Fashion Buzzwords - Topic of the day 11/27/24
What are some buzzwords you hear a lot when discussing fashion and what do they mean to you? Which ones do you use and which ones do you tend to avoid?
277 Replies
there are some super obvious ones, "quality, timeless, flattering", but one buzzword I've come to hate is swag because of the meme. sorry to say
Old money yappers need to give me their money before I tell em to clear out Loro Piana
Quality obviously, stupidest buzzword ever
Whois outside my house yelling 'Timeless elevated basics'? Show yourself, coward
My personal axe to grind is "versatile"
Elevated is nausea inducing
The only thing I want elevated is the rise of my pants
@adaptation why are you on the photo
Are we counting cosmetics as fashion here?
Anyway, I've definitely seen some perfume dupe brands describe themselves as designer inspired on their adverts đ
Which is now to me a PR friendly way of saying perfume dupe
"organic" "ethical" "sustainable" "recycled" "recyclable"
hate this one the most. not only is it rooted in glazing rich people but it's also been used to describe so many different actual styles that it's not even a useful descriptive term
Colour theory
Analogous
"50% recycled shoe"
Only 50% of the upper is recycled.
"artisan, handmade"
it is not, in fact they are made in factories
artisan inspired
"Luxury products are sustainable by nature. "
:elmo_explosion:
That is a real quote lol
which is just not true
every REI item description ever
Real in that someone actually tried to claim that, but yeah
The Business of Fashion
Op-Ed | The Myth of Ethical Luxury
Beneath luxuryâs glamorous surface lies a network of supply chains tangled with the same labour abuses as fast fashion. Brands can, and should, do better, argues Caterina Occhio.
REI: opt outside we hate sales and love the nature right hahah right guys?
Rei is struggling big time
Think they are just desperate
it would bother me less if REI just went full mask-off about being a for-profit corporation, but like every other outdoor brand they are "mission-focused"
not my favorite
I â¤ď¸ perfume dupes
They should have Touch Grass Tuesday deals
reaal!!
Does wearing vs styling count? That shit is the stupidest fashion content on earth
The last time I tried dupes was in Thassos in Greece, 2018. They had Suvage by Dior and probably CK One.
Swag is for boys, class is for men
It's a meaninglessness thing Sam. Silly buzzwords circa 2010 nerds who were actually just racist
this is why ive come to hate the term
:linkYikes:
Pay it no mind
just kidding
in the context of some dude wearing a sweater and pants, then wearing the same thing but he tucked it in and added a belt for 5 million views on tik tok... yes it should die
i hate it because the swag sticker is like the "slap tape on the water leak" meme
lazy answer
yes its most of the time just like "what if i showed a half finished outfit...and then finished putting my clothes on" or "what if i tucked in a shirt in an outfit where its fucking obvious the shirt should be tucked"
sometimes its even "what if i wore a completely different outfit with a common piece"
the half finished is wild, like heres a tee and pants... shocker it gets better when you add a coat and accessories
"ethical" made a bunch of dorks think they were being activists thru consumerism so that's my pick
wym its my favorite type of activism - effortless
did you guys already talk about the word timeless
got mentioned above, as did quality, no one has bit yet
its a timeless buzzword
yeah i love arts fits :xd:
but yes timeless is such a scamword
adjacent I feel like everytime I see a "contemporary" update to a fit its always slim
Buy it for life also needs to die a bit
buy if for death
bifl mfs when they are getting thier 15th pair of brown boots that they will never resole going "but its gonna last a lifetime"
Bury me with my tabis
timeless and, adjacent to that, the entire philosophy of buy it for life guys works as a real good litmus test for the most boring and undiscerning men you'll ever meet
That falls into quality as well for me
(I have some small sympathy for the BIFL crowd. Trying to get actually hard wearing stuff thats repairable in the age of enshittification is annoying)
