• io9
  • science
  • overmind
  • kotaku
  • gizmodo
  • Profile logout login

#scifashion

io9

Share Cancel
   
Upload an image | Add an image URL
×

logging in
  • FAQ. Include # before tag:
  • #observationdeck,
  • #tips,
  • #calendar,
  • etc.

San Francisco, 9:56 PM
Fri Nov 20
26 posts in the last 24 hours

Team

Tip your editors: tips@io9.com

Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz | Email

News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders | Email

Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner | Email

Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis | Email

Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan | Email

Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier | Email
Ed Grabianowski | Email
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan | Email
Lauren Davis | Email
Chris Hsiang | Email
Lynn Peril | Email
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins | Email

Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox | Email

Interns:
Tim Barribeau | Email
Julia Carusillo | Email
Alex Eichler | Email
Cyriaque Lamar | Email
Caitlin Petrakovitz | Email
Mary Ratliff | Email
Josh Snyder | Email

More:
io9 on Facebook
follow io9 on Twitter

SUBSCRIBE TO io9 RSS

New: Breaking news and daily top stories via email
1428 Subscribers
io9
  • posts about #scifashion more →

    William Gibson's Pattern Recognition Is A "Stealth Fashion Bible"

    R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!

    A Lamp That Celebrates Alien Cow Abductions Everywhere

    Glowing Jetpack Kitty Commands You to Love Science

    Animal Mittens Make Your Hands Predator and Prey

    Tim Burton Plays Dress Up in Harper's Fashion Spread

    What the Wild Things Wear

    Now You Can Find Out What Cthulhu Smells Like

    Wear Your Favorite Galaxy On Your Legs

    Only 10 Hours Left To Get Your "Yoda The Grouch" Tee!
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Klebert L. Hall 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
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of orangewaxlion001 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.
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall promoted this comment orangewaxlion001 was starred orangewaxlion001 was unstarred
    Image of NorthernWhistle 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
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall promoted this comment NorthernWhistle was starred NorthernWhistle was unstarred
    Image of Klebert L. Hall Klebert L. Hall
    11/10/09

    @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
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of Klebert L. Hall Klebert L. Hall
    11/10/09

    @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
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. 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
     Reply
    Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was starred Discodave: R.O.A.C.H. M.O.T.E.L. was unstarred
    Image of Dearhaw 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
     Reply
    Rasselas promoted this comment Dearhaw was starred Dearhaw was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    11/07/09

    @Dearhaw: They're pretty cool. I want one, too. #williamgibson
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of daveNYC 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
     Reply
    daveNYC was starred daveNYC was unstarred
    Image of Dearhaw Dearhaw
    11/09/09

    @daveNYC: Haha, did the same damn thing. Shoulda bought one back then, when the prices were way more affordable. #williamgibson
     Reply
    Dearhaw was starred Dearhaw was unstarred
    Image of Jeremy Tapsell 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
     Reply
    Jeremy Tapsell was starred Jeremy Tapsell was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque 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
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of TonyRockyHorror 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
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment TonyRockyHorror was starred TonyRockyHorror was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo 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
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque PostMarque
    11/06/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: Spook Country... also pretty damn fabulous. #williamgibson
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of lazyeight 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
     Reply
    PostMarque promoted this comment lazyeight was starred lazyeight was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque 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
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of BaggerMcGuirk 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
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment BaggerMcGuirk was starred BaggerMcGuirk was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas 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
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas 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
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of sjct 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
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment sjct was starred sjct was unstarred
    Image of papercup mixmaster 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
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment papercup mixmaster was starred papercup mixmaster was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque 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
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of CoyoteBrown 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
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment CoyoteBrown was starred CoyoteBrown was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock 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
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Bigdamnhero Bigdamnhero
    11/03/09

    In reply to R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!
    Awesome! But what about us knuckledraggers?

    Front of T-shirt -- A Haynes Raptor manual cover.

    Back -- A color picture of a Raptor, with Aaron Douglas in overalls doing a teardown, and two guys watching him, taking notes and pics.

    I would prolly pay 50 cubits for that shit, Reece. Do-eet! #starwars
     Reply
    Bigdamnhero was starred Bigdamnhero was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/03/09

    In reply to R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!
    obscure reference count on this shirt approaching critical levels. let me be the first to admit that i only got two of them off the bat being forced to look up whatever a 'hayes manual' was afterward. #starwars
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Bigdamnhero Bigdamnhero
    11/03/09

    @tetracycloide: FYI: Haynes manuals are basically real-life Starfleet Technical manuals for cars. For amateur mechanics like myself, who don't like getting screwed by hack greasemonkeys mucking about under my hood, they're livesavers. Everything you could possibly want to know about your year, make and model vehicle is in these things.

    Since I am a geek, I actually also read mine for fun. #starwars
     Reply
    Bigdamnhero was starred Bigdamnhero was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/03/09

    @Bigdamnhero: thanks! i also looked them up immediately upon hearing the reference and not know what it was. i hate not knowing things. #starwars
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    11/03/09

    In reply to R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!
    Speaking as someone that has owned many Haynes manuals for motorcycles past and present, this is inspired! #starwars
     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    11/03/09

    In reply to R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!
    Haynes are the best manuals. #starwars
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of Bigdamnhero Bigdamnhero
    11/03/09

    @Jrsy Devil's Advocate®: My 74-Z speeder is still on cinderblocks out back, while I'm trying to decipher the Chilton I bought for it. Arg. #starwars
     Reply
    Bigdamnhero was starred Bigdamnhero was unstarred
    Image of micah1_8 micah1_8
    11/03/09

    In reply to R2D2's Secret Controller — Revealed!
    This would be so awesome as a book cover for a real haynes manual. #starwars
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment micah1_8 was starred micah1_8 was unstarred
    Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Login

Enter your username and password.

Please enter a username.
Please enter your password.
logging in
Login via Facebook | Sign Up | Forgot Password?

Reset Password

Please enter your email address to have your password reset.

Please enter your email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
requesting password reset

Register

Registering will give you a user profile and the ability to add other users as friends. To become a commenter, however, you need to audition.

Want to know more? Consult the Comment FAQ and legal terms.

Please enter a username.
Please enter a password.
Please confirm your password.
Passwords are not identical.
Please enter a valid email address.
registration sent, waiting for reply

Submit Your Comment

You don't need to login to comment. Just enter your email address below.

See how your address will be displayed in the Comment FAQ.

Please enter a valid email address.
Please enter a valid email address.
logging in

Login with your Facebook or io9 account.

Sign up here.



  • Archives
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Legal
  • Help
  • Report a Bug
  • FAQ
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.