Style Highlight: MFA House Style - Topic of the day 2/4/24
In the old days of MFA there were "MFA Uniforms" that involved slim fit OCBDs, slim fit chinos, and minimal white sneakers - these outfits made top of WAYWT constantly. These days, MFA has drifted away from having basic uniforms, and there's much more variety in our highlights. Does the MFA of today truly have a house style? If so, how would you define it? Do you take any cues from the style (if it even exists)? Why do you think that MFA no longer celebrates MFA uniforms?
352 Replies
broadly paraboot and wide pants, but even then i feel like theres more variety now. back then it really was a uniform
also feel like both are on their way out so who knows whats next!
Words are hard, but I'll give it a try. Upscale workwear in muted colors with a touch of milsurp and ivy
But, yes, MFA definitely has a "house style", IMO.
I think the MFA uniform, while I like it personally for myself, is quite basic and doesn't really allow for self expression really
It worked well in the 2010's when slim fit was all the rage but fashion has changed a lot since then
Definitely a ton more variety these days than in the old days (discord top of waywt has a huge range of styles compared to the old subreddit top of waywts), and I don't think there's an MFA uniform these days. But I think there are definitely "house style" items like fatigues, paraboots, and big coats, and other commonalities like raw hems and wide pants. It's definitely more nebulous than before but can loosely be defined as some combination of ivy, prep, workwear, and milsurp
Theres definetly still a MFA uniform, even if theres still more variety. Art/Chuck (rip)/BBShams/Digs/Narwhal I think exemplify it in different ways, but that core intersection of ivy/prep/workwear/milsurp is the constant.
These recent fits from #waywt-highlights seem to represent "house style", in my opinion.
Fatigues/Paraboots are super overrepresented here in general compared to other fashion I see.
I think I’ve changed my mind a bit from when I came up with this question lol
i think it’s kind of the same just with straighter fits now
At a minimum some things are absolutely more rewarded by the users than others. Plenty of absolutely fire fits outside of the classic MFA style that don't hit highlights
These are house-style-adjacent, but not house style.
I disagree, uniqlo OCBDs and raw indigo denim are way less prevalent these days
They're still around here and there but they were all you saw before
Now its J. Press OCBDs and Orslow Fatigues
/s
you're not wrong lol
Don't see many tan chinos in waywt these days either
When I think ‘exemplifies the mfa style’ art shrimp and digs are the first people coming to mind for me
I originally thought that we'd evolved past there being one style/outfit/poster you can point too and be like 'yep that's mfa core,' but thinking about it now I don't think that's necessarily true. I think the biggest difference between ye olde mfa and modern day mfa is that you're seeing more people put their own spin on the 'formula' which results in a lot more variety than just ocbd/fatigues/paraboots over and over again.
I think the real difference is that the chino ocbd chukka crowd arent like “in to clothes” they just want decent clothes to supplement their life. When you move to discord you lose the people who are on reddit and also happen to check mfa. This is a place where the only people who stick around or care to post a fit are in to clothes as basically their primary hobby.
Yes, but I think they stand out precisely because they DON'T represent the consensus style. They are close, but their personality really comes through in their outfits.
There's tons of truth to this but I also noticed the drift happening on the subreddit before the move to discord
I agree
They all have distinct styles
I think the waywts that get rewarded the most are 'house style + personality'
But somewhere in the middle of them is where I feel like the platonic ideal of mfacore is
mfa core is ivy/milsurp/workwear + vibes
there's a lot more room for interpretation than there was in 2015 imo
I agree, and I'm very happy that we acknowledge personality.