it results in my favorite content though - "what if instead of buying something trendy that looks good, you buy something off trend that looks like dogshit but will last forever"
"what do you mean by the time the trendy piece is worn out it will be off trend anyway"
I strongly relate to this statement
:xdcrying: me looking at my slim fits raws that have not been worn in years
anything that looks that bad is gonna last forever bro, its gonna sit on the shelf
buy it for life means in 2 years I can sell it back like new đ§
đ¤ one day we will rise again brother. But not to high since they are low rise jeans
"selvedge" is stupid and doesn't mean anything
but my cool strip on the inside of the pant no one can see
Yeah but it looks cute :blushcatto:
"circular fashion"
Anian I am looking at you, they're so full of shit and I have to drive past their store all the time
if only more men could just say this
it's always a fuckin objective scale tho
in my culture we express ourselves through matching socks w/ selvedge stripes
The urge to put everything on a tier list is goofy
Its like watches, just admit you like wearing bracelets that make funny ticking noises
God, I was just about to say. You don't have o justify that you spent ÂŁÂŁÂŁ on a watch beyond 'I like it'
overjustification in buying shit drives me crazy
I mean if its a pretty watch its a pretty watch. Nothing wrong with that
"It brings me joy" "it makes me look hotter" "I like how it looks" just say what u mean
im in this picture and I don't like it
Yup, and other people might not thing it's a prett ywatch, and that doesn't matter either
TBH i still get got by the ethical one every once in a while, I think its a fine line between wanting to at least not be actively supporting awful labor like fast fashion but not falling into the branding around "ethical" clothing beacuse thats also bs idk its weird
the denim people seem to be mostly over this now fortunately. Expensive denim is nice, it feels nice and it looks interesting. That's all you need.
for me it just smooths out industry-wide problems and encourages complacency so long as a company can say "ethical processes, from farm to table" or whatever
Have they admitted raws kinda suck yet?
lmao i wouldn't go that far
but thank u for saying that, I don't understand the raw denim thing at all !
Raws are great cause I can buy them 2nd hand after someone else has made them look good
I think âItalianâ âBritishâ âfrenchâ
yeah I get that, I mean I think sometimes I give what I considerer ethics too much power in my decision for when im buying clothes.
"urban"
In reference to styles not like conceptually
take the mask off and say what you mean
Iâm aware that these have non buzzword meanings
âItalian styleâ fucking nerd
"adaptation"
those should also be avoided tbf
ok maybe this is too much of a tangent but don't they stop being raw if they're secondhand? like the rawness just means unsanforized/unwashed, so unless you are literally buying unwashed jeans
i raw all my denim
Not discussing the legitimacy of the nation state here that deserves its own totd
please avoid refering to the Br*tish, some of us are trying to eat
also any phrasing related to color science, all of it is dumb
and not a science
by this definition none of your own raws are raw after you wash them once. also most "raws" come with one wash anyway so they dont turn you and everything you love blue
'Whats your colour season'
inhales
'FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-'
"affordable" - the fashion industry gets weird about it but so do consumers imo
Re: all the bifl, raw, Goodyear welt, over-justifying stuff, I remember someone (I think Derek guy) saying that getting super technical about clothing was largely a way for insecure straight dudes to get into fashion without admitting they were getting into fashion
This ties in with my biggest pet peeve with poorly formed q&a posts. Affordable is such a nebulous term and entirely useless
which I think is kinda.. fine actually? I feel that it came with a greater appreciation for the craft of producing common items, and overall that's good.
