Uniform-shoes-fashion question

[twisterfencing]

Fencers and fellow armorers;

I come to this forum about once a week and read some of the post/threads about diffrent fashion items and inquires about this uniform or that uniform. It kind-of makes me chuckle at times.

Here are just some of my thoughts on clothing in general:

Go to a vendor of your choice. Take a look at the merchandise they are selling. Try it on for fit- the vendor won't mind. If you like it, buy it. Its not a car or a house, its a uniform. Same goes for shoes.

I for one have never seen a greater group of talented armorer's gathered in one spot attemting to respond to fashion questions about one uniform or the other.

I guess the real question that I am getting to is: is the armory the right place to ask this type of fashion questions or do we need to have a seperate area within fencing.net for "Fashion"? Let's call it "Fencing Fashion". This would be an area where you can ask anything about if this uniform makes your butt look big, or you really like the black stripe on the back???


Anyone else out there agree with me or am I just in left field here??


Gary Spruill

[HDG]

Originally Posted by twisterfencing

Fencers and fellow armorers;

I come to this forum about once a week and read some of the post/threads about diffrent fashion items and inquires about this uniform or that uniform. It kind-of makes me chuckle at times.

Here are just some of my thoughts on clothing in general:

Go to a vendor of your choice. Take a look at the merchandise they are selling. Try it on for fit- the vendor won't mind. If you like it, buy it. Its not a car or a house, its a uniform. Same goes for shoes.

I for one have never seen a greater group of talented armorer's gathered in one spot attemting to respond to fashion questions about one uniform or the other.

I guess the real question that I am getting to is: is the armory the right place to ask this type of fashion questions or do we need to have a seperate area within fencing.net for "Fashion"? Let's call it "Fencing Fashion". This would be an area where you can ask anything about if this uniform makes your butt look big, or you really like the black stripe on the back???


Anyone else out there agree with me or am I just in left field here??


Gary Spruill

I don't see it as a big deal. Such threads are usually pretty clearly identifiable and thus ignorable.

[Pescados666]

I live in an area where the nearest tournament with an armorer is out of state, which is quite a long drive in Texas. The only choice I have is to ask others what there opinions are of the items, which worked quite well since I was going to go with blade, but went with the Fencing Post instead. My stuff came today

A sub-forum for clothing and whatnot would be nice though...

[Grimaldi]

I wonder if this thread was prompted by my recent unitard thread...

[Pescados666]

Originally Posted by Grimaldi

I wonder if this thread was prompted by my recent unitard thread...

If I remember correctly, Twister had this complaint before that thread. It might have added onto it though.

[W. Richmond]

So, I am sick of silver fencing shoes. The design of the Ballestra is solid, so seem the new adidas. Thankfully the nikes come in a variety of colors, as we have just seen the adidas are mostly white. This of course has no bearing on the performance of the shoes, unless of course you believe the color red makes you fence better and or faster.

I would really like to see asics put out some new fencing shoes, they have a really good design team.

[twisterfencing]

Guys,

I am not saying to not have these type of post/threads, just wondering if they should be in the armory section.

Gary Spruill

[twisterfencing]

enough said?

Gary Spruill

Originally Posted by W. Richmond

So, I am sick of silver fencing shoes. The design of the Ballestra is solid, so seem the new adidas. Thankfully the nikes come in a variety of colors, as we have just seen the adidas are mostly white. This of course has no bearing on the performance of the shoes, unless of course you believe the color red makes you fence better and or faster.

I would really like to see asics put out some new fencing shoes, they have a really good design team.

[jkdjeff]

It's a question about equipment; even if it's not a question about an aspect of equipment that you personally consider important, I think this is still the appropriate section.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by jkdjeff

It's a question about equipment; even if it's not a question about an aspect of equipment that you personally consider important, I think this is still the appropriate section.

Futhermore, fashion and functionality are often tied together. "Does this lame fit well, or fit like a burlap sack" is both important for looks and usefulness. What you consider fashion, others consider functionality.

How much fashion would the topic have to entail for it to end up in a subforum? What about the difference in retailers for writing names on jackets/lames/knickers???? Sure, it's functional, but some people/companies do it better than others. Sure, there's a functional difference between someone who has some sort of equipment and stencils and me using a freehand magic marker, but there's also aesthetics.


And beyond that, there isn't so much traffic in the Armory forum that things are getting lost, or other questions are being marginalized. Subforums (should) happen because there's a need-- We broke out USFA elections because out of the top 15 threads, at least 8 of them were election related. The Games pullout was even more important. They were both crowding out other conversation. Adding a subforum allowed not only the overcrowding to lessen, but also made adding new threads about the subject more acceptable, which improved the individuality of threads.