BUT there's also people like Meat, Bill, Joel, Sal, etc that don't really fit into that mold at all
Good avant garde fits are also likely to make highlights here whereas they'd be hanging at like +15 in the waywt threads
to an extent. avantguardism and damb are consistently underrated even here
Definitely exceptions to that
Name recognition helps a ton
And I know charli has talked about how his "work" fits get better responses than his personal favorites
I think there’s some truth in this but I don’t think anyone gets ‘inflated’ from name recognition- I do feel that stuff that’s outside of mfacore sometimes doesn’t get the second look it needs if there’s no name recognition
People def get inflated by name recognition
tell that to the artheads
But I 100% agree with the 2nd part of your statement
This is very true
For a lot of us on here fashion is one of our hobbies and interests
The secret to ascending the ranks is kongposting is what im really getting out of this
I don’t like doing the ‘inflated’ framing- I feel like a lot of the biggest names have that from having consistently good fits, and having a rep of consistently good fits makes us be more attentive/take a closer look at their fits, but it’s not like they’re just posting garbage and going to highlights
which brand most encapsulates MFA? Engineered Garments?
Imo everyone deserves the credit that they get and some people deserve more on top of that, it’s not like anyone gets credit they don’t deserve
the department of defense
i think there's less of a house style because MFA is less prescriptive now that in the days of OCBD + selvedge denim + chukkah boots
ALD maybe but more based around ALD looks and not necessarily ALD products
people used to just copy the basic bastard and go about their day but now it's more interpretive
Mfa house style brand is still drakes tbh
J. Crew
Even if people own less and less of it
J crew is just affordable drakes now
This feels most right to me
MFA house style can't be defined by just one brand because it's a combination of prep/ivy, milsurp, and workwear
MFA house style is "thing, japan"
I dunno...I think benji is pretty on the money with EG.
nah absolutely not
some of you have only seen the EG basics lmao
and its showing
go look up an EG lookbook
But, like, the boring EG stuff.
It's got workwear, it's got "thing, japan", and it's got a bit of pretense, you pretentious MFs.
Just copped some :gigachad:
I'm not saying that regulars are making highlights with bad fits, just that they tend to get more reactions than lesser known users for similarly good fits
the lesson is to be a yapper to get reacts
I personally have posted mid fits before that get more reactions than they deserve
MFA core is talkin shit and postin fit
I seem to get the best reactions when I don't really try and it works by accident. 🙂
that's kinda dismissive idk
im joking, theres just a lot of Americana elements to the house style i think
if it were the case that regulars were only getting reactions from regulars and no one else i'd agree; most of what makes highlights are imo universally appreciated fits
could there be a bandwagon effect maybe but that was true in old mfa
Yeah it definitely takes more than just being a regular to make highlights
Definitely not implying that
yeah, but the Japanese have really adopted Americana as a thing.
Like, isn't Orslow basically "Americana, Japan"?
i also think that the people who did the more esoteric or more niche fits went elsewhere since 2016 (r/malefashion, r/navyblazer, etc) so the distribution of fits becomes more normalized to that americana/ivy/milsurp hybrid
i was referencing Ametora
yes
paraboot michael 🤠
Wait are you kidding? 😂
No
Sinbad coming through in the games cord suit for spring fit battle
Sinbad buying drakes is unexpected but cool
lfg
ye just a sweater though
black v neck
As an occasional user, I do miss the uniform. It was a great way to engage with fashion without having to be a fashion person
It feels like nowadays it's more acceptable to try new things, but there's a certain pressure to stay ahead of the curve, so to speak
at the risk of being cliche, just wear what you like
Ehhhhhh I wouldn’t say mfa is ahead of the curve outside of a few users
Compared to people that aren’t terminally online fashion dorks sure
I think most of mfa is just right behind or on the curve of larger fashionable cities
I see a lot of fits in New York that are right in the middle of the fashionable range and are very mfa coded
Men’s fashion is typically behind women’s by a good clip though, so it’s not bad for that to be the case
It's funny when I recognize brands people are wearing in NYC based off of what I learned from MFA lol
I think this is excellent advice for people who don't need advice, if that makes sense. If someone has no idea where to start, it doesn't really help much
That’s why we have the old reliable basic bastard guide
like this guy I met a few months ago was wearing EG pants 🔥
If you don't know where to start I would argue there isn't pressure to stay ahead of the curve
It definitely seems like there's more than there used to be
The pressure comes from being into fashion and wanting to stay current with trends. I would say the vast majority of people don't need to engage with microtrends.
