From the front page of online NY Times

[Sarita]

... in a front and center feature about the fall Fashion Week:

What happens at fashion week will inform in large part the shape your identity will take six months from now. So here is a crib sheet for where to focus during the collections.

Um, I really don't think so.

[odput]

Wow...that's fucking crazy!

I know some people take too much pride in their image, but really?  The fashion show will shape your identity? 

[TreeTired]

Thanks for the heads up!!   It's very useful to know the shape of my identity  6 months from now.

[No Name Guy]

What happens at fashion week will inform in large part the shape your identity will take six months from now...

...if you're a mindless drone, who doesn't think for yourself - a person who is defined by external factors and things, instead of internal characteristics, like empathy, thrift, hard work, love. 

So here is a crib sheet for where to focus during the collections...

...so we can better manipulate you into feeling crappy about the shit we sold you 3 months ago, or last year.  Pay attention to what you're on the treadmill "for".

[zolotiyeruki]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?  And who honestly has time to worry about it, whatever it is?

[LalsConstant]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?  And who honestly has time to worry about it, whatever it is?

Are you indeed saying...

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That?

:)

(Never let a good meme die!)

[pdxbator]

I saw this too online since I ready nytimes regularly. Sometimes their writing is so high fallutin' it's crazy. Read some of the writing on real estate or travel or in this case fashion. It's definitely for a different level of people than simple MMM folks like us.

[Jack]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?

It means some people are deltoidal hexecontahedrons... and some people are just square.

[4alpacas]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?  And who honestly has time to worry about it, whatever it is?

Are you indeed saying...

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That?

:)

(Never let a good meme die!)

I love Sweet Brown!

[Elderwood17]

Does that mean I have to wait six more months to know what my identity will be in a year? 

The suspense is killing me.

[slugline]

Now, is that article actually addressing the general public, or just catering to those in the industry?

If it's the public, then I can safely say I'm living in a different world. I think it's been years since I've shopped for any new clothing, unless we're counting replacements for worn-out running shoes. :)

[Gen Y Finance Journey]

This is the first thing I thought of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZNCNlJCkqI

[fantabulous]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?  And who honestly has time to worry about it, whatever it is?

Makes me think of shapewear, which I'm happier not wearing.

[skyrefuge]

Most of us here currently identify as "Mustachians". There was a time when none of us included that within "the shape of our identity". Now we do. So outside forces clearly influence even us, the Mustachians. A single fashion show going directly to identity-shaping is probably a bit extreme, but not completely out of the realm of possibility for those who are even more susceptible to influence than we are.

The jeans I wear today are less-baggy than the jeans I wore a decade ago. Even though I don't pay much attention to fashion, I'm smart enough to recognize that didn't just happen on its own. I was likely subconsciously influenced by other people like me, who bought some slimmer-fitting jeans as a compromise with the full-on skinny-jeans they saw being worn by some guys, who were influenced by major jean manufacturers making and advertising skinny-leg jeans, who were influenced by smaller jean manufacturers, who were influenced by teen males buying girl jeans, who were maybe influenced in some way by New York fashion shows.

[NoraLenderbee]

teen males buying girl jeans

I saw a lot of this when I commuted to San Francisco and I must say, it is one of the worst-looking fashion trends I've ever seen. Young men with their butts squeezed into weird lumpy shapes, their wallets and phones making more lumps on their thighs (because the back pockets are unusable)--FUGLY, and ridiculous, too.

[Jack]

teen males buying girl jeans

I saw a lot of this when I commuted to San Francisco and I must say, it is one of the worst-looking fashion trends I've ever seen. Young men with their butts squeezed into weird lumpy shapes, their wallets and phones making more lumps on their thighs (because the back pockets are unusable)--FUGLY, and ridiculous, too.

Yep. I still wear wide-leg jeans. If that makes me uncool, then so be it.

[johnny847]

... in a front and center feature about the fall Fashion Week:

What happens at fashion week will inform in large part the shape your identity will take six months from now. So here is a crib sheet for where to focus during the collections.

Um, I really don't think so.

Geez Sarita, you didn't have the courtesy to link the article? I need to know what to focus on so I can shape my identity properly!!

