Critical Shopper: A Men’s Wear Store Made for Men



Photo

Inside the new Todd Snyder store on Madison Square in Manhattan. Credit Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

The fact that men’s interest in fashion is now taken as a given, not a rare treat, cuts both ways. On the one hand, it is no longer easy to condescend to a consumer who has curiosity, access to information and capital. But a different sort of condescension has replaced the old one: selling mildly glamorous versions of the old unglamorous garments, and passing it off as an achievement all the way around.

You can see this sleight of hand at work in the newly opened Todd Snyder shop in Manhattan, which feels like an achievement and also a hall of mirrors, depending on which angle you’re viewing from.

Photo

Clothing and accessories. Credit Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

I went on a weekday around 5 p.m., near the end of office-bro work hours. Everywhere in the store there were men. Men! So many men! Men happy to shop for and by themselves. Skinny men and burly men. Men who thought hard about their hair and men who thought too hard about their hair. Tall men and men who thought no one could notice they weren’t tall. Like, three women, too, but mostly men operating under their own steam, and without prompting.

This was the dream, right? The fashion industry gets to sell double-priced oxfords and sweatshirts! Men no longer let their better halves squeeze them into fashion that is too directional! A J.Crew Liquor Store on every corner!

Photo

“This was the dream, right? The fashion industry gets to sell double-priced oxfords and sweatshirts!” Credit Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

The right half of the shop is laid out like a shrunken department store, or a men’s wear bazaar, broken into discrete, well-thought-out sections, mostly derived from the #menswear schematic of the early 2010s. It’s a greatest-hits revue: a block of British items, a block of seasonal but timeless designer clothes, a block of athleisure, a block of suits and formal wear.

On the other side are jewelry cases and an ample shoe section, which is also a timeline: double monks, bluchers, tasseled loafers, Chelsea boots, suede boots with a crepe sole very similar to ones I bought at Sid Mashburn a few years back.

Photo

The store at 5 p.m. one recent weekday was filled with men operating under their own steam, and without prompting. Credit Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

Everything was for sale, the staff said. The fixtures? Sure, they said, less certainly. Scattered around the store are vintage magazines — GQ, Esquire, The Face (up to $210) — and vintage vinyl (a Dead Kennedys L.P. for $46, Keith Jarrett for $98). In the middle is a pommel horse, which, yes, is near the athletic wear, but is still a pommel horse in the middle of a clothing store. It is … performatively butch? Whatever it is, it is certainly a holdover from the RRL section at Bloomingdale’s a decade ago.

Continue reading the main story

On this topic: ( from category )

    Leave feedback

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    *
    *

    eighteen + thirteen =

    Top