now, but it was once controversial for a man to carry an umbrella. The modern umbrella's progenitor, of course, is the parasol, which 18th century French women carried to preserve their light-colored skin (at the time, a mark of class and status).
British men considered the accessory too French, too foreign, and most importantly, too effeminate. That was until 1756, when Jonas Hanway, an upper-class philanthropist, started to carry a waterproofed version around London to protect himself from the rain.