February 23, 2011
Tools of Attraction: Fashion Dealbreakers
- ‹ prev
- next ›
Nora, Anemone employee
Shirt and skirt: Forever 21, Jacket: Urban Outfitters, Stockings: American Apparel, Scarf: Savers Store, Moccasins: Minnetonka
Dealbreaker: I'm gonna go ahead and just say it: shorts on men. I'm sorry. I bet that you're very hot in the summer, men of the world, but that sucks. You're making, what? A dollar for every seventy-seven cents I make? So I make seventy-seven cents, and you have to wear pants all summer long. I also don't believe that men can wear sandals. I don't want to see your fucking toes. That's sick as hell. No flip-flops, ever. No flip-flops for either gender, and no sandals of any kind for men.
Commentarium (91 Comments)
Nora is annoying.
agreed
To be fair, pretty much everyone will be annoying if a photographer/blogger walks up to them on the street and asks what their fashion related pet peeves are.
Okay, that's fair but still..no exposed toes EVER? That's rough!
On any given day, if someone stopped me on the street and asked me where I'd bought all of my clothes I don't think I'd be able to answer.
Exactly!
The rest look fine but Nora is a mess. Horrible tights with the kind of shoes that work only with pants and the cheapest, rattiest jacket imaginable. She thinks the scarf will pull that mess together, but it looks pathetic, too. On what planet is she qualified to talk about fashion?
If you're wearing a kinda cute outfit and wandering around Soho and then you see a Nerve employee with a camera, you too could be qualified to talk about fashion. (The whole point is that these people aren't qualified. Just regular people.)
There are plenty of street-style blogs featuring fashion pros. I was under the impression that the point of THIS blog was to feature style-conscious people who are more on the regular side, whether you dig their personal style or not.
I love Nora's outfit, and would wear it in a heartbeat. Also, hairy men legs and men with ugly rank feet are truly horrifying. I can relate to Nora's dislike of them.
I stand up for Nora, come on you all are just haters. Skanky man sandal toes are gross and she has a point there. Even if you hate her outfit, she is groomed.
I thought she was hilarious
Funny but she clearly has a feminist stick up her ass with all that "seventy cents for every dollar" whining.
Blah, lighten up. Although her outfit is a little too cookie-cutter-trend for my taste, I too will stand for Team Nora.
Sorry, Leslie but the "feminist stick" she has up her butt is also know as...the truth.
Yes, the truth. Leslie doesn't care, she likes her crumbs apparently.
Leslie could be a dude. Disgruntled, albeit. Perchance due to the name. (Did you know that Kimberly and Beverly were also guys' names at one point?)
Yeah, Nora was funny as hell. Preach it, Nora!
Eff Nora, I will wear shorts whenever I like. I agree with the sandal and flipflop stuff, though. But let me just ask you something: would you prefer a sweaty guy in long trousers to a cool dry guy in shorts?
Nora is an idiot. I remember that study awhile back where women are more depressed because their achievements aren't important to the world because every woman is up there now. It's like, shut the fuck up about your wages. It's more like 100-90, not 100-70. I'll wear shorts and sandals, not socks and sandals, but fuck. How stupid can she be? Maybe she'd just prefer her man in a suit all summer, a business man, someone who can make enough money to pay for her attempt at a fashion success.
If you don't believe that women make 77 cents to a man's dollar, I suggest you start reading the news. Here's a good way to start: http://ti.me/dgv5LS
I'm not entirely sure if everyone is freaking out about this girl calling men out for wearing shorts or that she has informed herself of the pay disparity between men and women. Opinion is one thing, fact, however, is another.
Nora's fashion sense and personal beliefs aside, her facts are right. Well it's just gone up to 78 cents, but still I'll give her credit for that. So Larry, who's the idiot ?
Larry is the idiot. An aggressive one at that too.
Gosh, Lawrence. Nora really seemed to...get under your skin. I just wouldn't let it get to you like that, sir. I really wouldn't.
For the record, it's a gross oversimplification to say that women make 77 cents to a man's dollar, full stop. The article linked by thisisreal points out a bunch of factors, including the fact that women frequently put their careers on hold to have kids. I'm not really sure that the problem is as much sexism, as the fact that U.S. culture expects you to sacrifice everything to the job -- and women are simply (and wisely) less willing to do that.
Also, I find this statistic interesting: "Perhaps the most compelling — and potentially damning — data of all [is that] men who transitioned to women earned, on average, 32% less after the surgery. Women who became men, on the other hand, earned 1.5% more." Uh, there's an obvious reason for that: "Boys Don't Cry" aside, most people are far more hostile to MTF than FTM, because FTMs can often "pass" and MTFs usually can't. Many people find MTFs disturbing to look at, so they don't hire them or don't want them to represent their business. Is that fair or right? Maybe not, but I don't think it's ever likely to change.
...long walk, short pier, perhaps that'll solve your over-privileged "logical" ass.