I think the only pressure is that posting fit is scary at first (bein serious)
If youre wondering if your sambas are played out your in too deep
Just casually browsing various fashion forums lately (not necessarily this one), I see a lot of beginners asking for feedback and getting made fun of for being basic or dressing like an old person
Yeah the key words here being ‘not this one’
I don’t think people being shitty to other people on the internet is a new development tho
Online fashion spaces (and any online hobbyist spaces) can be pretty volatile for beginners
You’re gonna run into that regardless of what hobby you’re into
I don’t think it accurately reflects the outside world though
I'm not disputing fashion is elitist
I've definitely seen elements of it here, I just don't want to come off as singling this place out
Yeah I think that pressure, where it exists, is purely online
Still “wear what you like” can be really empty advice if you have no where to start from it’s true
People in Vancouver are impressed when me, the grey-haired usher, recognizes their Bottega bag, or if I'm lucky, a pair of Y/Project jeans
Probably, I haven't really engaged with fashion communities outside the internet so I couldn't say
You engage with fashion outside the internet by putting that shit on
To me, the first step for people who want to care about their clothing is to start paying attention to clothing
Once you start looking and apply focus you actually start to have an opinion, then you can get to the point of “wear what you like”
there's no rule to suggest you have to buy new clothes to stay ahead of the curve
Not necessarily a rule, but an attitude
i do recognize that, but i argue that's borne to some extent by social pressure and that applies to every form of art or media
To bring it back to the topic, I personally do feel the need to differentiate myself from mfa house style but it’s personally motivated not from an outside force
I agree, and I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, what I mean is that having a uniform was a nice way to get away from that
Actually I think the mfa uniform thing was more a way of separating yourself into one of the two camps that Weeg referenced earlier
Or as a stepping stone into finding how you wanted to differentiate yourself which is maybe more what you mean
i do think the curated inspo albums on the discord are more varied in style than in OG mfa which has helped in terms of finding alternative styles
To give an analogy, I worked as a personal trainer for a while. If someone is a beginner in the gym, the absolute optimal way to start out is for people to work out their goals, find out what works for them and tailor a program to their needs
But we don't do that, because it's far more important to just get them in the gym regularly and just doing something
If you're learning an instrument, it's optimal to start with music theory, but it's more important to get the instrument in their hands
The basic bastard exists
This feels like a strawman
90% of the "I want to start thinking about clothes" are redirected to the BB guide
Like honestly, I don't even understand these analogys
The most important thing about getting into fashion is caring about what you're wearing
we can't help you with that, we can give basic guidance (which is what the BB is in #fashion-guides ), you can look at what people here are wearing in #waywt , you can see what people here value #waywt-highlights , you can ask for feedback on what you are wearing in #styling-suggestions
What more do you want us to do?
They don't want fashion, they want something functional based on what was outlined in the first post
which is what the BB is
Did he know of its existence?
In its current form?
I read through most of the guides a few weeks ago, yeah
I think the BB guide is like 80% of what I'm talking about
Super late, but the first thing I noticed in WAYWTs is how many people have fatigues
I don’t even play anymore but this is wrong lol
One thing I don't think I've seen mentioned is how the population of "terminally online nerds" in general (not just in MFA) has changed a lot today vs from 2012, which is necessarily going to be reflected in community/online preferences.
What's the 20% missing?
I don’t get these analogies. Bishop is right. The first thing to do if you’re interested in caring about clothes is to pay attention to what people are wearing and what you like and don’t like.
It’s way cheaper to do that than even read the BB guide and then buy clothes that you’re almost certainly not going to like in 6 months
Ur cooler than them!
What I guess is missing is that it seems harder to just wear what's in the guide and jump in. If you just followed the guide and started posting fits you'd get a lot more "it could be more interesting" than you would with the old uniform
From what I remember of the guide, it seems like it's constantly trying to caveat itself as it's being written, i.e. "here's the basic x, but you should probably try y to be more interesting"
I think that’s the community evolving to give better advice personally
Again, not that that's a wholely bad thing
But it does make things a bit less accessible
You can copy basically any guide you want and get something. But the real stuff imo comes from doing the personal work to find what you like
It’s more accessible than ever imo
People are here to discuss clothing because it's their hobby
If you wanna post your outfit among enthusiasts without the context of "I'm new"
Tons of discords, instagram accounts, pics on Pinterest. There is no gatekeeping fashion pictures really
Then we're expecting that
I mean getting criticism on an outfit you love sucks but how else are you going to improve?
