Darwin's Peacock - Topic of the day 5/12/24
"The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me feel sick," said Darwin, who initially struggled to recognize the purpose of such extravagance surviving natural selection. What fashion choices feel like "peacocking" today? Are you driven by the choice to stand out (for attraction or otherwise), or do you prefer dressing within a common, recognizable, or practical language?
49 Replies
i live in a fairly large metropolitan area that nontheles skews conservative in dress so a lot of the things that would feel reasonable either on MFA or in more liberal cities (wide fit pants for sure, but even things like intentionally casual tailoring, formality clashes, white socks and loafers, most of ALD's ethos) can skew as peacocking
i struggled with the question of 'do i want to stand out with my clothes' in the 2010s and early 2020s as a broader question of 'do i want to stand out as a person' and ultimately came around to 'i would like to wear what i'd like to wear and if that means i raise a few eyebrows oh well'. there's a certain amount of privilege that's attached to that thinking but ht's been freeing on the whole
i can recognize the need to dress within a more recognizable way of style (i don't want to use 'assimilate' as there's negative connotations involved) to a point, say, starting out at a new job, but not at the expense of one's own personal self
but for confirmation these were definitely intentional peacocking lmao
I dress to stand out bc I don’t see the point of dressing to blend in if u care about clothing as a hobby
This is something that is 90% only a thing for terminally online people anyway
Reality is sometimes I'll brick fits and everyone will notice. But if you nail a loud fit everybody will notice in a good way. Only people worried about this shit are the people who want the props for dressing well without the risk. That's not how life works tbh.
Also feels good being complimented whether by friends or strangers
lmao 100% the hypebeast meta back in high school bc i remembered people discussing wearing adidas trackpants just to get more facebook pfp likes
it was literally max peacocking and im a certified hater still
This shit is so terminally online anyway, if you are in real life outside of like rural areas noone will give you shit beyond minor comments. I got Skrillex hair, lots of tattoos, paint my nails, wear jewelry, and dress loudly. The main comment I get that isn't a compliment is "haha Skrillex"
Interesting to me that you feel that 2 feels like peacocking
re myself: I think I definitely dress to stand out to some extent bc I view it as a medium of gender expression, but honestly the idea of executing "safe", mainstream fits well is exciting enough to me because I feel like I've barely gotten my toes wet into fashion. I wouldn't peacock for the sake of it, but I'm driven by a desire to present myself a certain way that whatever my style might look like in 5 years is just what it is
It all depends on the day for me and I love the ability to dress based on the way I want to be perceived. Some days I want to stand out and some days I want to blend in.
Living in Los Angeles is sort of strange in the sense that the fashion varies so much in different parts of the city. What is peacocking in one city might be fairly normal in another.
I think the biggest thing I've found with how I dress is that I can affect how others perceive me pretty drastically both personally and professionally. As someone in design school, I think dressing for expression of self is seen as somewhat synonymous to how much you're willing to push yourself as a designer
Clothes are your most forward outward first impression
I'd love to know what @bishopcorrigan thinks on that front since he is an alum of my school and I'd also love to hear from others who went to art or design school on this topic! 🙂
It’s part of the “everything is design” mentality that you start to believe when you study design, or the gesamtkunstwerk idea
Like how wholly and completely are you thinking about the world
As a designer the scope can be as massive as you want from a conceptual perspective, the idea of design really has no limits
So I think it’s a field where how you present yourself probably has more impact than average on people’s expectations of your work
Though many fields historically have the same effect, and I think we often make judgements like that about everything without even realizing, it’s just that it’s the designers role to be able to notice what other people notice and use that as a way to communicate intentionally
this has finally started to occupy my brain and it’s one kind of brainrot i’ve genuinely been appreciating having
I think it can sometimes lead to what I call “the designer’s hubris” but it’s largely good to understand that anything can and should have focus put on it to understand how it works and how it can be made better
for me it was the pocket kerchief that took it to peacocking; i really like the fit because of it but it's a less functional accessory than what people would typically do outside of drakes
I feel like I have a pretty concise style that I stick to. Overall it’s pretty tame. I teach middle school and I try not to wear anything that’ll distract the kids too much (think: a full suit) - it’ll just make my job harder.
But I don’t compromise on my aesthetic. Among the teachers I stand out somewhat but that’s alright.
This really resonates with me. Often I really feel the need to peacock (or what feels peacocky to me at least), even if just by a bit just to express that I am queer. I think this is also the reason why I got into fashion as a hobby in the first place, bc I needed a way to express my (lack of) gender. I still have no Idea how I do that or if that will ever work, but its still a good practice for me.
yeah. i said this a few other times but i frequently feel like i have to keep coming back and making grander and grander gestures that “no, really, i’m not just wearing spikes and leather to make a statement, i know what this is for.”
