Proxies / Interrogations / A tie lesson from Aime Leon Dore / Minimalism and Texture
THE RADAR / Issue #4
Hello! Welcome back to THE RADAR, The Prep Clubs’s new fortnightly digest for interesting bits and pieces in the sphere of collegiate threads. You can attend last week’s meeting here, for things to do before you buy more clothes.
QUALITY PROXIES
In the previous issue of THE RADAR, we covered an excellent video on how to spot quality in clothing, a serious of invaluable skills for determining whether an article is actually well made. Worth knowing too though are quality proxies, small details which, when present, imply that the rest of a garment is likely well-made.
Selvedge fabric is a quality proxy, any weight of fabric can be made to be selvedge and any maker can use selvedge fabric, yet the additional time and cost in doing so implies that time and consideration has been taken in the making of a garment.
I often point to back-buttons and locker loops on shirts too, since they’re ultimately affectations, only those taking care in production will add them. Single stitch on t-shirts, functional cuffs, these are all details worth looking out for.
It’s important to note that these all have their limitations, they’re just one box to tick alongside other signifiers of quality: country pf origin, fabric composition, stitch length, to name a few. Nevertheless, being able to recognise them is an important tool to have for secondhand fashion buying.
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A MODEST READING LIST
A very small selection of (two) articles worth taking a look at, each offering an insightful meditation on aspects of consumption and culture.
Perhaps ironic that this should be featured, but an excellent interrogation of why we are inclined to recommend, and desire content which recommends to us. An important reminder that we’re all chasing some sort of cultural capital, in particular by being on this app.
An important exploration of timelessness in fashion, and it’s relative undesirability, something which I’ve explored briefly in the past. I feel this article presents the closest to a holistic perspective (I am generally in favour of holism), that I have read to date.
Content which takes a step back from the consumption forward nature of most niche entertainment ought to always be championed, these two make for fine examples. I find there’s a lot of value in taking at least one step back from the material nature of possessions, even when a publication’s niche relies upon them, articles that analyse our relationships to objects as artefacts separate from the the objects themselves.
PATTERNED TIES: A LESSON FROM AIME LEON DORE
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