Reader Response
Unless I’m mistaken it this post is somehow claiming Boglioli/Piombo/Boggi/Isaia = the Italian Old Navy
This is a fair point, I wasn’t quite saying that, even though it sounded kind of like I did (it was late).
What I am saying is that #menswear does the consumerist shuffle with its constant stream of high end Italian jackets and English shoes. They say “I got a killer deal on this Boggi DB quilted blazer!” As if because it’s high quality it’s not a trendy, flash in the pan item.
There’s no doubt that a Boglioli/etc… jacket is much higher quality than Old Navy, but I don’t believe that 95% of #menswear is truly buying into that quality. They’re buying a name, a high quality name to be sure, but it’s still about the name, same as if you’re buying H(&M)aute Couture or Old Navy’s latest trendiest item.
The amount of people selling off high end Italian things at the end of each season should clue you in.
We say “buy less buy better” not to emphasize that you shouldn’t buy junk, but to convince ourselves that we’re better consumers than the world at large.
Another quote I left out of my assessment was
We’ve lost sight of clothes as material goods — as things that are made. They’re now symbolic
This is what I was trying to get at. There’s plenty of high end stuff out there that doesn’t have the same #menswear cache as the Italian big boys (nobody talks about stuntin’ Pringle of Scotland cashmere, they talk about stuntin’ Cucci cashmere.)
It’s fine to obsess over quality if you’re obsessing over quality. But it’s all too common to obsess over names and then use them as a signal for quality to show you’re on point with your trends, but also down with the “buy less buy better #menswearmantra.
I don’t think that Boglioli/Isaia/etc… are the Italian Old Navy, I’m saying that in the #menswear world they’re two heads of the same beast. One eating the finest caviar and one eating Fritos, but all sending it the same place.