A colleague of mine wears sambas, slim fit chinos, ocbds and merino wool sweaters, the ultimative anti-peacock. Just thinking of wearing that outfit myself gives me gender dysphoria.
this is so real! i think you've put some of my own thoughts into words, definitely going to be mulling over this. appreciate you
My friends are currently pigeonholing me as "discord e-boy" but honestly I'll take that as a first step
:xd:
I wear very boring fits tbh but being a woman who wears tailoring and ties a lot does make me stand out sometimes? I think? I was butch before I really started going for it so I never know if people are looking just bc they're curious about my gender presentation. I'm lucky to live in a huge city where it's impossible to ACTUALLY stand out all that much tho so I only really notice ppl looking a lot when I travel home to NZ or visit family in a smaller usamerican city. Born 2 b boring forced by Gender 2 b nonconforming 🫡
Born to be boring forced by gender to be nonconforming is such a vibe
so real on the visibly queer front. At the time in my life I tried my absolute hardest to blend in I constantly was both made to feel as well as directly told that I stood out anyways. I finally decided fuck it, if I'm going to stand out it might as well be on my terms. I wouldn't say I currently dress with the goal of peacocking, I aim to feel strong and comfortable in how I present myself and to have some fun with it
I feel like I dress fairly conservatively, but I get enough comments from strangers out and about that maybe not. Anyway, I don’t dress with the goal of peacocking, but I also don’t dress with the goal of blending in. I dress to have fun.
I'm pretty tall and I've gotten pretty wide, and I'm acutely aware of how much space I take up when I'm around other people.
For the longest time I wore only black & drapey because I felt liked it helped to conceal me (it didn't I still took up space lmao), but ive been moving towards lighter shades and adding more colorful palettes to my inspo.
I still love black, but I want to wear it when I want to wear it and not as a sort of defense mechanism.
I'm pretty tall (6'3"), enough to be aware of my height and it's kind of annoying. Never got on board with the idea of dressing for other people, and slowly unlearning what bad lessons I did learn whaen I thought I had to dress certain ways. I guess the stuff I like the most is twists on a style, I'm not trying to walk a runway here.
I was theorizing with my wife just this week about the whole white sneakers thing as a bit of a "peacocking" behavior in that they don't look good when they are dirty, but they obviously get dirty really easily. So if you don't have the time to clean them, they aren't going to look good, which makes clean white sneakers a sign of status and privilege, because if you wear them and they are clean, you are a person with the time to regularly clean sneakers. Kinda like a bird with bright feathers. Those things can get you killed, but they show that you are the kind of bird that can make up for that! I don't know, maybe that's just how I make excuses for why I don't have a pair of white sneakers. Yet.
see also: leaving stickers on baseball caps to show how new they are
See also: white suits and white outerwear in general
It's kind of perverse but I sometime feel most peacocky when I'm wearing a keffiyeh. It's the item that I wear that most deeply expresses who I am and my values but it's also large and bold. My red one is very bright as well, so I think it can be read as peacocking to those who don't know its meaning. When I first got one I was kinda uncomfortable with the look but wore it out of a political commitment and at this point I don't think twice about sticking out when I wear out, because I'm comfortable with who I am and the message I'm sending. I don't think I would have worn a big patterned scarf a couple years ago but now I'm like fuck it, why not?
i love the worn white sneaker look tbh
almost like it's own rugged charm though rugged is a bit of a strong word
White sneakers look best when they’re totally cooked imo
god i hate it when people do that lmao it looks so tacky
At this point wearing chinos and a anything with a collar is peacocking tbh.
At least in the states
Worn with a sweater might as well be a suit jacket
I've seen a company advertising dress shirts as the new suit
Kinda cringe
what no
have you been to an office
I live in California
😛
me too
I'm exaggerating a bit but I don't really see people dress up anymore like that even for work.
might be a regional thing; plenty of people dress up still in dc
“In the states” dog there are states bigger than countries here there’s nothing that’s true “in the states”
I'm just saying the bar is really low for what is considered "dressed up". And yes you are going to stand out when the vast majority of people don't even wear jeans on a daily basis anymore.
At least from my anecdotal observation.
You’re generalizing to an insane degree is all we’re saying
I guarantee you don’t realize a lot of people are dressed in chinos and button ups because you don’t notice them and they blend in… thus aren’t peacocking
tbf i think he articulating a valid point badly
Yeah I did it on purpose lol
there are plenty of (predominately tech) offices where wearing a blazer would be "peacocking", and if you wore a collared shirt most people would just assume you have a presentation lol
I don’t think in any environment chinos and a button up would be peacocking bc even in the loosest offices someone is wearing that
And literally if you walk down the street someone is probably wearing that
A blazer would definitely stick out in my office. Would mean someone was meeting a bank.
But I don't think that would read as peacocking, more..confusing if they weren't.