It was never true that you could follow a guide and actually be fashionable
And this place is pretty tame and generally constructive
Plenty of times I've gotten critism, its hurt in the moment, i look at the outfit like a month later and go "man what the fuck was I thinking"
Last night, I was researching a coat I was interested in, and google sent me to a WAYWT from 2012, and people were so mean!
Reddit in general is a shitty platform
Old MFA if you dressed outside of the uniform was very harsh at times I think
Ik it was a metric assload of work for mods towards the end to really curtail the onslaught of negative comments
I do think something that's interesting about the discord is that you have a lot of people coming in to q&a who seem like they are just trying to build a passable wardrobe while the discord's active members are all enthusiasts obviously
thats always going to be the case
It is of course possible that I just have rose-tinted glasses, I only used MFA for like a few weeks a few years ago
Reddit always had the bullshit mentality of “this is for advice and so anything too weird will get people to dress too weird and we have to fight that”
The only people qualified to give advice are those actively into fashion, its always created tension between the group of people actually into fashion and those seeking advice
The idea that fashion advice can be “dangerous”
That divide was even more pronounced on Reddit
Anthrax isn't active on the discord but they were one of the weirder dressers on the sub and gave amazing advice that was beginner friendly
If half those posters saw his fits they woulda been scared
Also dressing well and giving advice are different skills
Some people just don't know how to talk but dress good and vice versa
I dress poorly and give bad advice 💀
Yeah it’s not restricted to fashion tho I think it’s easier to close that gap than it is in other pursuits
I'm trying to think: does basic bastard work well enough for people in their teens-college years?
Ah, here it is. This was for the most part a perfectly anodyne set of photos lol
I feel like we have quite a number of people come into q&a in that age range who just seem like they're trying to build a basic wardrobe to look presentable among their peers
lmao
lmao jfc
Can’t believe you’re gonna post this and not the fit
ahh shujin and kappuru
ya i gotta see the fit
This has always the case
But it's the same demographic of people bickering about shit advice from the very same people they're trying to get advice from lmao
It's kinda tricky to begin towing that line because we're not teenagers or people that seek to interface with teenagers too often (unless we're teachers, and then we shouldn't be too focussed on that imo)
Link for the album of fits: https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/p7nxb/waywt_feb_2nd/c3n5uz3/
Reddit
ridiculousdb's comment on "WAYWT — Feb. 2nd"
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Its important to remember theres a decent amount of complaining about the advice because people want validation not advice
and when they don't get that they get upset
like thats perhaps a cynical cold hearted view on it but I think its part of the "wow you enthusiasts just don't understand normal people" complaints
I don't mind the Birks fit at all personally haha
Very true
Tbh if I was around and able to slim fit during that time, I'd probably put that in my inspo folder
Is this why I'm so bad at giving advice :sheeesh:
The fits are fine just very slim, but it was 12 years ago also
Trashpile ahead of his time lol
Ha, I don't want to repost the user, and there were a few goofy things: I think one had a weird pocket square. But the leather jacket that they're complaining about in particular seemed fine.
Dude has some good ideas actually, I think some are dumb and I forgot the visible undershirt was a thing like this, but its not as bad as the comments acted
I'm not a huge fan personally but I see the vision
Such conservative recommendations in the thread hahaha
People saying this guy is peacocking
It’s all very #menswear coded with the affectations. There’s flashes of what they want tho.
I kinda disagree with trashpile the birks fit was easily 2nd best lol but that leather jacket fit is just bad bad bad
the shit crammed into the pocket also looks bad
I also think in general the Internet has come a long way in 12 years.
