२० सप्टेंबर, २०२३

"But I am very conscious of male aggression and ego because I examine it a lot in myself."

"As I’ve gotten older, I just kind of marvel — not even marvel. I’m dumbstruck by my own aggression and ego. I think back and I think, 'What on earth gave me this sense of entitlement, that I was commanding people to accept and appreciate what I do?' Which is what you have to do when you’re a designer: You have to insist that people look at your stuff, and you have to insist that it’s worthwhile and demand their time and their attention. I’m ashamed of it... but I’m also kind of proud of it."
 
Said Rick Owens, quoted in "Rick Owens will keep your male ego in check" (WaPo). 

Owens is a fashion designer. Here are a lot of things collected on one page. I'll just ask you to look at these "swim briefs" he'd have you wear. I suspect they will "keep your male ego in check." And why not wear this in the Senate chamber? I mean, to "check your aggression"? 

५९ टिप्पण्या:

Mark म्हणाले...

Blaming maleness for his being a jerk is itself a form of aggression and ego.

Dude - you do these things not because you are a guy. Don't think that you can shift the blame to your sex. You do these obnoxious things, you have this pride and sense of entitlement because of YOU, because YOU are the problem, YATA. There is nothing masculine about being an asshole. That's not what real men do. That's all on you.

Jaq म्हणाले...

That image you linked to screams "catamite."

Heartless Aztec म्हणाले...

$450. Only 3 left. Lunacy roams the land. My Katins and Birdwells are much more durable and relatively inexpensive at about $100. Plus they cover the mullet.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

You have to charge a lot to sell things that silly looking.

The Crack Emcee म्हणाले...

I will never forget standing on a beach in Yurp, looking at the men in Speedos, and wondering "What-in-the-FUCK am I doing here?"

tommyesq म्हणाले...

"Male aggression" - some people are just assholes - we shouldn't put that attribute to all members of the same sex.

cassandra lite म्हणाले...

Franny suffered a nervous breakdown at the realization of all the egos running around disguised as humans. Zooey reminded her that she wouldn't have wanted her beloved Emily Dickinson to have abandoned the ego that drove her to write poems.

re Pete म्हणाले...

"The walls of pride are high and wide"

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

$1315 for that Senate shirt, that's why! I'm curious what 'cupro' is. A web-search reveals it is a rayon-ish fabric created from older fabrics that have been chemically treated.

gahrie म्हणाले...

High fashion has always been about men who hate women making women look ridiculous.

gahrie म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
gahrie म्हणाले...

"Male aggression" - some people are just assholes - we shouldn't put that attribute to all members of the same sex.

Why not when it is true? Men are more aggressive than women. It's biological. Can you say testosterone? I knew you could.

That being said we are reasoning beings and do not have to act on our impulses.

Ice Nine म्हणाले...

Am I the only one having difficulty making the connection between the supposed "aggressive American (of course) male ego" and this guy's gay-ass clothes? The article is mostly about the latter, with the former simply appended as a, yeah, non-sequitur, preface. I don't see much more in his silly comments than click bait marketing.

Iman म्हणाले...

If THAT ain’t toxic femininity I don’t know what is.

Rocco म्हणाले...

Shorter Rick Owens: "Hey, you peasant! I demand you look and see how much of an egotistical prick *I* used to be."

Iman म्हणाले...

You were probably at the gay beach, Crack.

Rocco म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse said...
"I'll just ask you to look at these 'swim briefs' he'd have you wear. I suspect they will 'keep your male ego in check.'"

I looked. They would have trouble keeping something in check. At least comfortably.

Kind of the opposite effect on me actually.

Narr म्हणाले...

My eyes! My eyes!

Work clothes for manly men, living manly men's lives in a manly man's world, and for playtime, classic casual castaway cabin-boy butt-pirate togs.

Can I get them at Target?

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

How gay is Rick Owens? Very gay.

The republican senators are idiots if they don't all show up in shorts, flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts, holding drinks served in coconut shells with an umbrella garnish.

n.n म्हणाले...

Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry).

KellyM म्हणाले...

What's with this trend of print and runway models looking like they got plucked out of a homeless encampment? Whatever became of cool glamour on display?

I find it more horrifying that those "swim briefs" were modeled by an actual male (well at least the chromosomes would indicate that) those scrawny legs and undeveloped midsection were downright gross.

Leland म्हणाले...

