After many decades of working as a fashion designer and a fashion educator, I have decided that I should finally do this "fashion" thing for myself. I remember the New York garment center good old days — or the bad old days, depending on how you look at it — when you could walk out for lunch and land another design job. Well, that was when they still rolled racks of clothing and furs through midtown streets, and when "made in the USA" was a big deal.
Things have changed in the New York garment center and globally. Where there used to be manufacturers and showrooms galore, there are now offices, condominiums, and everything else. It saddened me when I went into a Duane Reade drug store to shop, and in reality, I was standing in one of my old design room offices. Now everyone is complaining about tariffs because we import 95 percent of apparel and nearly all accessories from somewhere across a sea or at least a legal border.
So we make clothes "over there" somewhere, and because they can make them so cheaply, we Americans lost our sense of quality and style to disposable chic. If you do not believe me, look at how people dress while riding the…
The full essay — including the argument for why puffers are out and what the well-dressed man wears instead — is published in Atelier Quarterly Vol. II: Couture Reformation as "Style Commentary: Puffers Are Out."
Vol. I — La Belle Époque Redux is available now: Get Vol. I
Explore the Magazine | Atelier Acádemics | stacystewartsmith.com
Atelier Quarterly is a menswear couture magazine written and designed by Stacy Stewart Smith. Published from New York.
Stacy Stewart Smith (he, him)
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