We are better at talking now
Some of us
ngl that level of flame in response was super normalized
Was just part of the times
you can even see hes apologizing in the thread for getting mad at getting flamed
In fairness. Trashpile picked like the worst way to say “your clothes are too small and pulling” by calling him the puff marshmallow guy from ghostbusters
im not denying people were assholes to him, I'm saying that was normalized at the time
Trashpile isn’t really wrong, he’s just being a dick about it
Yeah that's just the dunk economy of reddit from 12 years ago. Im not defending it or anything but everything was a raging asshole online
the bostons and the nbs?? for the time he was absolutely putting that shit on
Yeah the whole interaction is dated for sure. That’s just…how Reddit was
Thanks for the gold kind stranger
2012 was unironic rage comics and the narwhal bacons at midnight type shit
Fucking triggered
Dattebayo!!! Reddit on!!
To bring it back to the prompt. I think discord allows things to be way more free flowing and makes it easier for people to post outfits and ask questions and get personal advice.
That’s a good thing and deemphasizes a specific MFAD uniform
Reddit was p good for centralizing knowledge, but made it difficult to “update the hive mind” as it were
Discord makes it easier for folks to post pics and get feedback in #styling-suggestions which is way way way better than posting a product link or looking at some guide written by one person 3 years ago
More participation and personalized advice has rid us from the uniform and I’m really happy about it
I also think in general the 20 year old dudes who want to dress better are more open to the idea of fashion as a vessel for expression vs not wanting to look sloppy
Younger people are just better dressed and more open minded now
Toxic masculinity really had a stranglehold on places like MFA in 2012
that was the era of The Red Pill. Awful times
So much of the desire for a uniform and even the way that uniform looked stemmed from men wanting fashion to be utilitarian. If it was utilitarian, then it wasn’t feminine. Using fashion as a way to express yourself, especially if it was for aesthetic and not “functional” purposes didn’t mesh with the min/max, gearification culture that dominated most hobby spaces which were predominantly inhabited by men.
Way better said than I could lol
As if thinking about something too much would be percieved as non masculine
“Gearification” is such a good way to put it haha
IMO its why raw denim and GOOD YEAR WELTED BOOTS had such a damn impact
YEAH THESE IRON RANGERS WILL LAST ME 20 YEARS
Now no one is wearing them
Zoomer gang unite
I went to get rid of my red wings my 18yo self was not cooking
You hit the nail on the head though about younger people. In many ways, they have a relationship to gender expression and performance that is much more nuanced than millennials and I think it clearly shows in how they dress. Lot of the younger folks here dress so damn good and I love to see it.
I actually still wear my red wings from like 6 years ago
This is getting away from house style though, but I think this is where the idea of MFA having a house style came from.
In reality it was the same style that conservative dressers outside MFA were wearing. We just put it into fancy picture guides for people
Shout out to my buddy who bought a pair of mule skinner irs in like 2014 and is still wearing them
I don't hate my boots but my style has like dramatically changed
Less uniform-y and just more oversized/relaxed
And it just doesnt fit into the image i have of myself
There's probably a monologuebij my head somewhere around my associations with boots and hegemonic masculinity I want to get away from
I would caution against painting with too wide a brush
Fair
Ngl a fashion server is partially going to self select but theres a lot of really shitty zoomer tatebros
Yeah that’s totally true definitely a lot of self-selection going on in a fashion discord
This server bullies them out tho
🤓☝️
which is good
Finally using my skills flaming my league teammates for good
Idk if I am zoomer (26) but the clothing I have purchased in the last 6 years has been all over the place as far as how I want to present myself. These years are meant for expression and figuring shit out IMO. I too regret buying red wing boots
Real shit
I'm just saying its not like all zoomers have good views or anything and theres still plenty of toxic masculinity to go around
sure but now they are mewing and shit
thats funny
looksmaxing is so funny
like god forbid you take it seriously
but its so hilarious
We need to psyops personalitymaxing
i was trying to explain it to my less terminally online friends
We’re dunking on looksmaxing but that’s what the predominant view on MFAR kinda was
Unless I’m too millennial and don’t actually know what that means
I bought boots recently and they feel fresh to me tho boots were never a part of my identity in the past
time and trends are a circle
what’s the BEST outfit
is the 2012 mindset
Millennial dude who spends 10 hours researching the BEST speakers tries to apply that to clothing
