Is there something you really want to wear but are chicken?

[Shangas]

When the weather's right, and I'm dressed the part...I would occasionally like to wear a tie. I was left a big tie-collection by my brother. His job as an accountant kinda required that he wore them. When he moved to London, I took them all. But now I want to wear them. But at the same time, I wonder if I get too 'dressed up' by wearing them...

...Oh the struggles...

 

[AntonAAK]

There's nothing 'dressed up' about ties. For me an outfit just looks unfinished without one. As if you got interrupted in the middle of getting dressed...

 

[Tomasso]

Shangas, get yourself a silk knit tie and wear it casually loosened like so:

Who knows, you may get used to it and do it up right.......

 

[W-D Forties]

I have a selection of fur collars that I would love to wear, including a beautiful fox fur. I do wear them to 40's events, but I would dearly love to wear them day to day or going out. I'm just very wary of other people's reactions.

I don't personally have a problem with these furs as they are vintage and all at least 60 years old. I definitely wouldn't wear a new fur.

I also have fur hats, gloves and a lovely fur muff that would be great for this cold weather, but the same applies.

I'm almost tempted to wear the muff to be able to say to anyone who looks 'Are you staring at my muff?'

 

[scottyrocks]

lol

 

[Shangas]

There's nothing 'dressed up' about ties. For me an outfit just looks unfinished without one. As if you got interrupted in the middle of getting dressed...

I know there's nothing dressed UP about a tie, and I agree. It's just...I dunno. I personally have nothing wrong with wearing them, but people I meet always tend to think I'm being overformal or something. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that so many people wear ties to work? The only time I ever *had* to wear a tie was when I went to school.

 

[shazzabanazza]

I know there's nothing dressed UP about a tie, and I agree. It's just...I dunno. I personally have nothing wrong with wearing them, but people I meet always tend to think I'm being overformal or something. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that so many people wear ties to work? The only time I ever *had* to wear a tie was when I went to school.

People are always going to have an opinion, the main thing is if you feel comfortable with wearing a tie, go for it! Life is too short to worry about what others think all the time.

 

[Shangas]

I guess I should remember that more often

 

[The Good]

Re: Maroon sports coats. I can remember seeing older-men wearing these when I was growing-up in the south in the 'Sixties so I've always thought it was a distinguished look. Personally, I think a bow-tie would look good with it. But then, I'm weird that way.

Yes, actually here's a Sears page from 1964 depicting what is either a red blazer or cardigan.

So they must have been around since at least the sixties, but I'm not sure of it's popularity before.

 

[Geiamama]

I have a selection of fur collars that I would love to wear, including a beautiful fox fur. I do wear them to 40's events, but I would dearly love to wear them day to day or going out. I'm just very wary of other people's reactions.

I don't personally have a problem with these furs as they are vintage and all at least 60 years old. I definitely wouldn't wear a new fur.

I also have fur hats, gloves and a lovely fur muff that would be great for this cold weather, but the same applies.

I'm almost tempted to wear the muff to be able to say to anyone who looks 'Are you staring at my muff?'

I say GO FOR IT!!! I have a fur collar/stole and a couple of fur coats I inherited, which I was too worried to wear for a long time. The funniest thing was that when I finally did wear them out, no-one batted an eyelid because no-one thought that they were real! lol

 

[Diamondback]

Maroon sport coats = baseball umpires in 1975

And today, they're commonly worn by dressier "event security" types, giving rise to the insulting label for their wearers of "Raspberries".

 

[W-D Forties]

I say GO FOR IT!!! I have a fur collar/stole and a couple of fur coats I inherited, which I was too worried to wear for a long time. The funniest thing was that when I finally did wear them out, no-one batted an eyelid because no-one thought that they were real! lol

Mine have eyes, ears and lil' paws though!

I also have a pair of gloves that I bought on ebay. They are the weirdest things - I call them my werewolf gloves. I don't think I will be wearing those anytime soon, I look like I should be in a freakshow when I put them on!

 

[Tiller]

The only piece of clothing that I have but I'm to chicken to wear in public is an inverness coat that I have. It's a modern piece that I had made, it's designed to look like a piece of everyday Victorian wear, it's not a copy of the black evening version. Still I just can't see myself wearing it outside of my own property. One day maybe .

 

[MikeBravo]

The only piece of clothing that I have but I'm to chicken to wear in public is an inverness coat that I have. It's a modern piece that I had made, it's designed to look like a piece of everyday Victorian wear, it's not a copy of the black evening version. Still I just can't see myself wearing it outside of my own property. One day maybe .

Maybe you could start by wearing it for us? Post a pic

 

[Tiller]

Maybe you could start by wearing it for us? Post a pic

I don't post pics very often old man. I suppose I could take a picture and edit it though when I have some time to.

 

[DameWhoDrinks]

I with those who wear whatever, whenever but there are things I wish I could wear. As a short, round lady it is hard to wear drop waists, flapper dresses, or those cute little 60 mod dresses that are straight shots.
But on the plus side...I can ROCK polka dots.so its a fair trade

 

[David Conwill]

Browline eyeglasses. I might eventually get a pair of browline sunglasses though.

-Dave

Well, I guess I got over that!

Just had to find the right frames.

 

[Edward]

Yes you could. Get a real bowtie, one you tie yourself, and wear it. Everyone will be so impressed that you can tie it that they won't notice that it isn't normal. Also, wear it on Fridays. You can wear anything and pull it off on Fridays. Besides, Fridays are Bowtie Fridays.

People are often ridiculous, unreasonable impressed that I managed to tie my own bow tie. Totally unwilling, some of them, to believe that it's even possible, sometimes. You'd think I'd pulled a rabbit out of my fedora... What really confuses people, though, is a bow tie with a leather jacket - often wear my Aero Thirties Halfbelt that way. Even some more vintage-oriented folks are confused by that.