Assuming we could have a guideline for what went in what thread, how many threads on the first page would end up there?? And would it benefit the Fashion discussion????

[LeftHanded]

Question concerning fashion of a uniform are pretty rare. I think. I think that the fashion aspect as a whole is pretty much the concern of people that are not really into the sport as seriously or havn't been in it that long. Many people pick up fencing in the first place to try and re-live movie sword fights or to promote the image of being in some way elite or gallant. So it does not surprise me they will want to know or will think about how they look.

[LTranter]

Okay can we lose the word 'fashion' in this thread? Maybe it's a girl thing, but when I hear "fashion" to me it implies something that I might see in a magazine, TV show and think "Wow, I'd wear that." There is nothing about a fencing uniform that implies 'fashion.' Comfort, fit, functionality, yes. But not fashion.


L

[W. Richmond]

Originally Posted by LeftHanded

Question concerning fashion of a uniform are pretty rare. I think. I think that the fashion aspect as a whole is pretty much the concern of people that are not really into the sport as seriously or havn't been in it that long. Many people pick up fencing in the first place to try and re-live movie sword fights or to promote the image of being in some way elite or gallant. So it does not surprise me they will want to know or will think about how they look.

I think it was said well earlier, although I cannot remember by who, that often a uniform (including shoes) that performs well is often one that looks good. Also, I know too many good fencers that won't wear certain kits because of the fit/cut, grade of white or shape of mask. It all comes down to personal preference. I think it is a common belief that your outside appearance reflects upon your thoughts about yourself. As far as fencing is concerned, the way in which you fence. Fencing is a sport, and all sports have an element of showmanship and presentation.

[erooMynohtnA]

Originally Posted by LTranter

Okay can we lose the word 'fashion' in this thread? Maybe it's a girl thing, but when I hear "fashion" to me it implies something that I might see in a magazine, TV show and think "Wow, I'd wear that." There is nothing about a fencing uniform that implies 'fashion.' Comfort, fit, functionality, yes. But not fashion.


L

Maybe it is a girl thing. When I read fashion, I don't think of what you see in a magazine.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fashion

[Slacker]

Y'all have a point.
Certainly threads about the mask belong here, but I don't really think of the uniform as "armor". Sure, it protects us from serious bruising, sort of.

Being the girly-girl I am, I am very particular about what I wear, and do look up threads on comfort and washing and such. I would support a fashion sub-thread, should the F-net gods deem it worthy.

[Chuck F.]

Hee-larious!

Just for the sake of argument, I would bet that if someone posted a question about a uniform in any other area (how it looks, fits, etc.), it would get moved to the Armory section, anyway.

Also, many fencers don't live in NY/NJ, and don't travel to NACs. It is not so easy for them to see items in person, much less try them on. It is a HASSLE to buy something mail-order, wait for it to be shipped, find out it isn't what you want, ship it back, ask for a different item, etc., etc.



Finally, I also hate silver shoes.

[twisterfencing]

pescados666:

You can call me Gary, Twitster Fencing is my company name.

Thanks,

Gary Spruill

Originally Posted by Pescados666

If I remember correctly, Twister had this complaint before that thread. It might have added onto it though.

[twisterfencing]

Ok,

Well, I must be wrong by defualt.

With this in mind, I for one am tired of weeding through the "fashion" questions (in my opinion) looking for some way to help some young fencer with his/her equipment.

With this lack of intrest due, if anyone has any serious questions about true fencing equipment, please feel free to contact me.

Signing off,


Gary Spruill

[seven6ty]

As pointed out, isn't the "armory", a past reference to armor, of which uniforms are directly descended from?

[jkdjeff]

Originally Posted by twisterfencing

Ok,

Well, I must be wrong by defualt.

With this in mind, I for one am tired of weeding through the "fashion" questions (in my opinion) looking for some way to help some young fencer with his/her equipment.

With this lack of intrest due, if anyone has any serious questions about true fencing equipment, please feel free to contact me.

Signing off,


Gary Spruill

I don't think it's really necessary to react that way; no one is really saying that your concerns aren't valid (although I don't think that "fashion" discussion is quite as endemic as you make it out to be), but rather that it just doesn't really warrant a separate subforum, and the actual benefit probably isn't worth the hassle for the mods to create the subforum and then shuttle posts back and forth as needed.