Yeah I donât think it hurt anyone
i dont doubt that's prob true on some level but i also have 0 sympathy for insecure straight dudes so the whole thing looks like a :skillissue: to me
Well-fitting
But like you said you kinda just wanna be like âjust say you look good!â
i think it led to people justifying an appreciation for their aesthetics as due to an appreciation for the crafting of the good
"I like my clothes to fit well" of course you do 4head
does that emoji read âskill issueâ? I need glasses lol
if, hypothetically, supreme had the same rigorous standards of production and longevity i don't know if it would garner the same amount of attention in bifl circles as redwings or whathaveyou
Ah, yeah
(supreme was just a brand i pulled out of my ass don't @ me)
Youâre fine theyre all queued up waiting to buy a supreme brick
:xd:
yea that's a good point. There's also a lot of inherent conservatism and class guilt wrapped up in what can be aesthetically acceptable under that framework.
I like this phrasing. I think itâs common for craftsmanship to become a bridge to aesthetics in general for a lot of men. The inability to admit it is problematic probably only in the sense that it prevents someone from truly embracing what they are engaged in, be it fashion or furniture or even art and music. It would almost certainly be healthier for most people to acknowledge that liking how things look for their own sake is OK!
That said, for me personally⌠Iâm quite happy recognizing that I want both aesthetics and craftsmanship and that Iâm willing to pay for that cross section. Iâll only live once, and my view is that the things I come into contact with daily should be both pretty and well built!
Edit: typos
I think the problem comes from using narrow ideas of quality to judge what other people have chosen to like
If you believe your interest in something is a logical conclusion based on objective truths about an object, your next logical step is too often to demean or belittle the interests of others that donât follow your personal framework
(Abstract you)
đŁď¸
Oh yes! I should I have clarified, the view above was expressed purely in the frame of oneâs-own relationships with things they spend money or time or energy on. Youâre totally right that just because I (for example) think that something is Good, i should therefore not judge someoneâs decision to do something else.
I would suggest that even if someone believes something is Good due to objective properties of an object (or literature, or music, etc) one should have both epistemic humility and tolerance. Because maybe youâre wrong! And even if youâre not⌠just donât be a dick
also you aren't wearing the items lol
Itâs also just not objective what makes something âgoodâ
100%
There are objective truths about objects
And then there are conclusions people come to from those
As soon as value judgements enter the game it ceases to be objective
But this is certainly too heady for a topic which basically boils down to âno one cares what your boots look like cut in halfâ
I am curious, I know âqualityâ is a misnomer and can represent a lot of different aspects of craftsmanship, style, etc. What are a set of terms you all prefer using over âqualityâ?
the most effective imo is describing what the specific thing is
Yeah
its just a whole lot of different parameters which get thrown together as the "quality" score.
Are you looking for durability? Do you want the thing to look the same over a long time?
Quality is just a category. Itâs another way of saying âattributeâ but itâs colloquially used to mean âcommonly held to be positive attributesâ
But the thing about fashion is that itâs personal expression
So thereâs no consensus on what the desirable attributes are
Ahhhh interesting. I agree with all these thoughts, just wanted to see where this community was at.
bricked up in supreme :gigachad:
Maybe out of line with the topic, but do people have anti-buzzwords? Particular words that should be used more to describe a particular thing and are very helpful to assess a garment?
to some extent that's going to depend on the garment and your expectations of it
I just want people to use pictures whenever possible tbh
"there's holes in the fabric" is bad when talking about a raincoat, good when talking about a lace or crocheted shirt, for instance
âI love the texture in this picâ
You can be vague if you have the picture for us to look at
Iâd be curious to know how people with seeing impairments like to describe clothing/have it described to them
âdistressedâ
Probably through descriptions of texture more
They probably have interesting insight into translating things into words
But is it through metaphor or simile
Or something else
Wait whoops misread, I thought you meant impairments with the garment itself lol
one of my relatives is vision impaired and in general more of their observations are tactile (sofas feel really soft, fabrics feel itchy, etc)
to your point i contend that pictures and/or descriptive language is helpful. "the shoes are durable" is less helpful than "the sole maintained its form through years of use" or "the leather on the upper hardly creased"
it's harder because it relies on more knowledge and awareness of the item itself but it's more likely people will also understand in turn
but also use pictures, clothes are primarily sensed visually
The buzzword I currently have a love-hate relationship with is "drape"
It's useful because it represents a lot of what I'm trying to avoid in my wardrobe
But a lot of people and content creators criticise outfits for lacking it
"drape" is hard because it's both an objective property (how much does an item drape when worn on a body) and something that can be judged on an aesthetic level based on the properties of the garment (something has really good draping because of its construction, etc)
Yea its tough because thereâs some sort of bridge of knowledge that HAS to be crossed if you really want to enjoy fashion, but yet unless youâre willing to get into the weeds, then its difficult to avoid using words like âqualityâ. Even then, I feel the knowledge of someone like me whoâs more of an enthusiast is much less nuanced then someone whoâs in the industry for a living. I also donât know to what extent I should know certain things or what I should know generally to give advice or critique someone elseâs sense of fashion.