My initial thought is the guy is beating himself up regarding traits that helped him be successful in life. Then I clicked the links to his "designer" suggestions. I don't general recommend violence, but dude could have done with a bit of roughing up in his asshole years. He'll certainly keep my male ego in check. If not because I was stupid enough to wear his stuff and lose all self-regard; then in the satisfaction of knowing I would never be stupid enough to lose my self-regard to a jerk like him. Yep, my male ego is fine!

CJinPA म्हणाले...

If there is one person who can speak authortively on how normal men should behave it's a male fashion designer.

PM म्हणाले...

Gay fashion makes The Onion irrelevant.

Icepilot म्हणाले...

For the Senate suggestion ...
Double watch pockets? Really?
How can any modern clothes designer include such relics of old, white, male cis-gendered, aggressive domination as watch pockets? TWO of them!

Big Mike म्हणाले...

"Male aggression" - some people are just assholes - we shouldn't put that attribute to all members of the same sex.

I agree with Mark and tommyesq — blaming your Y chromosome for your being an asshole is just bullshit.

Tina Trent म्हणाले...

Does this stuff come in John Fetterman's size?

Free Manure While You Wait! म्हणाले...

"Said Rick Owens, quoted in "Rick Owens will keep your male ego in check" (WaPo)."

Clearly, there is a war on masculinity in this country. Case in point, transitioning kids.

There's an odd thing about the transitioning of kids. Almost without exception, the kids getting all the celebratory attention on social media are boys "transitioning" into girls (little flamboyant queens actually). They are all very hyper-female in the mold of that Dylan Mulvaney.

What I have never seen, is clips of girls who have "transitioned" into boys being celebrated, which is odd given that statistically, the majority of kids who transition are girls. Why no clips celebrating them? Same with drag queen story time, which in essence is the emasculation of a man. We are told drag queen story time is about teaching kids acceptance of others, but if that's true, where do I take a kid to see drag king or leather-bear story time? You won't find either. Why? Because it's all about emasculation.

Quaestor म्हणाले...

Rick Owens' example of male aggression doesn't depart significantly from many instances of female aggression.

I assume that's because Rick Ownes is such a bitch.

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

No one forces people to wear his designs. Is he flogging his models to wear his clothes? Judging by some of his designs, that's what it would take to make me wear those atrocities. That swim suit is just one example.

loudogblog म्हणाले...

"Woman you're a mystery to me.
I'm too obsessed with my masculinity.
How I wish that I was in your league.
But instead I'm just a filthy, sexist pig."

From the SCTV musical: I'm Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and No Guy's Gonna Tell Me That It Ain't. Written and performed by the characters, Libby Wolfson and Sue Bopper Simpson. The part of the man was played by the character, Seth Dick III.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Mark said...
"Blaming maleness for his being a jerk is itself a form of aggression and ego.

Dude - you do these things not because you are a guy. Don't think that you can shift the blame to your sex. You do these obnoxious things, you have this pride and sense of entitlement because of YOU, because YOU are the problem, YATA. There is nothing masculine about being an asshole."
And yet you persist. Which is why you'll always be a beta.

"Better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war."

Doug म्हणाले...

Fashion designer = turd burglar

JaimeRoberto म्हणाले...

It's not my fault I behave like a jerk. It's my masculinity. And climate change.

Leora म्हणाले...

I think those zoot suits are cultural appropriation.

Mark म्हणाले...

"Better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war."

This much is sure - real men and "alphas" too don't call others "betas." Only the insecure do that.

And being a warrior in the garden doesn't mean using your own shit as fertilizer. The best and toughest officer is also a gentleman.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Does it come with a refrigerated lining? Is that what keeps the male ego in check?

charis म्हणाले...

what ugly clothes! And everyone in the creative arts has a sense of entitlement that their pieces of art are deserving of attention; it's not a gender specific trait. But nice of the Post to frame it in the casual misandry they are so good at.

MacMacConnell म्हणाले...

I imagine you would have to have a massive ego to design and sell that dog shit with a staight face.

mikee म्हणाले...

Who was it wrote, "I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled," and is now the time to start thinking like that?

n.n म्हणाले...

Toxic masculinity. #HateLovesAbortion

Nancy म्हणाले...

Ann, how could you do that (2nd link) to us? I thought you loved us!

Temujin म्हणाले...

Actual men could give a shit what someone names rick owens has to say about anything.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Mark said...
"Better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war."

"This much is sure - real men and "alphas" too don't call others "betas." Only the insecure do that.

And being a warrior in the garden doesn't mean using your own shit as fertilizer. The best and toughest officer is also a gentleman."
Needed to be said Mark. Now you can work on improving yourself.
research the quote and get back to me.

