Advice, Revisited - Topic of the day 7/19/24
This is different than the last advice totd we did because it's about receiving advice. When you post in q&a quite often a lot of people will want to help you out. Unfortunately, not everyone is equipped to do so. How do you evaluate what is and is not good advice? How do you write your questions to ensure that they're actually able to be answered?
36 Replies
just popping in here to say 'check waywt post history' before anyone else can
art hit nail on head
Uh, vibes, and a trust that they understand what you are going for (this can be an issue on the person asking for advice too)
I simply agree with whatever the last person who gave advice says
Too many times people completely miss what you're attempting to reference or improve in an outfit which is a great sign they don't understand the vision
training someone on survey analysis irl and one of the big things for us is seeing if the response actually answers your question
whenever you ask for advice you must be prepared to have your mind changed. I think many people ask a question hoping for the beliefs they already have about the subject matter to be reinforced and as a result are not receptive to the actual good advice they receive
granted if several people are giving insufficient responses, especially in the same way, it might be worth seeing if your question could be more clear
Outfit feedback is simply difficult so I don't ever approach it from "which of these people giving me feedback/advice is right?" but rather a list of things to think about and try and iterate on.
outfit feedback is far easier if you identify your preferences/issues in advance
tbh i almost never check someone's waywt history unless i immediately disagree with someone—ime it's much easier to judge the intention of a piece of feedback by its tone
Outside of fashion communities, you'll get random (negative) feedback on your fits and the vast majority of the time they're coming from a place of ignorance/lack of style/fear of stylistic individuality
I'm hot and you're not so idc what you say
Ya u gotta bring something to the table, advice givers arent wizards or mind readers
ppl who are confident in their advice aren't often absolute but qualify it using xyz caveat or reasoning
this 💯 if you don't think the fit works, why? is it colors, is it fit, etc? if you were trying to achieve a certain reference pic, what is the reference? is it for an occasion that is about to happen or has already happened? context is key
so good
I generally subscribe to "idk it's just a brick"
There's so much that can go "wrong" that's also not captured in a photo posted to the internet. Maybe the fabric flows funny when you move, maybe it just doesn't feel comfortable or isn't what you expected. Maybe the vibes are just off and it doesn't feel you. Maybe your PoV/vision is just bad.
A lot of times I really think the best advice to take is just "idk try again tomorrow
but I will say if you don't know what you want that's okay too! Just put some effort in
there is no such thing as too much information when asking a question
even if it seems redundant and unnecessary
In addition, I think that when you do write a good question and clearly state where you're coming from, good answers will take your vision into account. If they have a strong perspective of their own, and it doesn't fully align with yours, someone answering in good faith will both try to adapt their advice to your preferences and also give a perspective that might push you to see the issue differently.
it depends on the person and the fit imo; if someone's going in blind narrowing down the possible visible issues can help
i think theres a massive difference between an obvious brick and knowing something is off
(mostly just the title, I haven't read that blog post in a while)
Yeah I'll often say "[critque] but I'm also just someone who prefers xyz / often feels xyz looks more harmonious / etc"
for mfad specifically, since this is a global user base, when asking for item recommendations please dear lord include a budget for the item, your location and if you're willing to thrift
"too cheap" and "too expensive" are subjective terms especially when it comes to items which usually have a higher cost (tailoring, outerwear, decent shoes)
right, there's just a lot of grey area and I don't particularly like the "if I could just model the whole universe I could come up with the perfect fit" approach.
I also think most people asking for advice (myself included) are better served by just trying again. Too much time spent scouring internet fashion discourse and not enough time wearing the clothes or looking at clothes (runway shows, ig, other inspo)
i so often want to say "dude!!!! finding what you need for a price that fits in your budget is simply a function of time and effort!!"
inb4 3 choose 2
oh yes, i see what you mean now
yes corollary to this is "how do i style this item" (flat lay pic of random clothes) are completely useless
yeah i very much connect with the second part
@artvandelayimporting I appreciate not calling me/the article out in the topic post this time
every couple of months i find myself in a rut and it's almost always because i haven't looked at clothes in a while
Didn’t read the prompt… a combination of vibes and if the advice itself clicks for me
it also might take time, especially if the question or advice is challenging. the last time i used styling suggestions it took a night for me to use the suggestions given in a meaningful way
If they have an anime pfp and are giving me advice I don't just ignore it I block and report it
Sometimes advice given is very heavily location dependent and it's obvious that they're from a different place.
So I try to give context on that when asking questions