Fashion as a Hobby - Topic of the day 4/22/24
Do you consider fashion a 'hobby'? If so, what aspect(s) of it do you enjoy? How can one engage in this hobby beyond just the purchasing of clothes?
60 Replies
I love spending 40 hours a week looking at clothes and also the rest of the time thinking about clothes
it would be kind of crazy to be in this discord if you didn't consider it a hobby
Glad Im not the only one in that camp
the embed is just doomed lmao
na there r plenty of ppl who show up to ask questions here who consider it standard practice and not a hobby
I disagree
it would be kind of surprising to be in some parts of this discord if you didn't consider it a hobby
but are they reading this thread or posting questions in gen chat?
I think like any hobbiest discord theres plenty of people just asking questions like zach says but the discord is driven by people who consider it a hobby
just like the sub was
If you don't consider fashion a hobby then you shouldn't be giving advice thats a quick vibe check on "should I answer this question"
Sort of. "Wearing clothes" is something you have to do, like eating. So in my opinion, fashion, like cooking, is sort of a hobby, sort of not. Sewing your own clothes is definitely a hobby, but I don't do that (yet?)
i mean i know there are people are here who don't consider it a hobby, but i think my take has always been that if you don't consider it a hobby then you shouldn't care enough to join a discord about clothes
but i know i'm probably in a minority there
like jfarrell said it's something that everyone does so the lines get kind of confused, but this is ultimately a hobbyist community
anyway if the only way you engage with fashion is a shopping addiction thats wack. So much more to fashion than that. Runways, inspo, thinking about new outfits, getting feedback on outfits, talking about the current fashion trends, arguing with idiots, all the core things of a hobby right there
Going to the mall and learning about the texture of various fabrics through touch…
it's tough because at the end of the day it is a consumptive hobby in most ways, but so are many many hobbies because of the economic systems we live under
But no, not a hobby for me sadly as clothes are too expensive. I change my entire wardrobe after few years.
like, so is model trains or even something like knitting
even though that's not all of it
I engage with this hobby by eating textiles
Yeah. The dividing line is fuzzy, but if you hang out on MFA, you're pretty clearly past it.
That's a good point. I am drawn to hobbies with a creative aspect. Sewing qualifies, shopping for clothes probably doesn't
kind of, but searching for the right piece and then wearing it can be creative imo
i think clothing catches a lot of heat for being a consumption based hobby because, again, everyone wears clothes
so if you spend $1k on a jacket people who aren't into clothes are like what the fuck are you doing
not to say there aren't people who have a problem
100%. That's why the line is fuzzy.
It’s a rich people’s hobby I guess
its
not
that is :copium:
the winner of the last fit battle is one of the people who is the most into fashion I know and thrifts 100% of their wardrobe cheaply
That’s inspiring
having money can make fashion easier but it is absolutely not required
i definitely agree and i think it's totally possible to be just as into fashion as anybody and thrift/make your own clothes HOWEVER i think some people are needlessly embarrassed about spending money on clothes
i get not wanting to make fashion seem like something just for rich people because it's not
The only reason to be embarrassed about spending money on clothes is if your fits are still bricked
if you're into clothes as a hobby i think it's totally fine and cool to spend more than normal people would on your clothes, i think there's just a little bit of ambient shame around it because everyone wears clothes as i keep saying
shit
i dunno it's tough
I'm not gonna pretend there isn't an effort trade off to doing fashion cheaply espicially. I spend a lot of money on fashion because I'm fortunate enough I can, and I don't particularly enjoy thrifting and constant hunting. I'd much rather buy something thats what I like directly. But a lot of this server thrifts/buys secondhand a large portion of their wardrobe and keeps clothes cheap.
Yeah for me the hunt is def part of the fun
This is totally an Issue I have with it. Arguably right now I am very early in my "finding my style" journey. Which means buying stuff to find out what I like and build a wardrobe around my tastes. But I low key hope that I one day can arrive at a point where I can say "all right, I am done", having found my style, occasionally buying the odd thing or two or replacing something that is worn out. Basically being content with what I wear. Just focusing on wearing what you have and all that stuff.