how something drapes is a quality of a garment đ¤ quality is neither good nor bad just an abstract property of the garment or the components that make up a garm đ¤
as with many things context is key; if the outfit being judged is wildly different than one you personally wear it's not necessarily worth applying the same standards
Raw denim is great its just a niche item that isnt for you
Then take a picture
you get what you want out of this or any other interest; i don't think you have to be in the industry to have a knowledge or appreciation of things like construction, just an interest large enough for you to foster
yes
It's usually something along the lines of photo of an outfit I would wear "The problem with this outfit is that it doesn't drape well, here one that drapes better" photo of an outfit I don't like
Or the same but with getting feedback on an outfit
There is not a right or wrong answer, but am I reading that right that you are trying to avoid drape? As in, just wanting the clothes to cling to your body as much as possible? Idk why this is hurting my brain but it is
I tried it! But yeah, definitely not my niche
Yeah, it's hard to describe but I don't like the look or feel of fabric hanging off of my body, so to speak
I like the swishy sounds
I got some of those Uniqlo wide pleated trousers a while back and the swish is like nails on a chalkboard
Especially going up stairs
Pleated trousers?
All good, just making sure I read it right
For me a bit of distance between the garment and my body is comfortable. Both in a physical sense that I do not feel restricted and can move freely. But it's also a psychological comfort for me. It allows the rough outline of my body to be shown but I don't feel like every nook and cranny of my body is on display. It both reveals and conceals I guess, and that gives me confidence and makes me feel good.
Sometimes we can't help what we do and don't like and that's okay
it sounds like your subjective view on how things hang on your body or physically feel on your body, coming into conflict with someone else's views on how an item hangs on another body. both perspectives are okay
Oh yeah, that's the big challenge for me right now
the person making content is making judgements based on their opinions and contexts but you don't have to consume that
Putting together outfits that are non-drapey without looking like an alpha male influencer
yâall are way more understanding and reasonable then the people over on the subreddit wtf
but that physical feeling is separate from the actual property of drape, as algo described
subreddit is ass, reddit sucks in general
This Discord has been really welcoming and understanding tbh :linkHeart:
You could make a thread if you want to talk through this more but maybe wearing leggings under your pants could help with the sensory issues
yeah get some of those really light yoga leggings or smth so you donât sweat to death above freezing
Maybe, I'm not too invested in making them work because I decided I don't like the look that much
They were more of a "stepping outside my comfort zone" pickup
I got some thermal leggings and shirts recently at Primark (https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1298232300730978305/1309507261135327305) so I can keep warm at work.
Fit they or font they
Fuck I shouldnât have replied now I gotta scroll all the way back up
First day wearing them I was too hot lol
Ah, the only other thing I know of pleated trousers is these Issey Miyakes.