My biggest 'I want but I don't dare' is the german leather great coat. It is one of the most amazing leather jackets ever but it is inevitably associated with the nazi party too. However, this relatioship is only as a result of movies because it was a quite uncommon jacket during wwII. It only was given to a few elite officers. The fact that Hitler and Himmler owned a similiar jacket, that btw was a civil jacket, doesn't help at all.

The second jacket I still don't dare to wear is the german grey field tunic for the same reason. I love this jacket but I really don't want to look like a nazi walking around, since I don't have nothing to do with or sympathize.

There is, of course, a distinction to be made between the Wehrmacht and the Nazis, in the same way that not all those who have fought in any of our modern conflicts were supporters of whichever president and his party happened to reside at number 1600 at the time. That said, I know what you mean abot the reaction from most folks out there. Over here, those Swedish tunics from later on (in vaguely the same colour) are plentiful and cheap, and nobody seems to bat an eyelid at them. Might be an option. I'd consider one myself, but I prefer a more civilian look. I'd have absolutely no problem whatever wearing a Panzerwrap in any of the colours in which they made them.... but then the chances of anyone who would take offence at "Nazi" clothes recognising one of those is slim to nothing. The design was rooted in pre-Nazi civilian wear anyhow...

I do have a leather trenchcoat, in black, which I bought back in the late nineties. I believe it to be French in origin. Gorgeous coat. Don't wear it as much these days, but I never let anything put me off. The only "Nazi" comments I ever got were from people over the age of 45 making reference to Herr Flick of the Gestapo (a character in 1980s Occupied-France set English sitcom Allo Allo). Anyone younger than that only ever made Matrix references. Oh.... and, once, "goth freak". That might have been the dog collar, though. Or the leash. The only really threatening comments I ever received were while wearing a Akubra Federation (Carbon Grey) and a grey-green military overcoat. German, yes, from the mid 1950s. One guy in a white van (talk about stereotypes...) once felt the need to lean out the window, from traffic, and yell something at me. Unfortunately the only word he managed to enunciate properly was an extremely rude one for ladies' genitalia, so I have no idea what it was to which he took offence about my look. An Asian gentleman on the Whitechapel market informed me one morning, in the same gear, that I was an unclean, fornicating Jew (or words to that effect). Two hours later a street performer in Covent garden looked at me dressed identically, on the same day and said "You look like a Nazi. You look like Rudolph Hess". For the benefit of his audience, down the microphone. Clearly thought he was hilarious. I looked him square in the eye and said "I find that offensive. My mother is German." and walked on. I should have said Jewish, really. I will again. Other than that... well, this is London. Nobody cares. Typically I find anywhere in the world the sort of animal who will have a go at you for what you wear is only looking for a ruck. That type are like dogs: they can smell fear. Ignore them and it passes.

Get yourself invited to a wedding in England. The only one I have been to so far had about half the men in morning suits. It was lovely!

You're lucky! I'd love to go to a wedding where it was an option. Of the weddings I have attended, most have had the wedding party in morning dress (or some contemporary interpretation thereof), but it would have been considered a serious faux pas for the guests to arrive dressed to the same level - on a par with a female guest arriving in a wedding dress. I suppose to most people these days they're jut "wedding costume".

I have a tweed deerstalker bought on a whim a few years ago that I haven't worn outside of the house.

I'd like to have the opportunity to wear a deerstalker. It's not a hat for town, though, and would look ridiculously costumey in the city. If I spent a lot more time in the country (as opposed to pretty much never), I'd pick one up.

Because I was a teenage punk rocker, I'm still a little shy when it comes to wearing anything too out of the ordinary. I think it's all those looks I got back then that makes me paranoid that everyone is looking at me.

I believe it's that sort of grounding (that and having spent so many years wearing all sorts in the Rocky Horror thing, getting on and off public transport) that has made me as comfortable as I am doing this all the time. The main difference is, I think, when I was fifteen I quite liked to shock people (no doubt that was broadly at the root of my brief Swastika-wearing phase when I was about fourteen)....nowadays, I truly don't care what they think.

I still feel that it's more socially acceptable for women to wear vintage clothing than men.

Probably true. I think it's seen as less geeky or something. I used to get told the reason people assume I'm about fifteen to twenty years older than I actually am is because I'm bald and I dress like an old man. It's no longer a problem. Not that I look any younger or hairier now... I just don't care what they think any more. You've also got to deal with that whole contemporary "manliness" hangup a lot of people have - the ridiculous notion that it's not "manly" to care how you look, or to want to wear a suit outside of weddings, funerals and court appearances. Fortunately, such people's opinions are not worth caring about.

 

[Yeps]

A new garment has recently transitioned from "never in a thousand years" to "I wish I had the guts (and means) to wear one of these."

I am speaking of, of course...







The Raccoon Coat.

 

[Gin&Tonics]

It used to be my watch and chain...but I've gotten over that now, and wear it regularly, with pride.

I think it would be one of those big, black trenchcoats/overcoats (is there a difference?) I saw my brother wearing his one day, and reckoned I should get one like it (sometimes a regular winter coat just ISN'T enough, y'know?), So I went out and bought one.

I haven't worn it yet. Winter is coming on pretty strongly here at the moment, so I may get the chance soon, but I do feel a BIT self-conscious wearing it, especially since I'm not a particularly tall person. I'm 5'6", my brother is 6'1".

Actually, Shangas, if it's cut right for you, it could do you wonders! A long coat will add to your height, especially if you pair it with a hat that has a slightly taller crown. Post pics of the whole ensemble!