Also, since men make more money than I do, they have to carry me to work. And since I make less then men, I should be allowed to shoplift. Additionally, the reason women get breast cancer is because men make more than women. Also, I only get .77 the amount of pay that men get, so all men should be fined a hundred jillion dollars. Oh, and I only have .77 the brain that men have.
Thank you, you're a genius.
Another fact for you: women have larger brains proportionally to their body size than men. Also, women't brains grow during pregnancy. Men's brains are only known to deteriorate from too much porn-watching, too little homework. Next question?
I think it's amazing how a true statement about gender inequality can cause such a stir. Anyone accusing Nora of being somehow aggressive or incorrect should probably check their annoyingly privileged status as...MALE (and probably white). When will dudes realize the difference between chivalry and being a douche?
"Where are your clothes from?"
"Um... home?"
To be fair, I think a lot of us have "deal-breakers" when it comes to clothing but are probably not cognizant of them.
p.s. Why are we so quick to label something a deal-breaker? Is there no middle ground? Can't we just say "I don't like white sneakers but probably wouldn't divorce someone over them?"
you may be taking this a bit too seriously. "Deal breaker" is really not that significant a term.
john's goatee is a deal breaker as is his overly-coiffed hair.
What's funny to me is something that has become a bigger and bigger peeve for me with every year that passes: Grown men wearing ballcaps, especially indoors. If you're playing sports, okay, working in the yard, sure that all makes sense... but on a first date (this has happened)? Or all day at your office job (I have several coworkers who do)? And if you really think I'm going to have dinner with you, IN A RESTAURANT, with you wearing a ballcap... I'm sorry, there are very few "fashion" moves that are going to really put me off, but that's one of 'em.
Hey, Thinkeywritey, if we grown men can't wear ballcaps everywhere, how are we going to hide our bald spots?
Shave it, baby, shave it!
Oh, I should have also said, I had a European friend tell me once that she can ALWAYS spot an American on holiday in Europe from a mile away. I thought it was going to be a fat joke, but no: "Grown European men do not wear ballcaps."
Ha! I once met an Italian man who was wearing a tweed suit and matching tweed ballcap.
Has her highness, Nora, ever been to
what's that place called again
where EVERYBODY
wears shorts and sandals...oh! THE BEACH?!
...get out of NYC for a weekend
Ahh... I think you don't understand jokes. Do you seriously believe that this person thinks gender income inequality has anything to do with sweaty man legs?
Brown shoes with a blue suit? No.
Disagree. Brown + Blue = Cool, interesting style. You probably don't work in fashion...
I disagree, stwskp, I think brown shoes with a blue suit are tight. As long as he isn't wearing a black belt, that is.
Y'all are just haters. These are NORA'S dealbreakers, if she doesn't like gross men with their gross feet in her face why do you people care so much?
Exactly! But I guess I won't be dating Nora, and she won't be dating me. Damn!
MARTHA: I don’t think it’s proper for a man to wear shorts after twelve.
DOTTY: Twelve noon?
MARTHA: No, twelve years of age.
--from "The Many Men of Martha Manning"
HA!
Don't hate Nora just because she's beautiful ...
The only "fashion" deal breaker I see are the two people photographed with cigs. I don't care (or, to be correct, didn't care when I was single) how hot you were, if you smoked. That shit killed my dad.
And if it makes you feel better, Nora, the gap between men and women diminishes greatly as you control for age, occupation, income, education, and uninterrupted years of working. It does not vanish, mind you...but it gets pretty damn small. So, now can I wear shorts. Thanks.
No actually, JD, it doesn't. Even women in nursing make 92 cents to every dollar a man in nursing makes. NURSING, for goodness' sake.
Right. The reason wage gaps decrease when controlling for such variables is because men's wages start decreasing relative to women's, which just means both genders are getting screwed equally.
Dear Nora, way to trivialize wage inequality by stitching it into an Ad Hominem over men's fashion. Even Queen Latifah would call you a bitch.
You may want to look up what ad hominem means before accusing someone of doing it. Lest you commit the same mistake in your 'witty' responses.
Nora, your outfit screams trying too hard and the cunt-smirk you probably wear while walking the streets will keep men (shorts or no shorts) from even giving you a first glance. Although you do fit in with a big population of self-ritous douche-bags (men and women) that make up NYC.
Cool comment bro. Thanks for weighing in.
Hope you don't think I'm self-righteous when I tell you to learn how to spell before calling people cunts on the internet.
So I fucked up my spelling, but you still make less money than me. How does that feel? Feels pretty good to me. Keep being a "hipster" and pretending that people read your blog (which I'm sure you have). I'll continue to be my own unique person and make trends, not succumb to them.
Wow Mel. I bet you get laid often.
Can we PLEASE get a few more non-white people on this website? The format of putting one token brown person in every pictoral is getting pretty tired. Mix it up, Nerve. You're in New York City.