Prof. M. Drout म्हणाले...

One of the more loathsome rhetorical tricks is to fake-confess a fault in oneself but actually blame it on a general trait of any of the various groups to which a person belongs. The speaker dishonestly gains attention and respect for seeming to be so honest and forthright, but the "confession" that isn't one, because it is obviously meant to apply to the OTHER people in the group, not the self-aware ones like the speaker and his hearers.
An equally ugly variant is the use of "we" or "us" when the writer really means "those other people people over there who aren't like us," in statements like: "We must recognize that we are all have used our ____-privilege to oppress [victims of the week]."

Who is this "we" of whom you speak? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?

steveoreno म्हणाले...

Seeing a comment relating this to Salingers "Franny and Zooey" made my year.

Oligonicella म्हणाले...

"Owens is a fashion designer."

I disagree. Owens is a cartoonist.

Oligonicella म्हणाले...

Is what this guy does more or less meaningful than professional athletics?

Oligonicella म्हणाले...

The fact that there are female assholes disproves the hypothesis assholery is a male trait.

For that matter, so does the fact that there are men who are not assholes.

Matthew म्हणाले...

Mikee, it is from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by ts eliot

Oligonicella म्हणाले...

Mark:

"The best and toughest officer is also a gentleman."

That's some axiomatic bullshit.

EdwdLny म्हणाले...

Who in the hell buys that shit ? What self respecting person would be caught wearing any of that in public, short of as a Halloween costume ? Oh ! ,self respecting ...... never mind . And ,yes, he is an asshole, at the very least.

Rusty म्हणाले...

It has nothing to do with officers, Mark.

Lew Wickes म्हणाले...

I live in a rural Appalachian couunty in Pennsylvania. Nowadays most men and women I see at fairs, festivals, supermarkets, etc., look like bums or clowns. Slovenly from top to toe, even on Sunday mornings. They look like they do not care about themselves. It's much the same in cities. It's almost post-apocalyptic. How far can this go? On the other hand, if they all wore Rick Owens "creations," they would just look nuts. It is impossible not to notice that the best looking people in all the aforementioned venues are the Mennonites. And the Mennonite men I know certainly do not fit the aggressive male stereotype described by Rick Owens. Yes, he's just a woke, virtue signaling jerk pretending personal responsibility while dodging it.

Lew Wickes म्हणाले...

I live in a rural Appalachian couunty in Pennsylvania. Nowadays most men and women I see at fairs, festivals, supermarkets, etc., look like bums or clowns. Slovenly from top to toe, even on Sunday mornings. They look like they do not care about themselves. It's much the same in cities. It's almost post-apocalyptic. How far can this go? On the other hand, if they all wore Rick Owens "creations," they would just look nuts. It is impossible not to notice that the best looking people in all the aforementioned venues are the Mennonites. And the Mennonite men I know certainly do not fit the aggressive male stereotype described by Rick Owens. Yes, he's just a woke, virtue signaling jerk pretending personal responsibility while dodging it.

Michelle Dulak Thomson म्हणाले...

Oligonicella,

Is what this guy does more or less meaningful than professional athletics?

Oh, less, obviously. Pro athletes are -- some of them -- ridiculously overpaid, and the big team sports are supported, in the main, by people who are not quite rational on the subject. But top athletes do actually do something, and do it well enough that people will pay good money to watch them do it. There is something fine in anyone using his or her body so well and so precisely.

Rick Owens, OTOH, designs "clothes" that might pass as a makeshift Halloween costume for an adult, except that no adult in the world would spend in the mid-four-figures for a makeshift Halloween costume, however inventively repulsive. Seriously, folks, I went through that first page of designs (there were at least ten more pages, but my stomach gave out), and the only thing I could consider wearing was a T-shirt. Which cost $400. Which I would spend on a T-shirt only if it were copiously diamond-studded. Real diamonds, I mean, not Swarovski.

Who does buy this stuff? I haven't the foggiest idea. Someone must be, but damned if I know who. Maybe the folks who attend opera galas, the Met gala, &c. Nothing is too absurd for that crowd.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Michelle Dulak Thomson.
"Who does buy this stuff? I haven't the foggiest idea. Someone must be, but damned if I know who."
Mark appears to be a big fan.

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

Sen. John Fetterman says he'll 'save democracy' by wearing a suit if House GOP avoids a shutdown

JAORE म्हणाले...

I'm sure he has more "male aggressiveness" than those pathetic emaciated looking models.