I liked lurking OT threads bc the discourse with clothing felt more humanizing and realistic
Well you want to make sure your stats are well rounded. Dont want to put it all in STR
People try to completely divorce clothing from their selves as individuals
TRUE
ALL IN DEX
tob 10 white t shirts
I love integrating my boots into wider fits than like the way 2012 MFA wore them
Mf so aware they'll literally say "it's time for another tee shirt thread"
🤓🤓
Anyways back to the topic at hand I would say mfa house style is instantly recognizable
it was mostly just inside jokes fwiw
I hadn’t been in a questions thread on MFA is years
And it’s like second tier fashion city on trend
Slightly lagging NYC/LA
But it was also inaccessible to participate in OT imo
Yall really like your cuffed jeans
Which is the biggest strength of discord i
Listen charli
It's less commitial and more natural
Sometimes I need a lil cuff
and I dont trust my tailor to hem my shit
millenials just scared of talking to someone
I was lurking for like a good 3-4 years
have to talk to a tailor 🤮
Cuffing pants is good actually
art thinning out the competition
Dawg look at my fits my shit is always cuffed
true
Most cuffs are bad bc people should take pants to their tailor and so it’s not intentional but lazy
Listen I may not be wearing raw denim to emphasize my masculinity because I went to therapy and now I just wear it because it’s pretty, but I will die before I give that shit up
shut up!!!11
Mine is intentionally lazy so it’s good
It’s also why raw hemming is popular
we need to embrace the artful pooling!!
(Self report)
MFA house style is when you walk by the clothing aisle in target and think "Damn when did they start selling heat"
RIP Goodfellow & Co
:rip:
Unironically yes
rej ahead of the curve fr
we gotta bring stacked jeans back tho
Isn't stacking in rn among gen z
whatever the hell this is
Oh I meant it in the context of baggy jeans lol
Bring back dior 19cm
Ideal fit tbh
Somehow we lost this over the Years
we will find our way back
I’m not sure who this is tbh
I found the img the other day off google for ccp tornadoes
Pls no
I minmax and gearify for looking cute and sitting down
I cuff my pants because I have 10 month old twins and no time to go to a tailor
I wore my Hawthorne mule skinner IRs a couple days ago. And the cherry beckman’s are a regular part of the rotation for a decade.
Has anyone thought of chewing off pants to hem them
Maybe a fun family activity when ur kids are teeth’d
I think it's funny that IRs catch so much heat as an effigy of 2010s mfa, that big ass toe looks miles better with current house style than it did with APCs three sizes too small
I think it’s just an association thing
I associate iron rangers and other imo ugly work boots with QuaLiTy culture
Boots in those style weren’t designed to look good imo either
And why not just buy docs
Or even solovairs
There was a weird aversion to docs back then that I still see today
Oh no it totally is an association thing you're right like I know why its a line that's drawn
I just think it's funny considering they'd look totally normal and proportionate in like 80% of paraboot fits you see here
What I'm saying is big toe+big pants=normal, big toe+little pants=kingdom hearts (and not in a way that goes hard)
(also docs aversion is 100% quality roseanvil mindset)
I remember IRs and some other boots like Red Wing Beckmans getting called clown shoes by some folks on mfa
ew aversion to docs
i aim to be both a service boot and docs enjoyer 🔥
But I think you're right that that has more to do with wearing them with slim tapered pants as opposed to the shoes themselves looking bad
With the Carhartt revival I am surprised people didn't start wearing moc toe boots again
But maybe that's taking the cosplay too far
I associate Docs with 3 week situationships so I am averse to them
The loafers tho
:hard:
I feel like it's cosplaying for different reasons, or from a different angle at least
Kind of guy decked out in someone else's carhartt is a different guy than the one decked out in naked and famous selvedge boxers
Gotta cop the carhartt 1’s
Ye I am just surprised there wasn't any cross over between eras
Maybe we gotta bring moc toe back
that's like somewhat what i've been using my indy boots for actually but what i'm doing is basically just wider fit workwear
but like yeah vintage carhartt jackets are being worn in more streetwear than workwear fits
and maybe timberlands usurped any chance of moc toes becoming part of streetwear fits
I think the reason I am neutral to positive on moc toes is specifically because I've very rarely seen someone besides my father wear them irl
I had the Carhartt AF1 lows and I kinda regret selling them ngl
you shouldn't regret it whatsoever
they are hideous
I feel like I actually prefer the vintage Carhartt jackets and carpenter jeans/double knees with docs actually vs sneakers in terms of streetwear
me2
Nah I think they would work in some of my fits. I just had this whole “oh my god I hit 29, I need to dress like an adult now I’m almost 30” panic. Which in hindsight was silly
Feels more coherent but depends on the specific fit too
we are talking about these?
