Style conisseuer, StyleForum.net legend, YfYf.org creator, and the poster boy for humility.
Name: yfyf
Passion(s): clothes, photography, learning how things work, nerdiness
Age: irrelevant
Top 3 trend setters across all industries: I’ve never seen a trend setter before and I’m not in tune enough to know who sets the trends, I can only tell you what some of the trends are.
Fashion trend to look for in late 2009: Men, please stay away from the short trenchcoat, it looks very girly and not even in an interesting androgynous/gender reversal way. Men’s cheap MTM (made to measure) will pick up steam.
Technology trend to look for in 2009: The low-cost netbook (Asus EEE, MSI Wind, HP Mini etc) becoming the everyman’s computer. Possibly an adjustment in how much people will be willing to pay for their computers as a result.
What will become of the men’s fashion industry?: I’m hoping men will realize that comfort is overrated but I doubt it will happen. We’re moving back towards tailored clothing and MTM is lot more accessible now. There is more opportunity to get customized clothing but this may not mean people will look better, just fancier (sometimes too much so). 100% free choice is not always ideal and more than ever, menswear brands should emphasize their house style and identity to counter MTM. If I know X brand fits my personal style, and makes me look good, why should I go for MTM where I might make a dumb choice? Brands should emphasize that.
2 books and 2 magazines every tastemaker should read: “The Suit” by Michael Antongiovanni if you’re interested in learning about suits. The prose is a bit stylized and sometimes the opinions are too conservative, but the advice is solid and has a consistent logic behind it. “Modern Menswear” is a pretty interesting cross section of what’s going on today in menswear and will make for interesting reference later on. “Men’s Non No” from Japan has some good street style photos. Although not necessarily a fashion magazine, I guess I read “The Economist” pretty consistently. It’s good to know what’s going on.
What projects are up next for you?: Nothing too exciting, probably try and catch up on yfyf.org since it’s been languishing in disrepair for a while. Economy is tanking bad, probably just hide in a hole till everything is over. Draw some pictures while I’m at it.
What should we have asked you?: “Are you a tastemaker?” – Probably not but I like to think I do my own thing and do things for the sake of doing them. It would be nice if everyone tried to look good all the time instead of not trying or the even worse “trying to look good while pretending like I’m not trying”. Looking good means thinking about your clothes. It’s not a crime to put thought into your clothes and it’s preferable to being sloppy.
Want to know more about yfyf?
www.yfyf.org
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http://www.kenjisummers.com K.Summers
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