“Ah, to be well dressed—who does not desire to be well dressed? In our century we have managed to abolish the dress code, and hence, it is the right of every man to dress like a king. In order to discern the cultural standing of a nation one could actually employ as a guideline the fact of how many of its inhabitants make use of this libertine achievement …An American philosopher once stated, ‘a young man can count himself rich when he has a brain in his head and a good suit in his closet’ This man knows what he was talking about. He obviously knows something about people. What is the value of all common sense if you cannot reveal it through your attire? ”
There is something both surprising and intriguing in architect’s Adolf Loos’ reflections regarding men’s attire. The quote goes all the way back to the 1910s and yet, over a century later, when we think of men’s fashion, the right to “dress like a king”—or as we might put it today, the right to dress disregarding gender and status-related conventions—still feels like BIG NEWS. And so does the fact that much can be understood about a person by reading into personal style. Here at Œ Magazine we’ve been pondering just exactly how much about a person is revealed by their style.
In 2016, freedom of dress is no longer a privilege enjoyed by Vienna’s gentlemen. In fact, men of all kinds participate in fashion to an extraordinary extent. As a result, the pragmatics of men’s clothes can be seen today as a great guideline and tool for the comprehension of a community’s cultural standing.
“Guys on Clothes” is a series of portraits, interviews, and dialogues featuring young, fashion-aware men in Berlin. It studies the connection between a man’s visual identity and the visual identity of a city and explores the idea of clothes both as a question of individual sensitivity and as a collective experience, looking into the seemingly ordinary thought process of getting dressed for life in the open-minded German capital. Throughout these encounters, we wish to uncover the extent to which someone’s habits, personality, and affinity with the urban environment can be pinpointed by merely peeking into their closets.
The men you will read about in the next months are creative, charismatic types: artists, designers, musicians, and much more, and we are looking forward to discovering or dismissing our own assumptions about these men of Berlin.
Here’s a little taste of what’s coming up!
