Remember This Post : 'Some old People wear really Nice Clothes'? The one where I wrote about Clothes that old people wear, that are actually really nice clothes, that I would wear? Well, I kinda wanted to do this again, but with Men's clothing. I don't like all of the men's clothes out there, but some of it, ESPECIALLY the more old-school stuff appeals to me in not only a "That guy looks so hot in that" way, but in a "I want to wear that" way. Also, remember Style Crush: Winona Ryder and Leonardo Di Caprio (where I compared the style of the two celebrities and fawned over it), this is going to be a little bit like that.
I saw once in a fashion magazine about 'Smart Shopping' where women who were after more masculine items of clothing could go look in the boys or men's section at a department store (Rather than looking in a women's boutique) and buy them for cheaper. When I first read this I thought "But, what would she want with masculine clothing?" . Over time my mind has become more and more open to the idea with my recent interest in 90s and early 00s Music/Movies , And the recent insurgence of on-trend "Masculine" garments. Things like DR Martens have been made popular again, the collar thing seems to be catching on and pixie cuts are all over the red carpet. So after I changed my mind. Discovered that "Yes, I really do like the way women look in Mannish clothes" and that it actually suits my figure. I thought I'd write a more in-depth post and talk about the elements of men's style that I really do find appealing.
So, What do I mean when I say "Men's Clothes" ? I'm not talking about the entire "Men's" section at Target. What I'm talking about is a specific section of the "Men's" section. Stuff that's more timeless, stuff that's gentlemanly, maybe a little on the preppy side. I'm talking Leonardo Di Caprio, The Smiths, Joseph Gordon Levitt in 500 Days of Summer, Damon Salvatore (Vampire Diaries Character)... I'm not talking about surf/skate clothes, wannabe rapper clothes or sports clothes....
EXHIBIT A: THE HAIR
My mum told me once that she loved looking at the men's haircuts in those hair magazines at the salon. I never understood what she meant, until I watched 'Romeo and Juliet' and thought through the majority of the movie- not about how tragic it was that they would both die, but- how cool Leo's hair was. I wanted my hair cut like that. Then, I ended up watching 'Reality Bites' and decided to go with Winona's cut (which was similar). I like the sort of men's hair cuts where the hair looks a little grown out and is combed back, but isn't very long. And, then there are the girl's pixie cuts, which are pretty cool too.
EXHIBIT B: THE SHIRT
It's not so much the shirt, but the way that it fits. Women's shirts, with their darts and what not, are usually quite slim fitting. Men's shirts are much looser and longer (for tucking in). I think the idea for the shirt-dress comes from the idea of a woman wearing nothing much under a men's shirt. I like how uncomplicated a men's shirt is. I like that it has no shape.
EXHIBIT C: THE SHOES
I think I've said once before that Dr Martens are over-priced. You can go to the men's section of a store and buy yourself some lace up boots for less. For school we had to wear black leather lace-up shoes and instead of going to a shoe-store and asking the salespeople for a pair, we'd head down to Big W or Kmart to the men's section and pick a pair for about half the price. I had a pair in my last year of high-school that I thought were amazing. Also, the women's shoe section in these stores now sells a lot of oxfords and brogues, which remind me a lot of men's lace up shoes.
EXHIBIT D: THE KNITTED SWEATER
Two films helped me decide that I liked daggy baggy sweaters. 'High Fidelity' where John Cusack's character is roused on for wearing a "Cosby Sweater" and 'The House Sitter' where Goldie Hawn's character seems to have a fetish for over sized sweaters. I think this fits well in with the androgynous theme of the post especially seeing as I saw a very nice sweater in the Men's section at Target the other day.
EXHIBIT E: THE JACKET
As with blouses, women's jackets are almost always tapered in. I like straight-up-and-down denim/vinyl jackets and think they make a nice contradictory outfit with a skirt of some kind.
EXHIBIT F: THE WATCH
I worked in a jewellery store once. For about 6 weeks? I can't really remember, but it wasn't a long time. I did notice in that time, that the other girls working there had a bit of a fascination with Men's watches. And, then at school I noticed that some of the female teachers and students had pretty chunky watches . I guess it's all about being comfy. You feel comfier in things that are just too big.
EXHIBIT G: BOYFRIEND JEANS
Baggy Jeans. Comfortable as. Need I say More.
So as you can tell I really like some of the stuff that was specifically designed for men. Indulging in more masculine fashion actually makes me feel more fashionable. It actually reminds me a lot of eras like the 20s where even though the clothes were feminine, didn't have much shape to them. I definitely like feminine clothes as well, but sometimes I think it's cool to mix it up and wear something with a different silhouette than you normally would. Or, you could mix it up altogether and wear some Feminine and some Masculine garments together...
Some more examples of cool Masculine clothes:
-Meg Ryan in 'City of Angels
-Jennifer Beals in 'Flashdance
-Audrey Tatou in 'Coco Avant Chanel'
Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie
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