The L.A Style Crisis
The center of the Show-business universe is home to one of the worst sins in fashion: Trying way too hard to appear casual.
-By Katherine Wheelock
-Photographs by Alex Tehrani
Some observers blame the weather—people aren't as covered up, and all that freedom leads to chaos. Others point to the quandary of trying to dress yourself in a place that's theoretically relaxed but actually obsessed with appearance. Whatever the reason, if, right now, you zoomed in on the men walking the streets of what's considered America's most photogenic city—Los Angeles—you'd find more questionable fashion choices than you would among the EZ scooters at Epcot.
"L.A. certainly has its own look," says Brian Atwood, the creative director at Bally. "In New York it's about serious fashion. In L.A. it's about play."
That statement suggests that a carefree approach to dressing reigns there. But some of the tortured male archetypes that are the city's stock in trade—the guy in appliquéd jeans and an airbrushed T-shirt from Ed Hardy, the tattooed Joel Madden look-alike, and the Silver Lake flea-market shopper, accessorizing simultaneously with a neckerchief, a straw fedora, plastic sunglasses, and dog tags—look like the products of a tremendous amount of effort.
"There's an overstudied attempt at informality in the way men in L.A. approach dressing," says Scott Sternberg, founder of the label Band of Outsiders, which is based there. "It's a desperate attempt to look like they're not trying too hard when, in effect, they just look like they're trying too hard."
"When I lived in L.A. I dressed like this," says New York designer Thom Browne, referring to his uniform of a slim-cut suit and tie, "and if I got one more question about what I was so dressed up for . . . " He raises an interesting point. Perversely enough, the guy on the hot seat for his clothing choices here isn't the one with intricately shaved facial hair and a T-shirt with a heart and skull emblazoned on the front—it's the one in the custom suit and classic loafers.
Tom Kalenderian, the men's fashion director at Barneys New York, suggests that the very people whose omnipresence in L.A. should put it ahead of most American cities when it comes to fashion are the ones dragging it down: celebrity stylists. "There's so much obsession with the red carpet," he says. "People don't trust their instincts the way they should." But the guys who do trust their instincts enough to stick with the same aesthetic year in and year out aren't doing any better. Take the mid-level talent agent. Rather than allow an immaculately constructed Dries Van Noten suit to telegraph his potential success, he parodies the look of a nineties power agent: roomy-cut suit, fat-knotted tie, pocket square, and silver-rimmed aviators, which he's usually clutching awkwardly in one hand, like a rookie cop trying to get a grip on his gun.
Then there's the other fixture on L.A.'s male-style merry-go-round: He can be found drinking a fruity cocktail on Robertson Boulevard, wearing cargo shorts, a sleeveless T-shirt that says HUNTINGTON BEACH LIFEGUARD, and flip-flops. And maybe the persistence of this particular sartorial stereotype really is abetted by months of 70-degree days. Or maybe it's fed by an atmosphere in which youth is king. Most likely, as with the other L.A. style caricatures, it's a manifestation of the relaxed-versus-vain contradiction that defines the culture—the one few will own up to. "It's all an illusion," says Vincent Ehly, the men's buyer for Maxfield in L.A. "'I'm successful. I'm not stressed. And I just happened to find all these clothes and throw them on.'"
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Los Angeles is just an incredibly tacky place.
Nothing will help this crisis.
CLS63
Jul 9, 2008 2:33:46 PM
Please, L.A. isn't as horrid as you make it seem in this article. Yet again another stupid battle of East vs. West. Any major city you go to from L.A. to New York to London, men and women alike are trying to be an "unique". Which is just bullshit considering that originality went out decades ago. I've seen men in New York trying their hardest to work a look that only 15 y.o. boys can pull off.
