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Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

140stitches.com

11–20 of 34 posts

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#11
From her about me section:

If you think I'm just your average fashion obsessed girly girl, think again. I know my fair share about the interwebs and my favorite movie is The Social Network, in which I may or may not know every line. TechCrunch is one of my daily reads and Jack Dorsey has my heart. Jack - if you're reading this - I love you.

Basically what I'm trying to say here is, I understand your language.

[end quote]

Sigh.

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#12
post #3

Am I the only one insulted by this? > Well, because I seriously love you guys and believe your inept fashion sense is holding you back. It's holding you back from getting the girl. I can get girls just fine with my v-neck shirt, thank you.

If you're wearing v-necks, then you don't even need my help. :)

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#13
post #3

Am I the only one insulted by this? > Well, because I seriously love you guys and believe your inept fashion sense is holding you back. It's holding you back from getting the girl. I can get girls just fine with my v-neck shirt, thank you.

If you're wearing v-necks, then you don't even need my help. :)

Then I think your target audience is rather small, I can't imagine many guys wearing only hackathon t-shirts!

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#14
post #6

> I'm here to let you in on the little secrets of fashion so people think you're more awesome than you truly are. I hope that came out wrong, I really do. The copy on this site comes off as pretentious and kind of annoying to me. Maybe it's just the groups I associate with, but am I the only one who thinks that the stereotype of the fashion-clueless nerd really isn't as pervasive in current reality as it once was?

The intention of this blog is to give fashion advice to guys who truly want help. Of course there will be guys out there who are content with the way they dress, but there are a handful that really do want honest help and don't have a place to go. If you find value in 140 Stitches, great. If not, that's okay too.

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're wearing v-necks, then you don't even need my help. :)

Then I think your target audience is rather small, I can't imagine many guys wearing only hackathon t-shirts!

I can't imagine guys wearing only Hackathon shirts either; that was just an example. My target audience is any guy who wants some fashion advice.

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#16

The author misses the point. The bad looks and ill fitting clothes are a fashion statement . They're a huge middle finger to the status quo, like punk rock or braid (The video game.). I don't think any of the people in those photos would tell you they looked good.

I understand that for some, the ill fitting clothes are a fashion statement, and that's great! I could talk all day about personal style and wearing clothes that make you feel good. However, there are guys out there who actually want some advice because they really don't know what to wear. That's what I'm here for. If you're one of the guys saying fuck you to the status quo, then more power to ya. :)

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#17

I'm definitely interested in learning more about fashion but your copy rubs me the wrong way. Also, linking to blogs like http://www.theurbangent.com/ is like linking a "first programming tutorial" to a CPU instruction set reference. Things like http://www.theurbangent.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/patte... are baffling and incomprehensible to people who are not "into" fashion and are likely to make them reject the…

Thank you so much for your great advice. You are the epitome of the guy that I want to help, because I understand you're busy building amazing products and don't have time to think about clothes. I will definitely take your advice and write posts regarding each one, so keep a look out! And for the record, I think those guys on The Urban Gentleman look awful. Please don't leave the house in that. ;)

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#18
post #6

> I'm here to let you in on the little secrets of fashion so people think you're more awesome than you truly are. I hope that came out wrong, I really do. The copy on this site comes off as pretentious and kind of annoying to me. Maybe it's just the groups I associate with, but am I the only one who thinks that the stereotype of the fashion-clueless nerd really isn't as pervasive in current reality as it once was?

The intention of this blog is to give fashion advice to guys who truly want help. Of course there will be guys out there who are content with the way they dress, but there are a handful that really do want honest help and don't have a place to go. If you find value in 140 Stitches, great. If not, that's okay too.

And no doubt you will still find guys who want help, even if - in my own anecdotal experience - there's not as many of these guys around as there perhaps once was. And I wish you luck.

But what I took issue with was the tone you use in some of your writing. That sentence I quoted from your site just sounds horrible and my initial gut reaction to it is that you don't know the audience you're apparently targeting. The little secrets of fashion that will help me fool people into thinking I'm more awesome that I actually am? Yes, first impressions are important, people often judge a book by its cover, etc. etc. but ultimately, trying to keep up such charades (when not able to base things off some true aspect of who you really are) is unsatisfying, tiring and counter-productive. Ergo, I honestly hope that sentence doesn't convey what you really meant.

You say you understand our language, but I see little so far that confirms this. If I could give some subjective but hopfully constructive criticism: dial back the bravado just a little, show us some interesting research/data about your chosen topic, or just tell us an insightful story or two about fashion and nerds.

Using the word 'interwebs' and saying you liked The Social Network isn't - on its own - enough to convince me you understand my world. In relative isolation, it actually has the opposite effect to what I assume you intended, i.e. it comes off as 'try-hard' or contrived.

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#19
So I understand that this is the kind of copy that is frequently used to sell clothes. "Thou art insufficient! Accept my wisdom and I shall lift thee from thy ignorance!" It's just like every crappy teen movie, make-over show and magazine cover.

It's also not appealing. Your vision of "nerd" seems to be nothing but "young white guys who don't work out much": who thinks of themselves that way? It is possible to be a fashion nerd, approaching the topic from a scientific, data-driven, rules-based or technology-incorporating point of view. An article about the history of pants got a bunch of upvotes a while back. MIT has clothes that strip pollution out of the air. That's nerdy fashion.

When talking to nerds, I wouldn't don't assume the audience will be sold by being told that there is something wrong with them that you can fix. Instead, be passionate and apply a nerdy lens to whatever that topic might be. Most of us are perfectly capable of doing the research to look good, and most of us don't bother. We don't need a savior; we might use some automation to lower the effort involved.

Re: Nerds, it's time to up your fashion game.

#20

Logged in just to comment here. Whoever's behind 140---STOP. Your copy SUCKS. Your alpha-ness or cool girl-ness or whatever wannabe intimidation factor oozes off the page, and you know what? Fuck you. Being "cool" wins you no points here. And here matters, at least to you, because you've apparently chosen it as your target market. You want to know how to win friends and influence people here? Take a page from the boo…

My target market is any guy who wants some advice when it comes to fashion. There will be some guys on HN who do want advice, and apparently some that don't. I understand that and I'm okay with it. I would agree that OKTrends is an amazing site. However, it's not what I'm going for. I'll let them handle the data. I'll stick with what I know.
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