They're actually very nice trousers for the price
you live and you learn and grow from these experiences; it doesn't necessarily negate someone else's opinion that a fit is good because of its draping
A discussion for another thread, but pleats are super classic and also popular with the one and only ralph lauren
Hmm :happy_thonk:
but yeah topics of draping or the tactile feeling of clothes might be better suited for another thread
Fair
Where is the sam thread? Let's bring it over there if you can link it
another buzzword i hate: classic
Yeah, of course. My point is that certain buzzwords are awkward if they're mainstream and don't fit with your personal taste
I believe in color theory. And I believe if you look good in color, you have an understanding of color implicitly even if you canât express it in technical terms.
Itâs like music theory. Its there
Supreme blanks are nice tho
The only words you need to engage with fashion are âgoodâ and âbadâ
This looks good
That looks bad
My take with color theory is always that learning it technically takes way more work than an infographic but learning it implicitly can be done just over time
'Girl just put some colour on'
Like painters know color theory, but thatâs because they spent years and probably lots of money learning it
I agree. But itâs there. Thereâs a reason some colors look better than others paired together but you donât have to know the technical terms
Skin tone based color theory is stupid as fuck though
Like those amazing guitarists that canât read music
A lot of people learn it from how its applied to other stuff and fail to appreciate that it will apply differently to clothes
The only skin tone based color coordination is making sure your shoes arenât in a color that make you look barefoot
And infographics are so reductive as to be completely meaningless
Wrt fabric
Unless you're a freak like that
Time to cop some skin toned tabi boots
fuck you???? i just bought these??
stevie we know you are a freak
dw
Oh god
These are making me⌠uncomfy
Theyâre plenty comfortable for me :)
Happy for you man, please stay away from me â¤ď¸
edit: just so weâre I like the fit overall and I am not making fun of skin toned tabi boots (well ok maybe I am a little), it just ainât my thing
Lmao
Ugh I wanna do â/sâ but its making me mark things as spoilers lolol
*/ shows the slash
*/s
Oh whoops
Iâll figure this out later
I find the word vibes to be overused though not just in fashion. I wish people would be more specific as to why they like or dislike something or think about it a but harder.
remove the space between the asterisk and the /
Idk I feel like vibes are important bc art is vibes based
quit hashing my vibe yo
But we can call it aura
i admit "vibes" is useful sometimes
bitch donât kill my vibe
vibes is a word that captures the idea of a feeling without being able to articulate further on it. it's a good word
vibes are important but i also understand the need to articulate
it goes both ways
sometimes it's easier to say vibes than "wherever the intersection of inspiration, context and adhd lands for me at this moment"
You know when a kids aura is off you gotta go get cigs and not come back 80% of the time youâre right bc the kid becomes irrationally angry at the world and starts committing crimes
are we only talking about our least favorite buzzwords
if so
but yes articulation is helpful
âWell-fittingâ
Gotta be my pet peeve phrase
what's your favorite buzzword
mine is degenerate
archival
Positive vibes are great. If people like your outfits for a reason they can't articulate, it makes you feel special. If people dislike your outfits for a reason they can't articulate it's just soul-crushing
archival is great and i love using it for anything that "isn't current season"
gets my indiana jones juices flowing to see whatever old thing i can unearth
In general any words that imply there is some sort of objectively good or right way to dress do bother me, but on the other hand they are often useful shorthand for things that are subjective preferences that are more difficult to articulate
Vintage inspired
puma outed as rrl head
Haha sorry everyone. The extent of usage just irks me a bit. Please feel free to keep vibing.
âHeavyweightâ
if they widened their pants by 3 in yes
âWonât break the bankâ
I like em thicccc
"vegan leather"
is usually just PU leather
YEAH
THAT
Leather production is :linkUhh:
But then so is PU
yeah
like i would be less upset about leather and fur production, especially with cows and other meat animals, if we actually used the whole damn animal
i'm glad we've shed "yarn dyed" vs "object dyed" as buzzwords to care about and they've just turned back into descriptions
I feel like PU stuff just never looks good for long.
I try to keep as much of my leather purchases as possible secondhand though.
