mens fashion question

[ananda]

the other day i was at conan (home/hardware store). there was a white male, in his 20s, loading up on socks, neckties, boxers and shirts. is this normal?

do eikaiwa teahers shop at conan for clothes? is it that bad?

or is it that many caucasian males would rather save their pennies for beers with the boys??

most of my japanese mates are rather fashionable. most of my foreigner mates are not so.

so where do you shop??

[Kumachan]

Clothing for me is something I use to cover up. Comfort comes first, personal taste and style comes second and finally if it happens to be trendy or fashionable then it's got bonus points, but fashion to me is really not necessary.

As to where I shop, I find that UniQlo has the best in terms of value for your yen, quality and style. It's not high fashion, but it's not supposed to be. It just gets the job done.

[Morning Star]

Uniqlo for sox, undies, wai-shatsu.
GAP and Banana Republic for casual.
Issei Miyaki, CK, Paul West for dressup.

I was embarrassed at the gym the other day cuz some other guy was wearing the exact same Uniqlo training pants and t-shirt that I was.

[ananda]

i have always thought that uniqlo is a good bang for your buck. especially, when they have a sale.

from the numer of responses so far, i wonder if foreign men just dont care about clothes. maybe buying your work shirts at the hardware store is totally genius...one stop shopping - pick up some power tools and new ties at the same time!

[Mononoke_hime]

My friend told me once that if a guy dresses up too perfectly, girls will have less interest in them because most girls have maternal instinct and would like to put their hands on dressing up their boyfriend. So, it is only normal that most but not all guys don't dress up, they leave it for their future GF. simple, no?

[kurogane]

Uniqlo for sox, undies, wai-shatsu.
GAP and Banana Republic for casual.
Issei Miyaki, CK, Paul West for dressup.
I was embarrassed at the gym the other day cuz some other guy was wearing the exact same Uniqlo training pants and t-shirt that I was.

Dressup? Are U into Mr. Dressup too? I used to love him. Mr. Greenjeans, too.
Seriously, though, I will shop at home centres. Ko-nan is just so こうなん that I never find anything that is me, but the work clothes are good, cheap, and most importantly, THEY FIT!
Gap fits, but is expensive and, well, its Gap. Uniqlo is a tradeoff between price/quality= good vs. fit= absolute ****. The clothes are all designed on a stickling anorexic fairy godfather Glay meets Alfie lookalike model, and the hips, armholes and shoulders are either too tight, or the waist and body length is too goddam long. And forget about buying pants at Uniqlo if you have meaty ex-athlete legs.
At the height of summer, while I was at Nikku (Ko-nan type home centre), looking for a fan, I stumbled onto the finest shirt buy for which I have ever laid claim to fame. Men's patterned pucker cloth shortsleeved dress shirts THAT FIT, for \300 each. I bought a sh&tload. Then, two weeks ago, I was back there, and the same shirts were on for \100 each. I bought more. Now I have about 6 or 7 shirts with exactly the same pattern, same colour. My secretary thinks its hilarious, if weird. At first she was afraid I wasn't laundering them, and I let her sweat for a week, but then I spilt the beans. My GF thinks it is appalling. Maybe I should date my secretary.
Anyways, I am going to single handedly bring back the Mao look here. No fashion, no surface variation, just real human individuality that has to be expressed in proper human terms rather than through vacuous capitalistic ones.
I am on a mission from MAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ananda]

case closed....it was you!!!!

seriously though, i feel bad for the big folks....my best friend is 6 feet tall, triathalon /rock climber body. she lived here for three years - ended up making most of her own clothes!

for once i feel good about being 157!!!

[Gaijin de Moscu]

I normally go for higher-end branded stuff for dress and accesoirs. Polo, Pierre Cardin, exclusive Italian shoe brands and belts and stuff.

But I like to create an impression of slight absent-mindedness in the way I dress so that the girls get that maternal instinct going. Normally I under-dress for the weather just a notch (and bear it with quiet dignity a-la Powell under attack) or carefully mis-match a colour.

I know it sounds terribly gay. I am actually very manly. :mad: :D

[kurogane]

Who would have thought. I have actually never had anyone except GFs complain about my dress habits. Sort of rumply academic casual. Seems to suit me. AND, if they don't like it that much, I guess they don't date me. Oh well.
GdeM,
Sounds like a theory worthy of emulation :)
Ananda,
Tall women are definitely in hell here. My heart is out to them. I have big feet. It is hellish. For shoes, I must patronise the Global Monster Worker Exploiting shoe maker stores. Ethically disturbing, practically, well, no choice.

