Althouse: "I never wanted to play to the boy-clothes market. I’ve fought my whole life trying to get boys to dress like men."

February 3, 2017

"I never wanted to play to the boy-clothes market. I’ve fought my whole life trying to get boys to dress like men."

Says fashion designer Joseph Abboud, interviewed in the NYT.

42 comments:

Bob Ellison said...: "fought"?

You said something about "grownup language" in a previous post. Could we get Democrats and fashion designers to understand what "to fight" means?; 2/3/17, 8:52 AM
traditionalguy said...: Fight means resist and not surrender. So Abboud did well. And he has always made the best men's clothes, bar none.; 2/3/17, 8:55 AM
Derek Kite said...: I have an urge to buy a suit from this man.; 2/3/17, 8:58 AM
ndspinelli said...: This guy used to be on Imus regularly. He's sorta sissified.; 2/3/17, 8:58 AM
Known Unknown said...: I just remarked to co-workers that when we come into the office we no longer look like we are going to work, but rather to do some light camping.; 2/3/17, 9:04 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: He, I assume, should have focused on getting men to dress like men.

Boyhood is too short as it is.

This guy probably assumes that men who dress boyishly aren't men though.

Sadly for me his take is probably better than my knee-jerk thinking "foppish dandy don't got nothing to tell me about manhood."; 2/3/17, 9:18 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "He's sorta sissified."

Real men don't talk like that.; 2/3/17, 9:22 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Shucks... I don't have evidence boyhood is too short, not in 2017.

I think Salinger and Nobakoff (the Lolita author who I just realized has a name I cannot spell) influenced my initial reaction moreso than even what I know to be today's reality for many.

Thanks a lot guys. All that talent, but a certain presciency deficit from my vantage.; 2/3/17, 9:24 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Maybe they figured Huxley had the never grow up thing masterpieced already, along with old Pete Pan of course.; 2/3/17, 9:27 AM
Paddy O said...: Because to dress according to 20th century North Atlantic fashions is the definition of being a man.

Not only colonizing fashion but also de-humanizing the great amount of people in history and throughout the world.; 2/3/17, 9:31 AM
Lyle said...: I too recognize it as a northern, northern hemisphere style of dressing. It's not practical in a lot of other places. Fashion is also damn expensive and time consuming.; 2/3/17, 9:36 AM
SayAahh said...: How does he feel about designing shorts?; 2/3/17, 9:38 AM
Michael said...: Good article. His comment about not being able to recognize the CEO from the guy delivering food is spot on. Under the current fascist regime we may be seeing more and more "conformity" in the suit wearing department. LOL; 2/3/17, 9:38 AM
rehajm said...: Ya have any men's shirts for men?

Abboud is not a fop. Humble and unassuming. Loves to go to Red Sox games. Sits in the stands, not a suite.

Great seats though. He's not an animal...; 2/3/17, 9:45 AM
Roughcoat said...: Spring is coming, time to ramp up the anti-shorts hysteria.; 2/3/17, 9:57 AM
rhhardin said...: His trail shorts in the Cabelas catalog are the best.; 2/3/17, 10:01 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: My on the job wear:
Dickies work pants.
A cable sweater.
Timberland light hiking boots, suitably scuffed.
Argyle socks.; 2/3/17, 10:03 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/3/17, 10:03 AM
Jay Vogt said...: For a middle-brow line (and I say that as a compliment), Abboud suits actually do at least make an attempt to fit - and for me at least mostly succeed. So, his comment about being one of the few (maybe the only) designer to come from a tailoring environment makes sense.; 2/3/17, 10:29 AM
Leslie Graves said...: I misinterpreted the sentence, "I’ve fought my whole life trying to get boys to dress like men" as meaning, "I’ve fought my whole life this whole idea that we should try to get boys to dress like men, when in reality they should totally keep dressing like boys." Which I shouldn't have done, given the preceding sentence.

Great article and for bonus points, here's Alex Lundqvist, about whom Abboud says, "I’m also someone who sees beauty in age, which is why I use models like Alex Lundqvist in my shows. I go back to pictures of Alex from the ’90s and I love seeing the way he has aged."

https://www.facebook.com/Alex-Lundqvist-Official-268573713241522/; 2/3/17, 10:31 AM
Balfegor said...: Re: Lyle:

I too recognize it as a northern, northern hemisphere style of dressing. It's not practical in a lot of other places.

Are you talking about the South? That's what wool fresco is for. I used to use cotton suits and "tropical" weaves, but I've found that fresco is really what works, so long as there's at least a bit of a breeze.

If the air is stagnant and humid, though, there's nothing for it. I carry a folding fan but that can only do so much.; 2/3/17, 10:55 AM
Rocketeer said...: Joseph Abboud is a liar.; 2/3/17, 11:04 AM
buwaya said...: I recommend the Filipino barong for tropical formal wear.
No suit can compare for airiness and its much easier to maintain ones dignity in appropriate clothing.; 2/3/17, 11:08 AM
Lyle said...: Bealfegor,

Yep, talking about the deep South. Thanks for the tip! I will try that.

