Does being a kiltie make you a "clothes horse"?

[davedove]

One thing I like about being in the military is I already know what I will be wearing 5 years from today and everyday between today and then. It actually keeps my wardrobe rather small. Most if my closet is filled with my few kilts and associated accessories. But my otherwise "civilian" options are extremely few. Recently, I got involved in scouting with my son and so...another uniform.

As to being a clothes horse, I am.sure my closet will far exceed my wifes when the Navy sees fit to retire me and make me choose my own clothes.

One of the first things you realize when you leave the military is that you have to start deciding what to wear each morning.

[sydnie7]

One of the first things you realize when you leave the military is that you have to start deciding what to wear each morning.

Or you just follow Reacher's example.

[/threadjack]

[Spartan Tartan]

One of the first things you realize when you leave the military is that you have to start deciding what to wear each morning.

Exactly!!

[theborderer]

For me, a clothes horse is a folding frame to hang clothes on to dry in front of a fire, or a wooden frame raised by a cord to the cieling for the same use. Of cours e that was in the 50's in England.

[Tobus]

For me, a clothes horse is a folding frame to hang clothes on to dry in front of a fire, or a wooden frame raised by a cord to the cieling for the same use. Of cours e that was in the 50's in England.

Yes, that's still (to my knowledge) the primary definition. This context is slang.

I am not a clothes horse, and have recently had a discussion in the msg room about that exact term.

Message room?

I could give a rip about "Fashion" and both the term and the concept makes me gag.

I understand, and agree to a certain point. I gag at the idea of keeping up with modern fashion trends or media-driven stuff. But the underlying concept of fashion is simply to dress in such a manner that you look sharp. An allowance for form rather than purely for function. After all, if we dressed only for function, we might all be dressed in drab Soviet-style clothing! But fashion, at its core, is simply a term for dressing with individual style, both in colour and design.

I do not stand in front of the mirror in the morning and hold up hose and kilts and shirts for half an hour deciding exactly which combination goes perfectly well with my new flashes.

Me either. I do that the night before.

I do not have a "personal style". I put on clothes in the morning and go do things that men do.

So then you pay absolutely no attention to what you're wearing? Is there no decision process when you take your clothes out of the drawer or closet?

[Cygnus]

Message room?

I was confused by this too, though the first thing I thought was "monosodium glutamate"... Hopefully AlanH can enlighten us.

And I've always thought that fashion is what is being advertised in shop windows and strutted out on runways, while style is an individual's manner of expressing themselves through clothes, grooming, etc.

That may just be me getting too semantic.

[Peter Crowe]

I was confused by this too, though the first thing I thought was "monosodium glutamate"... Hopefully AlanH can enlighten us.

And I've always thought that fashion is what is being advertised in shop windows and strutted out on runways, while style is an individual's manner of expressing themselves through clothes, grooming, etc.

That may just be me getting too semantic.

My late mother used to impress a similar mantra too me when I was a teenager.

"Anybody can follow the latest fashion trend, but that does not mean they have style!"

At the time I thought she was out of touch (as teenagers do), but by time I had reached my early twenties I was in complete agreement.

[GoodGirlGonePlaid]

Yep, Full On Clothes Horse here
*OWNING IT*
always have been. Heck, I may even be a clothes hoarder. But I do ALWAYS have something to wear. Now I just have more kilt-skirts to add to the party.

...and currently wearing a brown houndstooth scally cap and jaunty crocheted scarf.

[CopperNGold]

I was confused by this too, though the first thing I thought was "monosodium glutamate"... Hopefully AlanH can enlighten us.

And I've always thought that fashion is what is being advertised in shop windows and strutted out on runways, while style is an individual's manner of expressing themselves through clothes, grooming, etc.

That may just be me getting too semantic.

I think you're right, Cygnus. No matter how much time (or not) you spend on putting your clothes on in the morning, that is your 'style" and it represents you to the world, even if it's jeans and a tee-shirt. Everybody has a personal style, whether they want to or not.

I don't think manliness has anything to do with taking time to put together a well-coordinated outfit or want to carefully expand your wardrobe. Well-dressed and well-groomed men are very appealing!

A clotheshorse works the trends and often spends too much on the costly mistakes of a fashion victim. A man (or woman) of style carefully picks his clothes and accessories to last, buying timeless pieces. But even timeless pieces can use a little added touch of trendy, that can be tossed when that trend goes out of style the next year.

[Alan H]

Everybody has a personal style, whether they want to or not.

Madam, dear CopperNGold...I strongly reject this notion. You are entitled to your personal style if you want to have one. You are entitled to speculate on your perception of what you think my personal style is. You are welcome to discuss personal style as an abstract or concrete idea, how it is projected to the world at large, what it's societal implications are and so forth.

But I ain't got one, and I find the very idea of somehow having such a thing, or spending a single nanosecond worrying about it, very unhappy-making.