How Do Men Actually See Fashion?

Menswear is one of the biggest industries in fashion. Many men today are more interested in fashion than before. The freedom of expression that has been spread for years also gives impact in men’s fashion. From hat to shoes, from beard to tattoo, there are already a lot of new inspirations these days. Back then, we can define a good looking man by looking at their coats, pipes, and shoes; the formal things. But now we can define a good one by looking at many aspects, even beard and tattoos.

It’s quite funny knowing the fact that these days’ styles for men are inspired by the past. How men now wear jeans as something casual and stylist, but back then the only people that wear jeans were the workers. And in the past many men defined ‘fashion’ or ‘style’ as something classy, something that could not be afforded by the lower caste of their social life. Today every element of social life can enjoy fashion. Men standing and waiting for a cab in the corner of the street, men lighting a cigarette in front of a restaurant, or even the most random place we’ve been into, like a grocery store or even train stations, we always find stylist men.
Then here they come the spreading rumors, the judgment that fashion for men is like a glam culture; it’s for gays. I couldn’t help but wonder, since when this rumor started? I understand that a lot of men who like fashion have a different sexual orientation but generalizing men who like fashion is like racism. In today’s life, we cannot refuse the fact that we all have our own preference, whether it’s about fashion or about sexuality. Feminism maybe one of the elements in men’s fashion that cause close-minded people to mock it, while if we see it further, there are some important and professional elements in fashion that need feminism like androgyny models.
Time keeps changing about people’s opinion on fashion, especially fashion for men. In the past, maybe a lot of men consider fashion as something that’s too woman-y, it’s way too different from now. Now ever hetero guy can actually enjoy fashion without realizing it. Fashion for men has become the definition of a modern caste system; it defines the wealth, character, and also it defines about how you respect people that you meet. Celebrities are usually the ones that take too many risks.
We can take an example from Justin Bieber. To be honest, he has his own style and there’s nothing wrong with having your own character. But there’s one moment when I couldn’t tolerate, when he took off his clothes at a fashion event. A lot of elements in fashion are all about statement. The show, the story behind the catwalk, the theme of the collection, they all represent important statements in fashion. And taking off clothes, in my opinion, is a form of disrespect.
Defining fashion for men for today is too wide, we can see it from different aspects like the type of it, how it can be used by men, and things that actually influence it. In today’s era where people are really free to express themselves, men should realize about the right proportions of the clothes that they wear.

Karl Brings the Outside Inside

Boulevard Chanel that was held a few days ago was shocking, because the concept of the show that actually brought the outside inside. If you see some pictures or videos from Instagram you might think that it was actually held outside, but no, it was held inside of a building. 

Recently Chanel held breathtaking shows and we all know who the man behind all of these creativities is: Mr. Karl Lagerfeld. Even before this Boulevard-themed show, Chanel held another shocking show with the theme of a supermarket. It’s amazing to realize that after all of these years, the famous timeless Chanel outfits can actually fit with today’s culture, the culture of a strong-themed show. Alexander McQueen when he worked with Givenchy also had these kinds of concept; he always pushed everything to the boundaries. And now I’m starting to see that kind of spirit, the way Karl expresses every theme of the collection is a little bit different, and I’d say unusual. The difference between them is that Lee was more artsy and Karl is more elegant with a taste of a feminist.
I know that Karl doesn’t want to be the same. He didn’t even reduce the elegance and class of the collection. Coco herself was a classy lady and she wanted to create a collection that could make women realize about their elegance. And why did I mention about feminist before? The show itself had a concept of a group of women (and a man) who did a protest. It gave us the details about women’s empowerment, that they have voice and thoughts too, and they have every rights to express. "I don't ask myself political  questions at that level," he said, while acknowledging that the "Divorce for All" placard poked fun at critics of France's gay marriage law, which passed last year. "Fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce, so forget it!" he said.
In shows culture, things are starting to change. Remember when a show was all about plain runways and the models just walked around without doing anything? Now we rarely see that. Designers do want to express their core idea so that the audience can actually enjoy the whole concept, including when and where they can wear the collection. When we hardly understood the artistic performance of Lee McQueen’s show, we can more enjoy shows that have concept of daily basis like Chanel Boulevard. In the future it’s not possible to see more labels like Versace holds a show with this kind of bold concept.

Emporio Armani at Plaza Indonesia Men's Fashion Week

I always wait for this event because it's only held once a year, usually around September (this year Men's Fashion Week was held from September 23 until September 27, 2014). I attended wearing a very simple outfit; flannel, jeans, and sneakers because basically I had so many things to do on that week. Anyway, Emporio Armani show was not actually my favorite, but it's worth it. The collection is obviously formal wear and it's classy.