Stereotypes - Topic of the day 7/30/24
They say you can't judge a book by it's cover. But they also say there's exceptions to every rule, or some shit like that. Do you think someone can look at how you (specifically you) dress and pinpoint some of your traits/interests/etcetera? Or is how you dress completely removed from the rest of you? Idk this is a tough one to put into words but I think you get what I'm tryin to say.
135 Replies
you can instantly tell I'm a mfad mod by how I dress
Milquetoast white man wears plain clothes
This is going to be good
I'm a rich middle-aged white guy who wears a lot of Ralph Lauren and likes blazers and OCBDs
bro what you need is a mirror
and I don't mean a literal mirror
In fact, today I'm wearing Ralph Lauren shorts with tie-dye and Birkenstocks
I mean a metaphorical mirror of introspection
bc ur literally doing stereotype rn
ive had multiple people tell me my style is very laid back and i just look like an approachable guy so that's nice
don't know what that stereotype is but reality is im just a stressed out lil guy so it's not entirely true but not entirely false
I think elements of who I am come through from my style, but its more than how I dress.
Specifically its how my dress contrasts with my jewelry and tattoos and other decisions I make about how I look.
To actually engage with the question
But I'd struggle to say that it would be enough for people to figure out that much about me
More seriously, one of the ways MFAD appealed to me is the idea of fashion as self-expression, so I guess I want my insides and outsides to match. To wear clothing that feels like ME.
I've never actually met anyone from MFAD in the flesh, and this makes me genuinely curious what that would be like. I'm sure I've made unconscious assumptions based on how people dress, even though I don't intend to.
Im a boring personality ✅
I wear boring clothes ✅
no matter what im wearin moms everywhere love me
i mostly make my assumptions based off of what people post
basically every online fashion person i've met has been a sweetie
thats why he missed out on meeting me
didn't want to break his streak
Previous boss hit me with the "oh it's because you're from New England" (half-true) when we got into a conversation about why I dress "nice." This was pre-mfad for me, and I was mostly wearing J. Crew-lite fits with lots of oxfords and cardigans. So that's the most directly I've been stereotyped, besides being called gay in high school (which in hindsight was more of a compliment than I realized)
LMAO
I think people can tell how worldly and sophisticated I am by how well and interestingly I dress :thinkbutt:
maybe if you posted in higher res we could
would really appreciate reddit certain online places to stop assuming i support trump because i wear a red nationals cap from dc
if the nationals were better it would be less of an issue
sometimes i find it difficult to navigate clothes since as someone a) visibly black b) who wears a lot of ivy-coded clothing there's a lot of veiled or not so veiled suggestions that i'm dressing inauthentically
I’m ngl I stereotype the hell out of people by the way they dress
I’ll respect someone’s art opinion more if they dress well
I know which people likely support the police or military
I see someone with a 'be kind' shirt and I know everything I need to know
even/especially in the context of my other interests (aka i don't listen to tyler the creator). i find it helpful to think if how i dress as one component of my personality and that said personality is good 🙂 if one has a problem argue at the wall 👍
It’s healthier to stereotype people by the way they present themselves vs how they look anyways
And let’s be real everyone has preconceived notions of people before they meet them
that said a blue lives matter or all lives matter shirt is an auto flag
s/o the dude at my old coffee haunt in distressed black skinnies w a rat tail and blue lives matter patch on his backpack
idk if it's even called stereotyping at that point if someone is openly wearing their political opinions
tl;dr prejudging based on an instinctive "is this person a bigot/threat to my existence or not" based on clear indicators is fine/something i do, while prejudging things like hobbies or aptitude is less so
This spectrum may be horseshoe-shaped
can you expand on this idea?
Imma be real I can usually tell if I’d get along with someone by the way they dress. Patagonia puffer, ABC pants and On Clouds usually have a different perspective on welfare and class issues than me. Neon tank top and short shorts everywhere and I usually have different personalities. And tie dye baseball jersey, sunglasses, and ripped jeans usually means sus opinions about people different than them
If you have swag, we will probably get along. If you don’t have swag, we probably will not.
I get along with people with no swag too
This is really interesting. I feel like I would not want to judge someone to this degree before getting to know them a little. But that may be coming from a deeply ingrained belief that "clothes are superficial and don't matter" that I no longer can honestly say I subscribe to.
So do I, but sometimes it’s just very obvious from the way someone dresses that we will not get along lol
Just that someone with all outlandish clothes may have the same boring personality and the clothes are compensation for it.
Sometimes you see a fashion pick up truck
Some of us need to judge people as caution for homophobia, racism, transphobia, etc
L opinion
Good point.
I’m sure it will be here
i see where singer's coming from
i think i see it more with like loud luxury/heavy branding
than with actually interesting clothes
yeah I’m with you about On Running shoes tbh. When I see those, I just know that we have diverging ideas about housing policy and immigration
That’s like saying anyone with a hobby is covering up for their personality
i am korean 💪
I'm trying my best to use clothes to reflect aspects of my personality and way of life, which is why I avoid wearing something types of things entirely
I will bet you that there’s zero trend. There’s boring people who dress nice and interesting people who dress nice
I'll agree that very often clothes are superficial. Sometimes not but sometimes yes
hows that for a noncommittal answer
No, it’s not.
