So, alt and punk culture is - because that whole counterculture thing has always had left roots.

However, alt culture has started to go a bit hypebeast crazy - buying clothes that are mad expensive for name brand recognition value.

For me, I have some outfits that I think qualify as Brutalist fashion, if there can be such a thing. Utility fashion. I wear my big manual labour work boots, a sturdy black jacket, then trackies or cargos. It's not meant to be pretty. Just comfy, and useful.

I have another outfit in mind that's a sort of homage to USSR Space Exploration, but it's not fully thought out yet.

Whats some cool lefty fashion stuff? Facts, fits, whatever. Just kinda riff around the subject.

  • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Comrades of all genders should either dress like Mao-era Red Guards or like Gaddafi in his later years.

  • cheerstary [she/her]
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    4 years ago

    I definitely think thrifted clothes are a big lefty thing. also hand making and personalizing clothes. Of course thrifting encompasses essentially any style, but I think the ethos behind it is what makes it left. I personally thrift all of my clothes and then make the more unique pieces i want. (also more people should learn how to sew, at least enough to repair clothes)

    also every leftist should own at least one pair of combat boots :p

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
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      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Reusing is, but a lot of vintage or thrift stores mark the prices up a shitload. It's become just another consumer area, but at least it's more eco friendly.

      Also yeah, sewing and patching is a very easy useful skill.

      For a good pair of casual but also combat boots I recommend palladium. The boots of choice for Foreign French Legion, it's now a nice street brand.

      • cheerstary [she/her]
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        4 years ago

        yeah i've shopped at all kinds of consignment type stores and I'd agree. It's definitely much better than buying new. honestly though, thrift stores are still really cheap unless you're in LA or NY or something. true vintage clothes (1970s and earlier) are worth the price too. you really just have to find the right stores.

        i got my boots a few months back and still haven't broken them in lol :(

  • ocho [they/them]
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    4 years ago

    The one trend I want to blow up is men in skirts. It's just a really cute look and some of y'all have nice legs uwu

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
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      4 years ago

      It's getting more popular on tiktok, but I have a bit of an aversion to it to be honest. It's a shame really, cos my legs are quite nice.

      For the people who are genuinely just expressing some gender bending or whatever - go them. Good stuff. But there's a lot of dudes who are massive asshole misogynists who put on a skirt or maid costume just to pull e girls. Come to think of it, i find a lot of the sexual shit on tiktok uncomfortable, but maybe I'm just a prude. Y'know those videos that are basically just mating calls? Eugh.

      • ocho [they/them]
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        4 years ago

        Tbh that's just been men on the internet for, like, ever. They're just gross in general and the moment skirts becomes normalized, they'll fuck off to the next thing lol

          • VolcelPolice [any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Our apologies commander, we didn't recognise you

            Post on o7

            • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
              hexagon
              ·
              4 years ago

              I'm undercover in a Honeypot scheme

              by talking to me

              you failed the test

              it was too sexually tense

              defund the volcel police

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
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    4 years ago

    form should follow function: choose clothes for comfort in the elements, the dangers of the job site and the forces of reaction.

    red is a wonderful accent color to offset the blacks, earthy browns and drab greens of camo and/or the depersonalizing effects of a black ski mask.

    keep an eye out for black turtle necks, black boots and knock off (polarized) wayfarers to go with your militantly shaved/shaped black beret and leather/field jacket.

    just kidding, always dress regular and normal until you are sleeping in a basement with like 6-12 comrades that have shaved heads. then you should all dress exactly the same because lol

  • WetAssPossum [they/them,ey/em]
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    4 years ago

    The stereotype for Wobs is we all wear either black or work clothes.

    It's a stereotype because it's true.

  • AllTheRightEngels [comrade/them]
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    4 years ago

    Lefty fashion to me is whatever people want to wear, honestly. You wanna rock on while in name brands or a big ball gown or casual clothes or a bunch of leaves, do you. Yes name brands/expensive clothes are something to scoff at but if that's what honestly makes you happy (and you're not just doing it to show off to others) and you feel good then do it. Self expression and all that

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      Yeah, my pair of space lookin boots costed me more than I'd like to admit, but they make me feel fresh as fuck when I wear em

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
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      4 years ago

      or thrifted t-shirts that say stuff like 'happy 70th Janet' knowing that Janet and her friends are probably dead

  • notthenameiwant [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Lefty fashion is whatever I can get for free, then wearing it until it falls apart. Stain? Small rips? It's all good. So long as it isn't tattered and doesn't give me blisters from rubbing, we're set.

  • Phillipkdink [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Joyless scold here: Fashion is bourgeois. It is just another way to exclude the desperate. Just wear clothes and try not to judge other people by their clothes.

    • penguin_von_doom [she/her]
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      4 years ago

      No, it's not. Historically fashion has existed long before the bourgeois and will long after they're gone as a class. What has happened is that the bougies are setting the tone of what is fashionable in the mainstream, just like it was the nobles before them, and just like it will be a lot more distributed between people after them....

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
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      4 years ago

      I suppose so. But under capitalism isn't doing ANYTHING excluding the desperate? If I make a film, or own a fancy power tool, or whatever, those are opportunities not open to the downtrodden.

  • Keegs [any]
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    4 years ago

    Everyone here knows the answer is large ill-fitting woolen topcoats worn all year round.

    Aren't you warm in that? No I'm insulated from the heat, i'm perfectly cool under here.

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
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      4 years ago

      Honestly if I lived somewhere a bit colder I'd dress like the main dude in that Love Death Robots episode about Russians killing aliens

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
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      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Can confirm. Love my 1960s French Air Force Greatcoat. Does get a little warm once the temp hits 35C.

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
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      4 years ago

      You might be right tbh. I dress the way I do to give off vibes that'll attract the people that I generally enjoy the company of - because everyone judges a book by its cover at first. Aren't some fits a form of art though?

      • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
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        edit-2
        4 years ago

        on second thought i may have been too strident here blaming the entirety of fashion on neoliberalism. it does make people do odd things though.

  • BOK6669 [none/use name]
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    edit-2
    4 years ago

    All im imaging is people who went to private school wearing carhartt and steel toed boots. Thats fucking lame, dont do that, if its not your experience dont pretend it is.

    ...Likewise, dont be like chuds who cant deattach from the "i must make sure everyone sees i work with my hands and am outside" every outfit must be the same because i am insecure/oblivious and smelly/victim of shitty bland right wing culture

    Idunno, Im getting my wires cross on this cause where is the line drawn on vanity and self expression and then on top of it all being lefty.

    Like is lefty fashion... just wearing the shit you wear to work? Thats just kinda weird to me because being leftie isnt a aesthetic choice, its just existing in reality.

    Maybe Fashion is kinda how you interpret the world and how you interpret yourself in that world, and that could be anything... not just some uniform...

    Maybe its like wearing adidas shit knowing you exist in a society where the manufacturing of said adidas stuff is horrifying but you also live in society and want to be a part of it despite its contradictions.

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      Nah you're thinkin too literally - I just mean fashion that came out of left wing circles. Hippie stuff is an example off the top of my head. Could also be that you simply like Cuban fashion or whatever.

      I did leave the question very open so a more serious answer like yours is also valid.

      Also, in Europe, Caarhaart isn't a workmans brand - it's called Caarhaart WIP and its more Streetwear based.