I think carhartt pants can look just as good with loafers as they can with workboots tbh
Yup those are the ones
I don’t think there’s a ‘best’ shoe to pair them with it’s all vibes
Ya no those are hideous
carhartt suit > carhartt airforces
Idk buy the hender schemes
wait Hender Scheme makes a leather croc copy now 😭
If the aprons on these weren’t wonky: https://standardandstrange.com/products/horse-bit-loafer-color-8-shell-cordovan
Standard & Strange
AE McAteer Horse Bit Loafer - Color 8 Shell Cordovan
From his quiet workshop in Queens, New York, Andrew McAteer produces exceptional leather goods by hand, the old way. A 5th-generation New Yorker, Andrew has always had an appreciate for traditional craftsmanship, having worked as a carpenter and furniture maker before turning to leatherwork. Everything is made slowly,
😎
Is carhartt pants plus loafs not basically the answer to what this whole thread is abt
In the sense that house style is milsurp+workwear+ivy yes
What this thread is actually about is reminding me I should have stopped lurking and started putting that shit on before we moved to a platform without chuck and anthrax
I liked reading what they both had to say abt shit
We had Chuck for a bit but he’s off and on now
I'm going to do that thing where I post something and leave on a dog walk
To me, It seems really apparent that the house style here is based around ivy/trad/prep
I haven’t scrolled through highlights in awhile, and I know people react to waywt pics for a lot of different reasons, but if you consider the members/outfits that most consistently show up (I’m thinking Shrimp, art, spaghetti, Teenage gentleman, Weeg), the common elements among them are are ivy/trad/prep-centric (blazers, loafers, shetlands, ocbds, etc.). There are variants (ALD, vintage), but with a common thread
This all makes perfect sense, because it's also trending outside of mfad
And maybe I'm thinking of house style all wrong, and it's not what's most popular here, but something' that's unique to here
i think your observation is accurate lol
lol wtf that sent
tho there are a number of big posters here who i don't think fit into those categories (ler, smiles, charli off the top of my head)
thecomebackkid
sinbad
i never make highlights
art has promised to ban me the day i do anyway
there are certainly outliers, but those are outside of house style, I'd say
I made highlights and it was for sure a brick
Meat who has a distinct personal style
Digs with vintage milsurp/workwear
Charlie who’s a creative genius and can’t be defined
Someone posted that fit again in this thread I think
theres definetly a house style even if charlie, meat, and mew all have too much swag
I’ve seen what we send to highlights
I know you're partly joking, but you also are more adventurous with your style
that's not going to appeal to the larger audience
personally, i try not to think too much about how many reacts I get with an outfit, but who it is that reacts
I'm not pressed about it honestly, I've pretty accepted my style isn't going to be super popular here, and there's still a lot of users who can give me really good feedback
I don't ignore reacts entirely but I don't fixate on making highlights
Like I said earlier, avantguardism, damb, Sinbad for example all dress better than me and are criminally underrated
In general I think streetwear remains underrated on MFAD
House style != highlights
Especially on discord imo. Reddit you definitely saw the hive mind come out
I was going to say this. I've been trying to assemble good streetwear fits to avoid being too tied to the MFA house style :xd:
I don't think it's worth adding fits in a style you aren't interested in
Like I'm never gonna wear ivy
Doesn't mean I don't appreciate it but
Not something I can prove empirically but I suppose I'd argue "house style" is whatever the majority of people new to giving a shit about fashion end up doing when the only variable in their life that changes is that they're on MFAD now (i.e. you're not gonna see it in highlights, more from a gestalt of the fits in WAYWT and stuff that never even gets posted there)