And those who usually rail on those who dress in brands have a worse personality than those that don’t in my opinion
Built their personality on hating
Instead of being passionate on what they actually like
bape is his passion
I'll just throw out that this is a bad discussion in which to make absolute claims, in my opinion. There are some people who dress wild who I find uninteresting as people, and lots of extremely interesting people who do not give a rats ass about style. Many people are in the middle somewhere. I just think that making blanket claims with no ambiguity is foolish
Also what does being an interesting person mean? Some people don’t have hobbies but are super bubbly and fun, and love meeting new people. Some people have a bunch of interests but don’t engage outside those interests. What does it mean to be a boring person?
someone who has never committed a crime
entirely subjective
usually my first encounter with a book is looking at the cover and deciding if it's something I'm interested in. Maybe it looks good so I crack into it and it fucking sucks so I stop reading and get rid of it.
People are the same thing
to add to the book analogy, maybe one of friends sees the same book i discarded and absolutely fucking loves the book
if the book is "catcher on the rye" that's one thing, if it's "hillbilly elegy" that's something else - it depends on what's being comminicated
I think the whole act of creating looks is about communicating via people’s preconceived notions
Whether that’s healthy or not who knows, but that’s what this hobby is
What you have to remember is that you communicate for your target audience
So maybe a punk looks scary to some old person but looks cool to another punk
But it’s more important to the punk that other punks understand the message
Humans are gonna judge no matter what. It’s healthier than physical traits because it’s something someone chooses to present.
Yeah I think that’s a fair assessment
I think it’s best to limit your reads to broad subcultures rather than making assumptions about personalities necessarily
Clothing is a form of communication and I think one should listen to people
but also
dressing is hard
I agree, but this is where "everyone doesn't speak the same language" comes into play. There are references in here I don't think a lot of people know when they buy something or get dressed
Is it always a choice, though? If you have no money, you have much less ability to choose your clothes and what style you present to the world.
not necessarily true if you have some combination of swag, creativity, skill and time
plenty of people with money still manage to dress like shit
also chars pov (lmk if I'm misrepresenting u char) is not: person dress good so they are ontologically good
yes, but that's the opposite of what I was pointing out.
did you ignore my first message or
Yea it’s more like what they choose to wear has more of a bearing of whether I’ll like them vs how well they dress
I'd say having more money def gives you more options
just like you can be rich/wealthy and still have bad credit, but like. your chances of getting better credit is higher
because you have money
Having more poorly fitting ugly clothes just because you’re rich :galaxybrain:
yeah it can but that's not the discussion rn. Like, using chars examples again, a neon tank and short shorts is not a big ticket buy. A blue lives matter shirt can be had for free at any boot station. Both of these say things about the wearer.
my bad, I was just trying to add on to the side conversation
I think I get approached more for like, directions and stuff on the subway in the past year of dressing "better." So basically it's been awful
I'm going to shut up now. Sorry for what I said.
You're good, it's just a misconception that gets to me as someone who has been well under the poverty line that, during those times, I was unable to express myself because of my poverty. Me and my poor friends were dressin lmao.
No worries, I understand completely
once, I was at a Nordstrom browsing in the men’s section to kill time while I was waiting for someone and a white lady came up to me and put a bunch of clothes in my hands. She then told me to take it to the register for her. I immediately dropped them on the ground and was like “excuse you!” She said that I looked like I work there because I was “well-dressed.” 😭
https://havensurf.com/en-us/products/idea-i-dont-work-here-cap-beige found this for u
Haven Surf
IDEA - "I Don't Work Here" Cap - Beige
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(i want one)
I am usually not a serif font person, but this goes hard
I want one too
It's so cute when people ask for directions tho 🥰
Now this I judge
tbh it’s probably my biggest red flag
need one of these
i think if you've worked retail or any sort of service industry that there's a sort of helpful aura people sense in other places - i get it a lot shopping for clothes or waiting for metro
i think i see your point in that with less money comes fewer options to choose what to present to the world and form a favorable impression (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) but charli's point is that people will judge you anyway, even if you're seemingly well dressed. certainly it affects people who have less money more importantly, but there is still a great deal of choice one can make in their clothes if poor (as what kyn was saying, I believe). it's the cost of admission into the societal norms we have and without major social change the onus is on the person dressing to do so in a way true to them without harming others, and the person viewing to not act reprehensibly based on their initial judgment
i mentioned several people there so if i misrepresented you sorry!
yes, well put. I think it's worth remembering that we are all quite fortunate here to be able to put as much time and energy into clothing as we do.
I been dressing more and more like Robin Willams from The Birdcage, but I’m actually a straight white guy.
