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William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Two Gibson Adaptations, But Only One Peter Weir Movie

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Klebert L. Hall
11/07/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Unfortunately, the website seems to have missed the point, even though this quote is right there on the page:

"She can only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. "

Everything they show would have been glaringly comment-inducing when worn by a woman before probably the mid-sixties... Certainly before the mid-fifties.
-Kle. #williamgibson
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orangewaxlion001
11/08/09

@Klebert L. Hall: I'm not sure that was the point anyone was quite focusing on. Well at some point towards the end the page started to drift away from the point I saw in the book, but up until the point I assume they saw the character as being the antithesis of people compelled towards wearing a specific brand, which seems to be the time-period issue rather than actual design.

My conception of this is sort of dated but I was thinking of how when I was in high school Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle and their logos or brand names were huge. In the time since the book came out and/or when I was in college it seems like American Apparel sort of supplanted that as a cool thing to wear. I'm not sure how that one plays out considering how part of their appeal is that they're also logoless yet still pretty recognizable?

Then again there's the stuff like the dying premium denim market where it's not just buttons people used to brand things but also the particular stitching on the back pockets or other stuff like that and I have no idea which is more plausibly mainstreamy or how American App stuff reflects more on a culture norm with those expected to not conform.
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NorthernWhistle
11/09/09

@Klebert L. Hall: A little late to the party, but I actually think you've misread an important part of the quote: it says the items "could have been worn," not "could have been worn by a woman." I'm not bringing that up for the sake of semantics but because it seems important. Most of these items could have been during this timeframe worn by men or boys, at the least ... #williamgibson
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Klebert L. Hall
07:55 AM

@orangewaxlion001:

The point is that the character in the book couldn't wear things that were distinctive or trendy. They had to be invisible. None of the items in the article meet that requirement. #williamgibson
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Klebert L. Hall
07:57 AM

@NorthernWhistle:
The character was a woman. Really, the quote from the book is meant to be applied to a woman - otherwise she'd have just worn a tuxedo everywhere...

Men's clothing hasn't changed a whole lot in the period 1945-2000.
-Kle. #williamgibson
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Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L.
11/07/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Damn, we've broken the site, apparently.

I love the idea that, with Gibson's work, we're moving back from a not-so-distant future to a not-quite-there-yet present.

Give it another two books and he'll be predicting tomorrow. #williamgibson
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Dearhaw
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
The Curta calculator, for me, is probably the most ridiculously irrationally lust-worthy item. I really can't explain why I want one so much, but I do, and I'm determined to find one, somewhere, some time (for a reasonable price :-) #williamgibson
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Rasselas
11/07/09

@Dearhaw: They're pretty cool. I want one, too. #williamgibson
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daveNYC
11/09/09

@Dearhaw: I remember checking out the prices on Ebay when the book first came out. A few months later they had doubled. #williamgibson
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Dearhaw
11/09/09

@daveNYC: Haha, did the same damn thing. Shoulda bought one back then, when the prices were way more affordable. #williamgibson
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Jeremy Tapsell
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
I also saw Marly Krushkova as a strong feminine Gibson character. When I read Pattern Recognition after Count Zero I saw echoes of her in Cayce. And her anti-style is actual style. Like Kat says in her article, Cayce embodies the quality of cut, context of style, and the semiotics of fashion which a lot of people who love clothes are more interested in than branding or elitism- that is what true style is.

In a strange way it is that mentality, that awareness of fashions semiotics, that creates an elitism in style. It is what makes certain designs and brands more desirable, and therefore more marketable.
I suppose Cayce's ability to sense this is what makes her a sought after coolhunter. #williamgibson
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PostMarque
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
i reread this book at least 15 times.

i have purchased at least 8 copies. 1 permanant copy, several loaner copies and several gift copies.

it is my answer to, "whats your favorite book?" #williamgibson
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TonyRockyHorror
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Honestly, this is probably my favorite book of his. It's hard to describe how awesome the Sprawl trilogy and the Virtual Light trilogy are, but Pattern Recognition transcends genres and push speculative fiction of all sorts to better things. #williamgibson
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Dr Emilio Lizardo
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
William Gibson's prose is just beautiful. Not in the flowery, lyrical way that so many writers strive for and end up sounding like Stephanie Meyer. The bandwidth and information density are so high. A lesser writer would take twice as many pages to get the same information across. I liked the original SF well enough, but this near future stuff he's been writing lately shows that SF can be literature. #williamgibson
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PostMarque
11/06/09

@Dr Emilio Lizardo: Spook Country... also pretty damn fabulous. #williamgibson
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lazyeight
11/07/09

@PostMarque: I'm not a conspiracy buff, but I got the feeling in Spook Country that Gibson was circling the edges of the now. Gibson said himself that he wished to write about happenings 15 minutes into the future. I think he blew it, and instead wrote only about 5 minutes out. #williamgibson
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PostMarque
11/07/09

@lazyeight: 15 minutes into my future may include a trip to the water closet to release my bowels... prolly not a chart topping best seller. #williamgibson
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BaggerMcGuirk
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Great book, and it seems to predict the whole 'viral video' thing by just a hair. My favorite of his since Idoru. #williamgibson
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Rasselas
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
Cayce is an appealing character (to men, anyway; I have a feeling that to women she may seem a little too much like the super-thin, super-sophisticated girl a couple of years ahead in high school and college; nice Jane Birkin reference there, Gibson), but "rejection" is a funny way to put it: after all, "Pilates" is a brand name, with all sorts of very expensive branding (as a friend of mine who is an instructor mentions from time to time). Moreover, a pair of Levi's with "Levi Strauss & Co." ground off the buttons remains a pair of Levi's, maybe even if one unpicks the rear pocket stitching. Buzz Rickson is a brand, too, with logos. At a little remove from the novel, Cayce seems more like a hipster and less like a victim of an overbranded society -- "I'm allergic to brands" sounds like the sort of thing that one would hear pretty regularly in Williamsburg and Portland, etc. #williamgibson
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Rasselas
11/06/09

@Rasselas: Also, if her name is an allusion to the psychic Edgar Cayce, as many people seem to think (rather than to the hacker in Neuromancer), I think it'd be pronounced "Casey." #williamgibson
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sjct
11/06/09

@Rasselas: I'm a woman and I found her very appealing as a character primarily because I could identify with her. #williamgibson
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papercup mixmaster
11/06/09

@Rasselas: She tells Voytek that she was named for Edgar Cayce, but that her name is pronounced "Case." There's no "seem to think" about it. #williamgibson
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PostMarque
11/06/09

@sjct: im a guy. and i also identify with the allergy reaction she has. tommy hilifgher and walmart draw the same reaction from me. i broke out in hives once at both stores. #williamgibson
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CoyoteBrown
11/06/09

In reply to William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"
I'm a dude, and i have no taste in fashion, but i want that Buzz Rickson's jacket. #williamgibson
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Chip Overclock
11/07/09

@CoyoteBrown: The Buzz Rickson jacket that Cayce wears isn't to my taste... but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that my winter jacket is a Buzz Rickson Army Field Jacket (black of course). The standard Field Jacket liner ($12) fits in it perfectly.

Ummm... I might also have a pair of the tactical boots that appear in SPOOK COUNTRY. #williamgibson
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