Being A Snob Ruins Everything We Love About Fashion

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Complex Original

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We're all snobs, each and every one of us. Sometimes, we're snobs about food. Other times, about movies. Maybe you're one of those assholes that judges people on the fancy candles they burn when you come over. Me? I used to be a fashion snob. I mean, I'm still a horrible person and will secretly tell myself that I'm the steeziest person at Lincoln Center at any given time and that Tommy Ton really wishes that all these other fuck faces would clear the sidewalk so he could get a really good shot of me. I also have an insane sense of superiority whenever I see Gap's new "Dress Normal" ads. But I've decided that one of #menswear's biggest problems is snobbery. You know, other than the dearth of diversity on every level, but that's a whole different story that requires, like, real research and nuanced writing and those are skills that ya boy decidedly lacks. So, I'm just gonna talk about how everyone rolls their eyes at celebrities and professional athletes when they attend fashion shows.

The fact that #menswear exists is reason enough that none of us should feel like anything BUT money bars entry into the men's fashion world. Taste level, writing ability, geographic location? None of that shit matters thanks to a high-speed modem and that laptop your parents bought you as a reward for actually getting accepted into a real college. You can't get butthurt over Mike the Ruler being more famous than you. Or that Russell Westbrook sits front row draped in ridiculous alphets. Or that Chris Bosh has a tie line and you're still trying to secure your first dollar on Kickstarter to fund your tabi shoe collection.

For most of us, our expertise and taste level is entirely self-appointed. So, why can't actually wealthy dudes express an interest in fashion? I'm going to admit, despite only attending three New York Fashion Weeks in my lifetime thus far, I still have pangs of "why is that guy here?" And, even worse, more than the occasional "he doesn't belong here, this makes no sense, he's dressed like a fucking asshole." But then I realized something: I don't really belong in fashion either.

There is no such thing as a 'fashion poser' because we're all posers.

Almost everyone I work with started out in a completely unrelated field. We learned on the Internet, just like everyone else. We democratized this shit and now that bloggers are an accepted (albeit begrudgingly) part of the fashion hierarchy, we can't blockade the door to anyone else we see fit. That's a patent pending move of the patriarchy, my guy. The notion that style is innate and a rarefied commodity probably isn't as true as we'd all like it to be. Nebulous notions about personal style and taste level are all that separates us from the junior account executive that's learned everything he needs to about half-canvassed suits and is about to spend his quarterly bonus on visvim.

There is no such thing as a "fashion poser" because we're all posers. None of us even got our foot in the door until we convinced some stressed PR girl that we were important and that almost always requires a level of artifice none of us are probably all that comfortable with creating. But when we see someone else taking advantage of their celebrity, wealth or friends to gain access to something that we feel we've worked hard for, it upsets our meticulously styled applecart. It's an understandable reaction, but one we need to stifle. If you were an intern or an unpaid contributor at some point, you need to shut the fuck up when it comes to complaining about unqualified people attending fashion shows or wearing designers you thought only you and two other dudes on the Internet wear.

If you've never gone full turbo asshole on some stupid outfits you probably aren't a real person. If your personal style hasn't changed or evolved, you probably don't even really like fashion. Judging other people for their fashion faux pas is fun, and we all do it, but thinking that those perceived missteps should block them from actually attempting to contribute to menswear as a whole or merely enjoy it as much as we do is just plain wrong. You sound just like those food writers that lambast fast food decadence, while, in the same breath, praise that chef in Montreal that makes the same gross, overly fattening shit because it costs more and is plated artfully. Our jobs depend on introducing NEW and MORE people to menswear. Being a snob just defeats that purpose.

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