Dear Nora, the internet sucks, huh? I bet the next time someone asks to take your picture when you are rushing into work, you will just smash their camera, and you wouldn't be so wrong (cameras are evil, too). I bet the next time you make a comment about men in shorts and sandals you'll remember that all blog commenters are fat men who wear shorts all year round (even in the winter), and they are very sensitive (think kevin smith). But, I bet you haven't met these boys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Ed7f2dq7U
Wow, a lot of hatred towards Nora. She was probably having a bad day, maybe worried or pissed off by a bunch of bills that arrived, and was venting about stuff. Who hasn't done that? She just had the bad luck of venting to a Nerve photographer asking an inane question about fashion likes and dislikes.
You wanna talk fashion dislikes... I really don't think the flash of designer undies just above his pants projects the "simple elegance" John's trying for.
Nora is 1000 times better than all the wage-difference deniers.
If women get paid less then men, then wouldn't it make sense to fire all the men and hire just women? You'd save a bundle!
Lawrence nailed it: women who think that men shouldn't wear shorts = women whose ideal man wears a suit and makes $300k a year. Sorry, but you give up the right to kvetch about alleged wage disparity when you're a classist, privileged golddigger.
Also, it's pretty shitty to suggest that men's bodies are gross things that need to be hidden. Anyone who got all worked up over comments about the yoga instructor's armpit hair, but gives Nora a free pass, is a fucking hypocrite.
"...ideal man wears a suit and makes $300k a year."
ye, we also go to country clubs, and, we also wear shorts and sandals.
OK, I 'fess. Nora, your outfit is stylin'. Don't worry one ounce about the comments against you. Most of us have a sense of humor, but some of us have a *little* catching up to do, clearly.
Nora in my opinion used this interview as a way to put into focus an issue that is important to her. Men making more money than me for the same job is waaaaay more fucking important to me than what some stuck up New York yuppie is wearing.
I wouldn't spend thousands of dollars on a scarf anyway. And anyone who would quite frankly is an idiot.
Also, flip flops on dudes ARE a dealbreaker.
Jesus! How clear is it that Nora was joking? What's up with all the internet hatred, where we sit behind computers and rip into each other in the basest, meanest ways? (See @Mel Gibson)
Can we all just chill out a little?
Nora, I got your back, girl. I think you're funny.
"Shitty diapers," that's hilarious. I, too, hate those pants.
Just checking--those are harem pants, right? Those are fucking horrible.
Any man who won't talk to someone because of what kind of bag she's got isn't worth the time of day. These people have got ALL their priorities wrong. Sheesh.
I love style and individuality - but i dont' give a shit what someone is wearing, i'm more interested in the person.
The way I see it, if a man worries about whether or not your purse is "real", he is probably gay. So ladies should carry knock-offs to help sort out the gay guys from the straight ones.
If a woman goes out of her way to get a fake bag that looks real and she tries to pass it off as real then there is a deeper rooted problem here, beyond fashion. What else will she lie about? I think this guy is actually on to something here.
WOW, Nora is a troubled and shallow soul huh.
Alright let's not pretend Nora was "funny". Nora was a brat. Incredibly sexist with a pretty shitty fashion sense of her own. How on earth did she tie that little factoid in to what men shouldn't be allowed to wear in the summer? I know your legs are sweating but you make 30 more cents on the dollar than me! Sweet that has nothing to do with the fact that the sun still exists in the summer, Nora.
I'm fine with Nora's notion of men wearing only pants. I think that women should only wear dresses, or skirts, in addition to making less money than me.
Why is everyone hating on Nora? She's both cute and correct. I swear that most Nerve readers these days are brain dead monkeys or, frighteningly, Republicans. When did that happen??
Yeah, I think you're right. The comments section reads like that of a cunty Republican dating site.
If Taylor is considered "stylish," then I'll happily wear out-dated clothes, thank you. What in God's name is stylish about what she's wearing? She has a problem someone wearing comfortable sneakers, but she doesn't have a problem with not wearing a bra. Also, she highlights the fact that you can see through her dress, which seems a little hippie-trashy to me.
Oh noooo!!!! Close minded much, heather?
She's just pointing out that y'all suck and have no business coming to nerve or commenting. Now fuck off, Republican.
who cares about Nora? John is sexy as fuck!
Nora...marry me?
I'm confused about what the temperature is based on what all of these people are wearing. Is it cold or hot out?
Nora is hysterically funny! Go Nora!
Nora is opinionatedly annoying. No Nora! No! LOL
Nora is cute! I hate flip-flops. Women can sometimes make sandals work, but mostly they suck. Feet are functional, not pretty! I don't get Taylor's thing against running sneakers. Maybe if it's with a suit or something.
I don't wear shorts, Nora. Unfortunately, I'm certain that I make less money than you make...
why has no one commented on Nora's shoes? They are horrible. The outfit is adorable, though not my style but the shoes...? Awful. Maybe if they weren't all scruffed and frumpy looking they would work but... they don't. Also, sandals on men is disgusting when they have cap-nasty feet, but if a man can take care of himself, that's a different story.
I totally agree with Nora one hundred and fifty percent. Guy legs are usually gross and their feet will always be nasty!
i agree with Meh..She means she got those at the shelter...fugly!
Your cranium must be protecting some very vaulbale brains.