Yeah
I've got a PU gaming chair and the PU stuff started to wear quickly
I'll share a photo later
idk there's cool shit coming out in vegan leather like these made out of apple peel leather
Thereâs a lot of cool vegan leather I agree
Nanushka has a really good one theyâre known for
Nanushka?
cool brand that recently collaborated with zara
zumba ? :linkSmug:
Zorua?
Zeb- nvm
Does straight misuse of terms count? It's really weird when brands label things as "bespoke" or "tailored" when it is nothing of the sort.
definitely counts
to me that's on a different level too, I think it's the strongest "strictly wrong" entry into the thread
It feels like buzzwords get a reaction mainly because of overuse and some degree of inaccuracy. But when the degree of inaccuracy is just totally incorrect, is it reacting to a buzzword or false advertisement (or maybe that's the same thing)?
I donât use fly anymore but use dapper when giving compliments to other men irl , I use elevated wear instead of basics/ essentials. Contour instead of silhouette and drape instead of hang. For a time I used form instead of fit/outfit because i felt it also combined the clothes and the body while fit seems to be exclusive to the clothes as you can get someoneâs fit but you canât get their form because their body is different. Itâs a bit of a toss Because a lot of people arenât happy with their body so I just avoid that anyway
Dapper is an insult lmao
Dapper is bad
Iâm hella offended if Iâm called dapper
It's giving :fedora:
you should scroll up because I'm ngl half of these words are on people's shit lists đ
Probably pissed this guy too đ
Wait, dapper is bad?
from:char in:waywt has:image. click reply "looking dapper my friend đ "
no you should call people that
Oh good, because I call people that a lot
I'm not a fan personally
i actually dislike using 'elevated' as an adjective for clothes
it's usually tied to descriptions of 'quality' (better served by discussing actual properties of the garments) or dress codes (often subjective and context dependent)
if someone said they liked my form id throw myself into traffic
i like your figure :blushcatto:
You should do a backflip and a twist into it for good measure
Why is shiny gmax gengar an emote in this server đ
"Patina" and every other term Heddels and raw denim communities use to tell readers that things other than jeans also age in attractive ways
head game go crazy
Also don't love it for food
Like the new - new american brunch spot in my city started by a bunch of real estate developers that's serving up "elevated" renditions of classics đ
Somehow the watch community is even worse with this
100% that's where I first heard the term
But the watch community has so many buzzwords I hate in general
"vintage"
in the context of new clothes
or like
actualy old stuff
:discourse:
only clothes that are elevated are platform boots with at least 5'' of platform sole
Oh you don't like my birth year GADA investment grail tool watch hulk/batman/snoopy that I Pulled the Trigger on to improve my relationship with my AD when I Got The Call? It's an integral part of the Journey in my One Watch Collection and a real Strap Monster.
Did I do well, Reddit? Did I??
A lot of the words in this thread can be useful in a vacuum and are not inherently bad but the issue is more with the misuse and overuse. For example with "patina", it is a thing that can look nice and is worth giving a name. But when you have every seller listing a cooked, water damaged seiko as "patina", your eyes start to glaze over at every mention of it
That's the irony. I really do like how things like indigo dyed fabric, leather, etc age. But the term patina is so overused that the word itself brings out a negative connotation to me.
Oh man, I hate âpulled the triggerâ so much!
Heavy
"elevated basics"
Canât just not explain the âvintageâ and move on to something someone else already said
I get the annoyance when ppl call everything thats like 5 years old "vintage"
but I think the term has its use if used properly
my mistake, didn't realize someone said that already
and i mostly have qualms with people calling everything vintage, i think it has its uses in older items but "vintage-style, vintage-inspired" on new items just doesnt really do it for me
every ebay listing ever saying vintage makes it lose its potency a little bit for me
On a similar note, I find it funny how many 2010s "heritage" brands made exclusively slim fits
Many of them still make only slim fits đŚ