[CuffDaddy]

I think that the clothing corporations put out new "rules" on a yearly basis in order to convince gullible young men to shell out for new (and often preposterous) clothes on a seasonal basis. Some people get confused, and think these are actual rules, even where they clearly conflict with the traditional (read: REAL) rules.* Adding to the confusion are those who confidently express their personal opinion or preference as a rule. Pretty soon, 50 different people are citing 10 different, mutually exclusive rules. No wonder so many throw up their hands and assume that there ARE no rules.

*Which may, of course, be broken effectively if done purposefully and with a sense of style and proportion.

 

[CuffDaddy]

AAAC serves to provide its members with a forum where Style can be discussed primarily and style moves at a far different pace than fashion and for different reasons.

I am still able to find what I am looking for here as it relates to style and I pick and choose whose advice I would take, I would also recommend Andy's CD-Rom because it provides a ton of information and without a knowledge of the theory and the history the practice (what you wear and why) will suffer and you will remain frustrated.

I do find that right now there is a recent influx of younger folks about to enter the job market or leave school as well as folks looking for information as they try to get new jobs etc. and along with that you are getting opinion, misconceptions, "rules" and just general feedback which you can filter out if you have some kind of solid foundation....

Thanks for the reply. To be clear, I fancy that I've got a pretty decent handle on the rules myself. I have just been surprised to see so many "rules" of dubious provenance (and/or taste) bandied about. I think that this tends to diminish the authority of the real "rules," such as they are, to the extent that many people who do care about clothes have concluded that all the rules are bullspit. An understandable reaction, but not my own.

All that said, and as you point out, if you've got a sufficient grounding in taste and style, there's a heck of a lot of good info on this forum, and some really interesting opinions and photos.