[Mononoke_hime]

Who would have thought. I have actually never had anyone except GFs complain about my dress habits. Sort of rumply academic casual. Seems to suit me. AND, if they don't like it that much, I guess they don't date me. Oh well.
GdeM,
Sounds like a theory worthy of emulation :)
Ananda,
Tall women are definitely in hell here. My heart is out to them. I have big feet. It is hellish. For shoes, I must patronise the Global Monster Worker Exploiting shoe maker stores. Ethically disturbing, practically, well, no choice.
Big feet means very well endowned in France at least ;-) LOL

[ananda]

My friend told me once that if a guy dresses up too perfectly, girls will have less interest in them because most girls have maternal instinct and would like to put their hands on dressing up their boyfriend. So, it is only normal that most but not all guys don't dress up, they leave it for their future GF. simple, no?

i always thought that meant they were gay. i even thought my husband was gay the first time i met him because he was so well dressed! live and learn! lucky for me, he just likes nice clothes.

kurogane: have you ever been to rinku town? they seem to have a lot of larger sizes. there are a few stores with mens shoes.

[kurogane]

Big feet means very well endowned in France at least ;-) LOL
It means that everywhere, you silly little hairy princess. Funny, actually. Here they tend to say big nose and big ears equals..............

I have never been gigled at, thank the lord, and according to Madmaxxam's statistics, I am a freaking giant (I don't really believe that, nor have I measured), so I am feeling a pretty secure little barbarian these days.
Now if I could just find a shop that sold shoes in my size...............

Shoelessly yours

[kurogane]

i always thought that meant they were gay. i even thought my husband was gay the first time i met him because he was so well dressed! live and learn! lucky for me, he just likes nice clothes.

kurogane: have you ever been to rinku town? they seem to have a lot of larger sizes. there are a few stores with mens shoes.Thanks for that, anaｎda. Is that the one out by Kansai International? I have to check it out soon, as my shoes are distintegrating on my poor chilly 29.5ers.
Is your hubby a Native Male?? A lot of my male J-friends really do have much better clothes sense. Esp. now that we have jobs and money. And the bit where it isn't even remotely gay is cool. I just can't get rid of my residual plaid shirted with big boots Canadian male hangups about dressing nice. I also find here I can't fit the fancy stuff, and at home, I live in Whistler, and who the hell dresses up there except for the Gorbies?
Thanks again, えｈ。

[ananda]

Thanks for that, anaｎda. Is that the one out by Kansai International? I have to check it out soon, as my shoes are distintegrating on my poor chilly 29.5ers.
Is your hubby a Native Male?? A lot of my male J-friends really do have much better clothes sense. Esp. now that we have jobs and money. And the bit where it isn't even remotely gay is cool. I just can't get rid of my residual plaid shirted with big boots Canadian male hangups about dressing nice. I also find here I can't fit the fancy stuff, and at home, I live in Whistler, and who the hell dresses up there except for the Gorbies?
Thanks again, えｈ。

kurogane,

yes, rinku town is by the airport. i just got a sale postcard from the adidas outlet, so now may be a good time to go. lots of pre-xmas bargains.

mr ananda is a native indeed. seriously, he has more clothes than i do. (though i did get rid of a bunch recently to the folks in niigata).

the last time i was in whistler, i saw a store called simply, "function over fashion". sometimes i miss the days when my gortex jacket was my most prized possession.

[Song2]

This season I will mostly be wearing a black suit, white shirts with turned up collars, white shoes and a variety of poncy, pathetic, cheap, chav-like jewellery on the lapel...oh and fake tan and orange hair.
Am I turning Japanese?

[kurogane]

I think you are just turning into a screaming Buttmonkey. No cross-cultural judgementation involved.
:p
Are those white shoes made of Highland Terrier hide?
Heh Heh heh
PS they have always been my favouritest terrier. That bit about being gay and spunky does worruy my inner homophobe somewhat, though.

Ananda,
Thanks for that. I will get my lily white bum down there next week. Adidas, even. Yea.
Loved the anecdote about him having more clothes. That is always a point that my Canadian women friends make about their Native Hubbies. I think it kinda bugs them that their man dresses better than they. It makes me go "OOOh Yuk", but only for a second. No judgement, no foul. As I said, I kind of envy them.
As for the prizing of the Gore-tex, I noticed the other day I hardly even wear mine anymore.
I think I'm turning........................................... ...
My GF always comlains because it is all ratty and torn. She doesn't care that the function is affected by rips and tears, of course. ;) She says it makes me look like one of the Under the Bridge people (is that a Kyoto specific metaphor???). I do still tend towards layered plaid flannels, though. Maybe I will be safe after all.

[ananda]

This season I will mostly be wearing a black suit, white shirts with turned up collars, white shoes and a variety of poncy, pathetic, cheap, chav-like jewellery on the lapel...oh and fake tan and orange hair.
Am I turning Japanese?

are you a magician?

