How much are you wearing?

[imomus]

In an idle moment in London a couple of weeks ago, Hisae and I were sitting in a café on the Finchley Road, leafing through a copy of Grazia magazine. We came across a feature called "So what's your street value?"



"According to a report last week," said the magazine, "the average Brit leaves the house wearing £851 worth of stuff -- and that's before you've even hit the shops".

Now, sure, we were reading a bling magazine in a bling town, but that seemed a little steep. What's more, the photos showed street outfits whose dowdy unattractiveness was matched only by their staggering cost. Lisa Harvey, for instance, a 30 year-old fabric shop owner, was apparently sporting an outfit costing £35,967. Now, admittedly that included a diamond eternity ring worth £25,000, and wedding and engagement rings worth £10,000. But that still left £967 for a frankly underwhelming black garment with a little grey waistcoat on top.

The other evening Hisae showed me the ultimate Japanese clothes-otaku website. It's called Web Across, and it tells you everything you might want to know about what selected Japanese people are wearing -- where they bought their clothes, how much they paid, and what the temperature was when the photo was taken. What's striking is how much cheaper these outfits are than the British ones, and how much more pleasing. This lady, for instance, is wearing an outfit that cost just 85,000 yen -- that's £380 British bling-pounds. And this one manages to look hundreds of times nicer than Lisa Harvey despite having spent just 27,200 yen, or £120 bling-pounds.

I decided to calculate the cost price of the outfit I was wearing yesterday. As you see, the total came to €129, which, at today's exchange rate, is just £86.32 in bling-pounds, which leaves me almost £900 shy of Lisa Harvey and £764.68 more cheaply-dressed than the average Briton. Then again, my British mother told me earlier this month that she thought I dressed appallingly, and that she'd be embarrassed to walk down the street beside me.

That stung, so I'd like to point out, in my own defense, Mama -- and I do apologize if this sounds like boasting -- that there's a 12-page article about me (including a photo by Paul Mpagi in which I'm wearing an even cheaper outfit than the one you see here, featuring an apron purchased in the penny-stores of Manhattan's Chinatown and wristbands from the uniform shops of Osaka's Shinsekai) in the new edition of cutting-edge Dutch fashion magazine Currency.

It's an interesting word, when you think about it: "currency" can mean bling-money, or it can mean the quality of being current -- staying abreast, or forging ahead. And you really don't need much currency to be current.

Comments

Farts

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvLq9qk4II4 This is what I am wearing

Re: Farts

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd already seen that video. The smiling man with the beard is indeed elegant -- I'm being perfectly serious, even if he isn't.

[the23.livejournal.com]

you have something of an arithmetic problem in paragraph three.

this briton ventured out onto fancypants byres road today wearing sweater knitted by his grandmother twenty years ago (i bet it cost her less than a tenner), t-shirt advertising friends' acoustic tour of midwestern supermarket car parks ($5), thrift store skater jeans (<$5), walking boots (£23) and stupid facial hair (free), carrying a wallet with about £35 in it and wearing a watch whoch was a gift but probably cost about £20. this briton has an above average disposable income. no wonder most of my fellow countrymen are deep in debt. fools!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Whoops, my bad on the arithmetic. Fixed. Still shockingly overpriced, though.

Glad to hear you're getting the better of rip-off blingo spendspendspend Britain! Yay for thrift!

£210 whatever that is in euros

[pitcherthis.livejournal.com]

this im guessing is cheap in street values :S

[contraries.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised if any outfit (including shoes and accessories) I wore came to more than £100.

But then again, I shop at Primark and eBay.

I'm cheap...

[lecabinet.livejournal.com]

watch £9.99

jumper £3.50

jeans £40

tshirt £5 in 1997

trainers $20

socks £4

new bra £7

pants... from a multipack so £1

= £86.49

and glasses £110.

Re: I'm cheap...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

So where are all these £851 people, then? Is this just a big lie designed to make us up our spending (to very little visible effect) and put more debt on our credit cards?