This isn't just an L.A. fashion crises, it's an international one.
mb00
Jul 11, 2008 12:09:58 AM
Bla bla bla... LA is lame.
frankensilly
Jul 15, 2008 4:29:21 PM
LA sucks. NY rules.
installationart
Jul 15, 2008 4:47:59 PM
West is still the best, NY you can have your puffy jackets.
doubleup
Jul 15, 2008 5:34:31 PM
I totally agree with this actually. Men in LA, and I will say a majority, are so terribly dressed in comparison to my other home, San Francsico. Blame it on the weather, or what have you, but I just say it's people thinking 'oh this is LA, I can do whatever the hell I want.' And they do. And it's tragic, to say the least.
hexzerorouge
Jul 15, 2008 7:01:59 PM
Oh please you can find tacky dressed people any where, its just in NY the people of Manhattan will tell you "they are bridge and tunnel people". And I'm sure the people pictured are planted by Details, like so many periodicals they run the same 15 stories all year long, nothing original.
coop2008
Jul 15, 2008 8:43:32 PM
I so love this article! Thank you very much! So helpful!
radiobarbie
Jul 16, 2008 2:47:09 AM
I have recently been to LA, NYC, Hong Kong and live in London and where ever you go you could hit the streets and pick the worst as well as the best dressed. Anyway is'nt style personal, as long as you feel great in your choices in what you wear, not necessarly following the lastes trends isnt that differenc to be cleberated and makes us all unniqe, not clones form the catwalks.
Markjc
Jul 16, 2008 6:43:32 AM
i find this article really broad and can be applied to nearly all places where fashion and insecurities exist.
kencoz
Jul 18, 2008 7:30:34 PM
WTF? I thought LA was the place with style??
Fredm
Jul 20, 2008 11:17:23 PM
L.A. IS WHERE TRENDS GO TO DIE!!!!!!!
This is exactly what I have been saying for years. Don't get me wrong, L.A. has great style but, a majority of the people has no clue. Ugg boots, scarves and skinny jeans year round, come on people.(Skinny jeans are a type of fit like bootcut, loose fit or low rise, THEY DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT MAKE YOU SKINNY! UGGS IN THE MIDDLE OF LOS ANGELES IN 100 degree WEATHER???? As for scarves, make sure you get one in the right fabrication suitable for the weather, OH, BTW, NO MORE FEDORAS AND RHINESTONE COVERED CAPS and T-Shirts,(Thanks ED Hardy and Juicy) ICK!!!) It's great to be different, except when too much thought is put into your "look". Just because a new trend is out, it does not mean that it is for everyone!
STAY AWAY FROM L.A. Fashion District, NO FASHION AT ALL!!!!!!! JUST TACKY THINGS AND A WHOLE LOT OF KNOCK-OFFS, EEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!
If you really want that Designer Label to show off, save up, take out a loan, don't eat or, (CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GONNA SAY THIS), wait until it goes on sale, BUT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, DO NOT BUY A KNOCK-OFF, HIT STORES ON RODEO, AMERICANA, MELROSE and ROBERTSON, Alexander McQeen's new store is AMAZING to say the least, But Go check those stores out, or even south coast plaza a little far but its worth it!
I think L.A. NEEDS A DOSE OF DONNA KARAN NEW YORK, BEAUTIFUL COLLECTIONS AND THERE ARE SOME TRENDS BUT DONE IN A TIMELESS MANNER, NOTHING OUT DATED AND SHE HAS A LINE CALLED pureDKNY, PERFECT FOR L.A. WEATHER. MARC JACOBS TOO, SOME TRENDS BUT DONE RIGHT! WELL, THEN AGAIN ALL LABELS UNDER THE LVMH NAME IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!
PEACE, LOVE AND GOOD TASTE!!!!
ROSENTHAL
Jul 27, 2008 7:45:45 PM
Jesus-this IS a crisis! Call the Red Cross and forget the people in China and Myanmar and even those in the US who suffer and barely have enough to eat...these men need aid, and they need it quick!
JMcGregor
Jul 30, 2008 7:28:21 AM
Its because people are too busy enjoying themselves and not giving a flying fuck what the constrained, judgmental losers think of them.
Defend_Los_Angeles
Jul 31, 2008 6:24:35 AM
Pretty sure, THIS IS ALL ON ROBERTSON...
this is WEST HOLLYWOOD. This hardly explains Los Angeles. What about hollywood hipsters. And the cool kids from Los Feliz. And Silverlake is badass. and Echo Park.
Ed Hardy and Juicy is comes from LA because of the commercial market. But this is rarely seen in the cool bars and clubs. Its all in Santa monica and West Hollywood. Get it right or fly back to NY.
yeahyeahwhatevs
Aug 20, 2008 5:31:45 AM