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Comment by PhasmaFelis | Hacker News Reader

Tangentially related, things like this are why I have not stopped wearing my fedora (in appropriate situations, with appropriate outfits).

Dear Internet Fashionistas: You've decided that fedoras and suspenders are the mark of a horrible person. Your opinions have no connection to reality. Over here in the real world, I look good. When I come back to the bar the next day to pick up my credit card, and the bouncer remembers me well enough to compliment my outfit from the previous night, that means I'm doing it right.

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You are trying to make fashion into something objective; it really isn't. I can line ten people in reality who can hate on your fedora. At the end of it, wear whatever you want to, I guarantee there will be people hating on it and loving it. Such is the nature of things.

Hell, I have worn a suit to a friend's place and gotten hate from it.

This and the obsession with t-shirts reminds me as to why I never take fashion advice from HN.

What is the obsession with t-shirts?

T-shirt obsession is really a universal techie thing. Everything from the latest hip startup to the most stodgy of conventions give out t-shirts, often sizes far too large for most people to wear.

I guess. T-shirts just seem like one of those hyper-cheap things that companies can give out with their logo. Not much different than pens or foam 'stress toys'.

I swore I wouldn't wear startup shirts anymore, but then a shirts.io guy handed me one at a conference and it was so absurdly meta (print your startup shirt using our cloud API!) that I want to wear it all the time

Reminds me of Diaspora's t-shirt expense.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/104728404

Yeah, that, and this weird obsession people have with pants. Who wears pants anymore?

Fedoras come off well with the right outfit, sure. Most fedora-wearing nerds don't get that right. If you do, more power to you.

Yeah, wearing a beat-up $10 fedora with a T-shirt and jeans is not a great fashion decision. (But note that "poor fashion decisions" does not mean "disgusting, reprehensible goblin," despite the usual fashionista hyperbole.) I have a nice, properly-fitted felt fedora that I try to keep in good shape, and I wear it with a nice button-down and slacks at a bare minimum, usually a tie and sometimes a full suit.

I've had several internet fashionistas try to tell me that fedoras (and bow ties, and suspenders, and etc.) are Ruined Forever because a few unpleasant dudes on OK Cupid wear them. I find the notion absurd.

> But note that "poor fashion decisions" does not mean "disgusting, reprehensible goblin," despite the usual fashionista hyperbole.

You're reading their casual implication in the wrong direction. What they usually mean is that disgusting, reprehensible goblin implies poor fashion decisions. Thus, by Bayesian inference, poor fashion decisions are evidence which increases the likelihood that you are a disgusting, reprehensible goblin.

And fashion is entirely about Bayesian inference--or "judging a book by its cover," as it is sometimes known. ;)

So, what do you think is the prior probability of being a disgusting reprehensible goblin? And what is the difference in likelihood of poor fashion decisions between goblins and non-goblins? Seems like would be interesting to actually try and find out which personality traits correspond most with poor fashion decisions (presumably introversion would be a given?)

I don't think it's introversion. I think it's the personality types that don't register or care how (negatively) people are reacting to them. For example, the guy that will talk to you incessantly about some topic you don't care about, or someone who's smelly because of their own fault.

Yeah, fair point. My reasoning was that introverted people, being more introspective, will just have seen less reactions and so be generally less able to interpret them. But, this could be balanced by other traits - for example, greater stimulus sensitivity might mean introspective people place more importance on people's reactions to them

I agree that poor fashion sense != terrible person. But clarify this for me: fedora aside, your standard dress is a button-down with a tie, but usually no suit jacket?

Not "standard," really. My day-to-day wear is usually a short-sleeve button-down and slacks; ties and fedoras are more of a clubbing outfit. The one that the bouncer and half a dozen other people complimented me was a crimson dress shirt, sapphire tie, black slacks and fedora. Risky but striking, and evidence suggests that I pulled it off.

(I will now pause to enjoy your apoplectic fit. Yes, you. You know who you are.)

By comparison, my last-minute no-budget "Devil out on the town" Halloween costume was a black suit, black shirt, black fedora with the King of Hearts in the band, blood-red tie.

When I think of fedoras I think of terrible ska bands from the 90s where every member of the band had one on. I have no issue with the current variant, but I do think I was permanently scarred by ska music, so the hate will remain in that context.

One fedora per crew, bro.

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