[Beric01]

Geez Sarita, you didn't have the courtesy to link the article? I need to know what to focus on so I can shape my identity properly!!

Agreed! What will I do if I can't shape what my identity will be 6 months from now!

[GuitarStv]

The jeans I wear today are less-baggy than the jeans I wore a decade ago. Even though I don't pay much attention to fashion, I'm smart enough to recognize that didn't just happen on its own. I was likely subconsciously influenced by other people like me, who bought some slimmer-fitting jeans as a compromise with the full-on skinny-jeans they saw being worn by some guys, who were influenced by major jean manufacturers making and advertising skinny-leg jeans, who were influenced by smaller jean manufacturers, who were influenced by teen males buying girl jeans, who were maybe influenced in some way by New York fashion shows.

Most of my jeans are pushing 13 years old now . . . several of them are wide-legged baggy jeans.  The skinny jean trend has only made them more awesome to wear around town.

[arebelspy]

Most of us here currently identify as "Mustachians". There was a time when none of us included that within "the shape of our identity". Now we do. So outside forces clearly influence even us, the Mustachians.

You assume we had to change to identify as that.  If nothing about the MMM website changed our identity, yet now we have a name for it ("Mustachianism"), I wouldn't say that including that within the shape of your identity changed you.

For many people, obviously, MMM caused radical changes.  But it's not the case that everyone identifying as a Mustachian had their identity changed - they may have just gotten a label.

[MrsPete]

What the heck does "the shape of your identity" mean, anyway?  And who honestly has time to worry about it, whatever it is?

Makes me think of shapewear, which I'm happier not wearing.
[/quote]Funny.  That's the first thing I thought too!

Most of my jeans are pushing 13 years old now . . . several of them are wide-legged baggy jeans.  The skinny jean trend has only made them more awesome to wear around town.

How on earth do you get jeans to last 13 years?  Do you have laundry secrets to make them last longer? 

I tend to get 2-3 years out of a pair of jeans!  But then, I usually own only one pair at a time, and I wear them 2-3 days a week.  At this moment I happen to own two pair (purchased a pair at a yard sale for my daughter; she didn't like them, but they fit me), but this is the first time I've owned two pair since . . . probably college. 


As for those who say, "No, no, the fashion world doesn't affect me in the least!"  I say the lady doth protest too much.  It's like a thread a couple months ago in which some posters claimed that they are never affected or influenced by advertising.  Come on, folks.  All of us are affected to some extend by fashion trends -- that's not saying you're a slave to the latest craze, but to claim to be entirely unaffected is not likely true.

[Zikoris]

As for those who say, "No, no, the fashion world doesn't affect me in the least!"  I say the lady doth protest too much.  It's like a thread a couple months ago in which some posters claimed that they are never affected or influenced by advertising.  Come on, folks.  All of us are affected to some extend by fashion trends -- that's not saying you're a slave to the latest craze, but to claim to be entirely unaffected is not likely true.

I'm influenced by fashion in the sense that the stores carry what's in style, and those are my options when I buy stuff. Best solution I've found though - don't buy clothes! I just stopped about a year and a half ago. I'll eventually need to buy pieces I imagine, but probably one or two basic things a year. I seem to get enough free t-shirts to cover my casual wear at least.

Due to differences in body type between me and models, the vast majority of things that are in fashion look HORRIBLE on me anyways, so it's just as well.

[zolotiyeruki]

As for those who say, "No, no, the fashion world doesn't affect me in the least!"  I say the lady doth protest too much.  It's like a thread a couple months ago in which some posters claimed that they are never affected or influenced by advertising.  Come on, folks.  All of us are affected to some extend by fashion trends -- that's not saying you're a slave to the latest craze, but to claim to be entirely unaffected is not likely true.

Point taken.  I'd say, however, that the *fashion* world has very little effect on me.  I wear t-shirts and jeans (or shorts) to work, wear a traditional suit to church, and for going out with the wife I might dress up in a pair of slacks and a polo or button-down dress shirt.  You know, the kind that hasn't changed in at least 60 years :).  Of course, the male fashion world doesn't seem to exhibit the wildness you see with women's wear...