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

the only things i'm wearing right now that cost me money are my boots, underwear, and headphones. the rest was either donated to me by a friend who worked at Levis & a vintage clothing store, or else belongs to Virgil. The headphones are the priciest thing on my person.

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

Does my dental work count?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

There are all sorts of alternative accountings we could make. For instance, I'm wearing a Japanese vest. While cheap, it did cost a lot in jet fares to get it (and in environmental damage). There's also time as cost; it took me months to match my sailor trousers with a similar sailor top. I could imagine someone being willing to pay a lot of money to avoid having that long search.

[alibee.livejournal.com]

My officemate is wearing clothing entirely from Goodwill. So, her outfit probably cost $10US. I bet the most expensive thing she's wearing is a bra (hey, did they count those in the totaling of women's clothing? Victoria's Secret makes a KILLING on bras).

I'm wearing a sweater and jeans that I've probably had for 5-10 years. The most expensive part of MY outfit (besides bra, as mentioned) would be my Docs. Damnit. I'm too high-style to read your blog. :P

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

My bra cost more than my Docs! Eek!

[rroseselavyoui.livejournal.com]

I'd like to send each one of those over-consumers this message:

[xvs.livejournal.com]

heh
if you'll try to do same sort of accounting here in russia (oh, especially somewhere near Ural or somewhere like that) you'll find out that total balance is sometimes under $10 :)
and it's not horrible-looking quilted jacket and tarpaulin boots, but something with thin beauty flavour :)

yes, sure, theres a lot of people with $300+ and $3000+ outfit, but it's only single persons from grey faceless crowd and it's not the best people...
(i guess most often it's a people inferiority complex, 'cos single glance at their faces can tell volumes)
funny magazine's reports and fantasy :)
but i guess theres a lots of people who read that and thinks that it's a real world
hollow mummies from spaceless place in placeless space...


oh, sorry for my bad english :)

[girfan.livejournal.com]

Not counting my eyeglasses, I figure I'm wearing around £75.00 worth of clothes (and a watch). Most of my clothes are "classic" style and last me for years. I tend to update clothes with accessories...a lot of which I buy in charity shops or online. I just bought a new winter coat for £65.00-the first one I've owned in over 10 years (I have a 15 year old biker leather and a short wool jacket).

It amazes me when I see the prices a lot of women pay for clothes, especially ones that are quite trendy and will go out of season in 10 minutes!

Granted, I did see an art nouveau inspired shoulder bag in leather and velvet from Liberty's that I adore...if I had a spare £500. If I got one, I would own it until I died.

[(Anonymous)]

Your unfortunate mother is absolutely right -- you're a complete and utter shape these days! A few years ago you used to be quite smart, but now you've come over all nutter/hippy/pennerverein. Still at least it shows your rather elegant girlfriend likes you for who you are. Either that or she thinks you've stashed all that money you've saved on clothes.

Wully fae the dapper OSP

What ARE You Wearing?

[charleshatcher.livejournal.com]

Re: What ARE You Wearing?

[(Anonymous)]

Daylight robbery

divide by time?

[jozefpronek.livejournal.com]

Those calculations don't seem to take into consideration the time you actually use your shoes, your scarf, etc. "Expensive" shoes last years for me, "cheap" ones wear out very soon - "expensive" shoes end up being much cheaper in my case, except at the time of buying them :)
Same for many sweaters.
"Dividing by time", my outfit would be very cheap...

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

An antiques/curiosity dealer I know in Manhattan who is fond of taking thrift items and tricking them out with additional geegaws. I like the added pocket that has been roughly stitched onto the front. He also put a cinch in the back of his jacket:



A woman I know in Baltimore had a peacock feather skirt made by a woman in Hawaii for $600 (the original Prada skirt was something like $20,000, and weren't nearly as nice as this one):



As for me, well, most of my wardrobe is thrift or otherwise, but in this case the hat is $20, the suit $2900, the tie and custom shirt were gratis (bless my tailors), the silk pocket square is $16, and the custom scarf with the luna moth and stars was made by a loving fan.