And I know thats a bit of a naive idea
If you ever feel "done" I think maybe at that point it's no longer a hobby?
that being said, for me fashion is not just a habby but also very tied up with gender stuff (on account of me being nonbinary) that I don't really understand.
good point
nah i think it's still a hobby because you're still putting those clothes on every day
But just because it's something you do doesn't make it a hobby. Like I wouldn't consider brushing my teeth a hobby
yes but if you have like 20 toothbrushes that you swap out depending on mood and teeth dirtiness you might consider it a kind of hobby even if you aren't buying new toothbrushes
this is giving me an idea for an exciting new subreddit
Ok, fair. So i guess the fashion equivalent would be ending with one outfit and wearing only that everyday
maybe not one outfit. But perhaps a capsule wardrobe where everything goes with each other and you could basically dress in the dark and exclusively according to external factors
But having said that: I think we need to move away from considering this in binary terms of is a hobby/is not a hobby
for some people it is a small hobby
something they put a bit of extra thought into
but not terribly much
in the same way that some people just cook slightly more elaborate homecooked food than neccessary and own a few cookbooks for special occasions without going all in on it
100% agree - it's in varying degrees for everyone
Fashion on a budget is its own sort of a hobby
And fun at that
I think long term I want it to be a small hobby for me. Right now there is a lot of stuff I need to figure out about how I want to dress. But long term I hope to come to some sort of conclusion where it requires less attention
True. There is just a certain joy to find something nice on a flea market
i think in the process of figuring out basic fit and then ultimately my style it became a hobby even without spending as much money on things
reading into brand legacies, going to flea markets just to look at or feel clothes, looking up unknown brands, seeing runway shows or finding people with good style on instagram - all of these are active things that i enjoy doing even if at one point they were in service to a straightforward desire to "dressing better".
I think that is a very good way to approach things
I think fashion as a hobby is easiest to approach from the angle of "min-maxing" and actively making tradeoffs on what kind of fit to prioritise. That's the hobby. Creating a list of clothes that have the right vibe, and then seeing how to get them on a budget.
And sometimes you do in fact find $2 Crockett and Jones
And sometimes you find hilarity like this
Idk I don't really agree I just buy shit that I think is cool, it doesn't really have to be smth u min max. Like if thats ur vibe chase it but spreadsheets are alr my IRL job I am not gonna put fashion into one
i can't imagine min-maxing fashion
i don't even think it can be done honestly
your clothes don't have armor values in real life
oh yeah?
leave it to crows (and charlie) to prove me wrong
also in a society amirite way I do consider protective value in my clothes :hawyee:
Omg what is that
A sick fit
I think fashion became "easier" to me once I started viewing it as a hobby which seems like a catch 22
But how accessible the discord makes fashion discourse inevitably does open up venues for me to think about things that I wouldn't had otherwise
For me personally, fashion is artistic expression and an outlet. I have something very specific I am trying to communicate. When I started it, I could communicate maybe 1% of that (or less). Now that I have been at it for a few years, I think maybe on a good day I communicate 10%.
Cant believe I said this a day before splashing on a Kapital Jacket 🤡
What are you trying to communicate?
Here is my best attempt to explain that:
yokohama_menswear
OK, this is going to be a really weird post. But please bear with me, if able. The other day I was speaking to my wife about "intention" in fashion, and she asked what MY intention was. That led to a lot of thinking and eventually this weird attempt at an explanation.
Imagine two triangles on different planes intersecting.
The first (green) tr...
Likes
231
Instagram
no lie this was one of the posts that led me down the rabbit hole to mfad
sorta lumping in with today's totd, the idea that someone else was thinking about clothes to this extent openly made it easier to do so in turn
Wow that means a lot! Though actually I feel I really struggled to explain this point. Someday I'd like to articulate it more clearly.