Ive been trying to refocus my wardrobe a bit
Nah I'm interested in it even tho it doesn't align at all with my most trad fashion interests
I wanna look like I put Wayne onto Bape
Not to derail the thread but I would be careful about that, one of my personal regrets is trying to have too broad a style
I’m glad to hear that, because I feel like you’re too hard on yourself sometimes
Thank you, I definitely am sometimes don't get me wrong, tryna be better about it
i think it's still going to lean towards ivy/milsurp/workwear tbh, people are mostly going to access the discord via the substack or reddit where stuff like that is commonplace
I keep dipping in and out of this conversation but IMO Red Wing Moc Toes were the original post sneaker footwear before everyone got into sneakers and then starting talking about a post sneaker world. And I think moc toes fit the chunky footwear that people were into the past few years but the negative 2010s Americana connotation prevented them from coming back
I'm going to pay more attention to your fits, then. Scrolling highlights is lazy mode, TBH
That said I would wear my 875s more but I sized them a half size too small. I need to sell them and buy a bigger pair
Or 877s
Or the new alpine portage moc toes. I’m a slut for a moc toe
Photo resolution is def something I'm lacking in :xd:
That reminds me, time to post fit to styling suggestions or wawyt
it's ok brother
you and i both
If I could say the house style is anything, it would be straight jeans with a tshirt and an overshirt/trucker jacket.
Also loafers
there seems to be a lot of loafers.
And a lot of interest in texture on texture
Moc toes are sick and we need to encourage more Moc toes
the secret is having a fit that makes the bad photo resolution look intentional :rollsafe:
2024 we are bringing back the moc toe
Did you feel like you stepped through a time warp
What music was playing though
Queue the Akon
Mfad needs house music to go with house style.
I really want moc toes again
Do it
Damn I had those too. I loved them
Ayyyy
It’s you and me 🤝 against the haters (smiles)
Recently I’d say so. It feels like the Japanese stuff has some staying power.
Mfers will get new glasses but still can’t see the vision
MFA house style is generally american centric with a lot of Ivy.
I have seen more loafers here than ive ever seen in my life.
Loafers so hot right now. But definitely more versatile than Allen Edmonds Walnut Strands
I'm sure they are in some places, NYC is probably overrun with them, but I have never seen a pair on someone under 60
Old people are wearing hokas now
Anytime I am going to be talking to a bunch of old people I wear my hokas as a conversation piece and it’s never failed me
All people young and old can agree that hokas are actually super comfortable
I’ve never seen loafers on a person older than 50
My 85 year old grandpa has been wearing black rockport sneakers with jeans for decades
My dad and grandfather loved tasseled loafers especially
I have some brooks ghosts that I got for running, and they may be the most comfortable shoe I've ever worn.
Combine the jeans and rockports with an unbuttoned faded frayed denim shirt. I realized recently that grandfather unironically might be stylish now
My dad's lawnmowing outfit is absolutely in fashion: oversized knit polo, cargo pants, crew socks and authentic grass-stained New Balance. IDK if we've reached the point where Oakleys and those fishing/sun hats are cool, but I'm sure we'll get there.
Both of my grandparents on my moms side are absolutely throwing fits
Lol my dad wears rockports to work but not sneakers
They're like a derby shoe ig. I don't know if they sell them anymore cuz I don't see them on the website now that I look
Oakleys are back, baby
My dad wears mocs, and I refuse to wear them as a result.
My Dad was wearing reebok pumps last time I saw him. He's so far ahead of the curve
Oakleys and fishing hats are so in
I’m still rocking them iron rangers
Timeless!