[ananda]

Ananda,
Thanks for that. I will get my lily white bum down there next week. Adidas, even. Yea.
Loved the anecdote about him having more clothes. That is always a point that my Canadian women friends make about their Native Hubbies. I think it kinda bugs them that their man dresses better than they. It makes me go "OOOh Yuk", but only for a second. No judgement, no foul. As I said, I kind of envy them.
As for the prizing of the Gore-tex, I noticed the other day I hardly even wear mine anymore.
I think I'm turning........................................... ...
My GF always comlains because it is all ratty and torn. She doesn't care that the function is affected by rips and tears, of course. ;) She says it makes me look like one of the Under the Bridge people (is that a Kyoto specific metaphor???). I do still tend towards layered plaid flannels, though. Maybe I will be safe after all.

one good thing: i told him d&g is (on him anyway) really camp....so i inherited a whole lot of d&g boys shirts...quite comfy!

aaahhh...the gortex jacket....sorry, i am flashing back. when i first arrived in japan, "they" nicknamed me - `canadian backpacker`. people were still calling me that after i had lived here for a few years. i regret to inform you that i no longer possess the magic garmet. i gave it to refugees in the himalayas in july. ok, that sounds so cheesy, but its true.

[Song2]

are you a magician?

What a horrific thought it is know that David Copperfield, Paul Daniels and Siegfried & Roy could be considered as fashion icons in Shibuya/Shinjuku. [shudder]

[wendyinjapan]

Nah, my Husband (Nihonjin) says my brother (Australia Jin) looks like he lives under a bridge, and Danna San is from Gunma Ken.
W.

[The Janken King]

umm, my question is why is it you can tell a NOVA teacher a mile off just by their "Dorksville Central" clobber? Perhaps NOVA could revive their flagging fortunes by having a `casual (flirty) Friday"?

[kuro_kitty]

As usual, most of the posters here are change resistant fools and haven't noticed that not all NOVA teachers are dorks.....in fact at my branch the instructors are hot sh@t baby...except for my boss ...but I'm sure she gets her fair share of J-_____.....In my interviw, before I came to NOVA, the room was jam-packed with sexy people.....I work with a few geeks, but the majority of them are quite attractive...

[wendyinjapan]

I worked for Nova about 5 years ago, and I had the opposite work sitch. A few hotties, but mostly badly dressed smelly geeks, some with waaaay too many personality problems, or none at all.

The girly staff were out to get the girly teachers and the men got laid even though they looked like they got dressed in the friggin dark. I am talking about back pack wearing, bad smelling, foul breahted loosers who were probably forcibly ejected from their native lands, baby.

[ernieizumi]

i usually shop at the trendy but cheap suit shops like super suits or suit select 21 (Not aoki or aoyama). But when it comes to underwear, im a man of taste, with the likes of burberry, paul smith and ralph lauren keeping my privates warm. Same with the bigger items such as jackets, I will splurge a bit, because people only notice the brands when you take off your jacket or are down to your undies.

[waller]

WOW :)
Someone else exploits this too (the underwear/jacket idea)! Hahaha thats cool!!!



Someone even mentioned that a part of the fake "brand name" stuff floating around in Asia may actually be produced semi-authentically, but simply after hours, in the places that normally manufacture all the genuine stuff anyway...
Whereas the US stuff is usually imported from Europe...?

This info is coming from Americans that claim to know the industry... But, I don't know if its actually true??
So I was wondering if anyone in Japan (or other parts of Asia) had heard this theory or if it was utter nonsense??
I. :p

Yes, I believe it is true. We spent a lot of time in Vietnam and Cambodia and were also told this. A heap of stuff finds its way into the market in Phnom Penh, Gap, Levis etc and I know that these come from the actual factories. Certainly some of the supposedly knockoff stuff we bought had the same detail and has lasted as well as the real thing (shoes, bags, some clothing).

[Timmy!!]

Who would have thought. I have actually never had anyone except GFs complain about my dress habits. Sort of rumply academic casual. Seems to suit me. AND, if they don't like it that much, I guess they don't date me. Oh well.
GdeM,
Sounds like a theory worthy of emulation :)
Ananda,
Tall women are definitely in hell here. My heart is out to them. I have big feet. It is hellish. For shoes, I must patronise the Global Monster Worker Exploiting shoe maker stores. Ethically disturbing, practically, well, no choice.

'Sort of rumply academic casual', you mean knitted jacket with patches on the elbows don't you? :)

I personally mistrust men who spent too much time/money on fashion. ｣50 for a hoody with a name on it, or ｣30 for one without? Is there a choice really? That痴 ｣20 for CDs in my book.

Put me in the 'buy a heap of cloths every couple of years' category.