Since the time I have made my first steps into the world of menswear, I have been learning new things. Some lessons proved valuable, like how to spot quality in a sea of mediocrity, how to acquire said quality for less than it is usually asked of me, how to break away from the crowd and let my personality shine through what I wear. But, more often than not, I have witnessed the pretense and lack of individual thought shown by most denizens of the corner of the Web dedicated to classical dressing.
Sprezzatura. The word so often repeated on men's clothing forums and blogs, a term used to describe the 'insolence' of Italians, their purposeful recklessness when it comes to dress. Undone buttons on sleeves, unbuckled monk strap shoes, jacket pocket flaps partially tucked in, rolled-up pant bottoms, whatever. Things that should be the mark of unkempt proles who just don't know any better... considered by the well-off and bored Internet Gents, or iGents to be the 'pinnacle of dressing' and 'having fun with one's clothes'. An artificial way of telling the environment that they do not spend much time thinking about clothes and putting them on, while in fact it is precisely that. Showing that they do not care too much about their clothes, when, truth to be told, it is quite possibly the one thing they care about the most.
Projecting the image of an exprensively-dressed slob does not equal style. It equals being an exprensively-dressed slob.
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