The plum-colored ankleboots are thrift, and cost $8.

[(Anonymous)]

What a lovely scarf!

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

A Dutch magazine that is actually current? Be still my beating heart.

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

Also, I cannot taxate most of what I am wearing now because it consists of heirlooms, hand-me-downs and gifts. They should make a value calculation based on emotional value, that would be at least an interesting read.

[badspelling.livejournal.com]

I'm still worrying about those cold cold ankles.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Macrame anklecuffs! With tassles!

[mizzar.livejournal.com]

sorry for my bad english, i'm from Ukraine.
here in Kiev we have very uniqe stores or maybe markets with
worn things from Europe or England or even america called "Second Hand"
I don't buy new clothes for more then 3 years.
So my average total cost is near 20€
jeans:2€
shirt:2€
boots:4€
hat:3€
jacket:4€
socks(new):1€
underware(new):4€

i can't belive in more then 800€ Britons
it something that i just can't realize.

[(Anonymous)]

That's cheap! A bit like Shevchenko's dive for that penalty...

[bopscotch.livejournal.com]

My best (and favorite) suit cost me only $25. It's a three-piece (jacket, vest and pants). Oh, how I love thrift.

I'm not too sure on how much I'm wearing right now. I'd say that this costed no more than $80 (jeans on sale for $20 or under, this shirt being on sale for $15 or less, and my watch being, I'd like to think, $35). I'm not counting my glasses since they're prescription. My mom is extremely picky about buying clothes at a good price. I think my hat costed no more than $8, and it was originally priced at $15 (I didn't include the hat because I don't wear it too often).

[slipmesomething.livejournal.com]

Day to day wearing tends to involve:

Brown felt Trilby - £10
Brown velour jacket - £28
Fingerless gloves - £2
Watch - Free
Band tee-shirt - £10
Cords from Primark - £4 (£8 for my brown ones)
Shoes - £15

I have no idea how much my pants or socks cost. Probably very little.

Total = £69 or £109 if it's raining as I'll wear my £40 full length coat.

If My iPod counts that brings it up too.

Anyway, I can see very little reason to spend so much money on clothes. I also have the added problem of being awkwardly sized and therefore am pretty much banned from high street and designer retailers unless they have a children's department.

I'm not sure if it's an advantage or not.

Today

[(Anonymous)]

Jacket $180AU
Shirt $50AU
Pants $100AU
Belt $30AU
Jocks $20
Socks $5AU
Sneakers $80AU
Spectacles $650AU
Wallet $110AU
Mobile Phone $500AU
iPod $500AU

I might point out that a lot of these are good quality items that I would prefer to spend money on, have had for years, and use all the time. The only items that need to be replaced frequently are socks, jocks, pants and shirts which are fairly modest expenses.

Total. $2,175

Re: Today

[(Anonymous)]

from bottom to top, priced as new:

shoes ~$60 (US)
socks $3
pants ~$40? (don't recall)
underwear $5
t-shirt $5
shirt $30
eyeglasses $700
cuff on ear - don't recall; immeasurable sentimental value

Total: $833 with glasses, $133 without. That's probably fairly typical.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

There's nice symbiosis between this entry and the latest one on Sean Talley's blog (http://www.seantalley.com/blog/?p=24), which is about the (un)fashion of African clan chiefs.

[lame-no-antenna.livejournal.com]

glasses, $480
undergarments $25
jeans $90
long sleeve shirt $40
zip up hooded sweatshirt $50
jacket $25
shoes $65
sling bag $35

*shrugs* at least i pretend to look like i'm "middle class" i guess...

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

shirt: $5
pants: $30
socks: $2
underpants: $2
shoes: $40

How Much are You Wearing?

[(Anonymous)]

I should hazard that the report, like the feature that it inspired, is completely bogus.

You still believe all this shit, don't you Nick.

Re: How Much are You Wearing?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The report was a poll by Zurich Insurance. You can read about it here (http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CA627801U&news_headline=brits_walk_around_with_£800_in_clothes_and_gadgets).