The other wrinkle I should add is that this is urban fashion. Personally, I prefer the nice dress shirt and pants, to camouflage, but you'll look like a jackass out in the country dressed up this way. When in Rome?; 2/3/17, 11:22 AM
ndspinelli said...: Former professor Althouse says, "Real men don't talk like that." WTF do you know about "real men?"; 2/3/17, 11:37 AM
Balfegor said...: Re: Lyle --

Yes, out in the countryside, one generally wouldn't wear a suit . . . LL Bean and Barbour, I guess? (haha); 2/3/17, 11:37 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Who would have known back in the mid-sixties when colleges and universities abandoned their dress codes students would wear pajamas to class? Students attending my public high school regardless of economic class dressed more like men than most men in offices today.; 2/3/17, 11:39 AM
MacMacConnell said...: One dresses for the occasion. If you dress like a lumberjack be a lumberjack.; 2/3/17, 11:40 AM
buwaya said...: There is a lot to be said for Japanese, Chinese, Arab and Turkish fashions for hot-weather wear. A man can appear with dignity in any of these.
It's one globe now, and one would think it's an open field.
The Arabs deserve some credit for having made an effort, somewhat successful, at retaining their practical native dress.; 2/3/17, 11:45 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "Although, in my defence, if Danny Biffle didn't want to eat a mouthful of dirt, he shouldn't have shown up to school wearing a bow tie"; 2/3/17, 12:08 PM
Balfegor said...: There is a lot to be said for Japanese, Chinese, Arab and Turkish fashions for hot-weather wear. A man can appear with dignity in any of these.

Y-you mean a black suit, half-lined, with the necktie off? Or do you mean the recent revolution in "coolbiz," since the shutdown of the nuclear reactors in 2011, pursuant to which people can come to work without suit jackets!

Or do you mean a yukata?; 2/3/17, 12:14 PM
Lyle said...: Balfegor,

I shouldn't be too hard on the suit wearing country folk. There are the lawyers and doctors, the genteel class. LL Bean would be popular again if ever fell out of favor... I think most people drive into the city and shop at Dillards. Nothing wrong that.; 2/3/17, 12:36 PM
Titus said...: Boston born Lebanese Catholic.

His clothes are tres boring.; 2/3/17, 12:57 PM
buwaya said...: "Or do you mean a yukata?"

Yes indeed, that.; 2/3/17, 1:02 PM
buwaya said...: "His clothes are tres boring."

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7c/fe/67/7cfe671a1a538b32f689aee519ad7de1.jpg

But this is not boring.; 2/3/17, 1:04 PM
buwaya said...: Or dress like a Bagobo.

https://i0.wp.com/i18.photobucket.com/albums/b119/yandanholth/Phil%20Costumes/Bagobo-small2.jpg

I don't advise making fun of the shorts.
They have these, and use them.

http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/photos/items/92/000992/ph-0.jpg; 2/3/17, 1:09 PM
buwaya said...: Something for Titus.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/11/f0/4d/11f04d0a06846b76fec01334eb1678e2.jpg

Nobody has had the imagination to do "cultural appropriation" on this, though those people probably wouldn't mind.

Its got its own sort of dignity, I suppose, if carried well.; 2/3/17, 1:15 PM
Titus said...: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/11/f0/4d/11f04d0a06846b76fec01334eb1678e2.jpg

love that. Do you know who the designer is-I want one!; 2/3/17, 1:39 PM
buwaya said...: Apparently you will have to inquire in New Guinea, and if I understand correctly you will have to grow your own gourd.

If you go to the trouble, you will very likely be the first in your circles in (wherever you live), so you can be at the very point of fashion. You have time, its probably not appropriate till later in the Spring.

Prepare to be demonstrated against re cultural appropriation, by people who may not know where New Guinea is.; 2/3/17, 1:51 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Who would have known back in the mid-sixties when colleges and universities abandoned their dress codes students would wear pajamas to class?

Seems kind of predictable, actually. You dress for comfort and you dress to impress. If there's nobody around you care to impress...; 2/3/17, 4:31 PM
MacMacConnell said...: Speaking of boys' clothing, I once worked in a natural shoulder men's shop in the midwest. I had a law student needing work clothing, he was tiny and couldn't wear men's sizes. Luckily we carried RL boys shirtings, blazers and tweed sports coats mostly to sell to women. The size 22 fit him perfectly, so I ordered a load of wool suits in size 22 from our buyer. The guy was the best dressed law student I've ever seen, if not the city.

When I grew up in the 50s and 60s boys wanted to dress like men, it was a right of passage.; 2/3/17, 6:06 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Yeah, I come to Althouse for the latest in penis gourd fashion advice.; 2/3/17, 11:01 PM