Somethin somethin culture moving from queer spaces outward somethin somethin skinny jeans somethin somethin lacy shirts
To engage w the question idk I do dress in tropes that have a little more obvious sociological meaning a lot of the time and I think my fits will maybe present a facet or sliver of my personality or interests
But I would hate to be in boxes all the time
i think i've reached a point where all of my outfits (in combination with my hair, piercings, etc.) read as queer even if it isn't the intention—every day i get customers who assume so without having to think about it
something i def wouldn't have said two years ago
i don't feel like my fits give that off at all but i literally had someone who sniffed me out like a dog so idk
maybe it was just my vibe
literally
I think about this a lot as a white person who likes to wear suits and ivyish stuff casually. I usually hope that my womanhood blunts the overall effect a little lol. As someone who's been both femme and butch as an adult I'm pretty aware of how your appearance affects people's first impressions of you. I don't go out of my way to seem more masc when I wear tailoring or preppy/ivyish stuff bc honestly I'd definitely rather have people know I'm a butch in those situations if that makes sense
Some girl at my job called out all of my inspos based off my look so I guess
That’s fucked up
Or maybe good idk
Uh they never said anything fucked up
It was just like
They found out it was inspired by Korean fashion
And a few other things
some people really do just have a vibe. sometimes it's even like eye contact or what you look at on another person that can tip ppl off
Wait why would that be fucked up lmao
they said i feel way too safe to be straight which made me lol
I feel like I always look disheveled enough when I do tailoring that it never reads as problematic
I've got a soulful look in my eyes
Getting my soul read like that would hit me funny
Not like fucked up fucked up
Oh I get it
Yeah I was a bit weirded out
But in someways I am predictable and they already figured my favorite color was blue
Either way I do like it when the fit references something and people can tell
yeah i think when guys wanna go super trad/clean about it it can seem more (politically) conservative
ie I think my hair/beard/tie tuck communicate my vibe here
wait a second
the cotton suit helps too i think
you have articulated something i have never understood
and that something is why i like the really slouchy ivy fits
I am immediately on my guard if there's a dude in a skinny shiny navy suit with light brown shoes they always got that Look about em
realtor vibe
with the metallic belt buckle
cop vibe
all correct
to be clear I think conservative (not politically but traditional or w/e) tailoring can look really good I'm just a little on guard until I find out whether they're chill. But I feel like I CAN tell if someone's wearing a suit just bc they have to for their job/ """"grindset""""" vs. whether they genuinely like the clothes
do you still have the sinbad screenshot?
I saw a guy in a navy suit and foam runners today. Immediately knew he was chill
Who knows with this fella
This guy would take 4 mins to clear a VIP target from an elevated position
found it
lmfao
If you had a low taper fade though…
Without reading anything yet I feel like stereotypes are basically cultural capital heuristics
For the better or worse
I honestly think the whole idea of being able to evaluate someone from a brief first impression of their clothing/mannerism is so interesting
Not to say like just bc you can speculate doesn't mean you're correct
But theres some kind of shared understanding, which is also how new vocabulary gets cemented into the mainstream (shout-out etymology nerd)
I think you mean 'meow' right egg?
For example
I've trained to give this discord immense emotional damage when I say "rizz" bc I've now embedded it with context only known within this discord
In my area it’s the Punisher shirt with the blood dripping flag.
I feel like there's stereotypes specific to MFA too
Which is just interesting
Oakley sunglasses, drivers seat pfp
You can tell I work in tech because I dress like shit :gigachad:
The worst people with the worst opinions Ive ever met have worn suits. This may have influenced my personal dislike of that style of dress just a little
not enough evidence
post fit more
For reasons I have articulated previously, absolutely not
ok sure
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I know you've said it before, but I'm still gonna side-eye having no skin in the game
I am absolutely fine with you thinking that
i get stereotyped as a nerd and i'm so happy about it
Years ago when I worked in politics it was my job to identify potential voters, identify issues important to them, and trigger them with ads. This was years before social media existed. Anyway, it’s habit for me to put people in a tiny box when I meet them. It’s a skill I wish I no longer possessed 25 years later. I can’t help it.
to answer the original thread question: I really have no idea what people think when they look at me. Other people's reads seem to vary wildly depending on factors I don't entirely understand and some that I do (I tend to get read differently depending on who I'm with). I think a big reason I joined this server is that I want to find a way of presenting myself to the world that feels more authentic to me, and maybe that will make people's reads on me line up a bit better with who I am. But who knows
that is certainly a tough way to learn to look at the world!
i do very much intentionally dress to scream my interests to the world but it’s also like. have you seen my shirt collection?
Also wait
Is that article header real?
i'm actually painfully stereotypical
(unintentionally)
Fluency in the associations of different types of clothing, and the ability to mix or subvert them often is the mark of a good dresser.
For instance, I like cats so, as a good dresser, I like to wear my cat sweater since they’re associated with people who like cats, subverting the assumption that I don’t like cats.