Are Esquire writers daft or cruel or corrupt?

[nicholascrawford]

I don't know what to say when reading a caption like this:
<blockquote>




There is a difference between a bargain and a good deal. A bargain tends to be cheap, found in overstuffed bins or on picked-over racks, and anyone schooled in basic math can spot one. A good deal, though, means that for whatever reason, the value of a prospective purchase — its distinctive design, its high quality, its look and feel — exceeds the price you're being asked to pay for it, and it takes some training and know-how to know one when you see one. Take this sharply cut double-breasted two-piece from Banana Republic's BR Monogram line. It costs just $700, a miracle of economy that creative director Simon Kneen once attributed to the brand's ability to use its scale to cut deals with Italian textile mills. That translates into luxury cloths at accessible prices, and along with the rest of the good deals in this section, it shows just how far you can make your money, and style, go this spring.


Read more: http://www.esquire.com/style/best-deals-spring-clothes-men-022112#ixzz1o7BTSpKE
</blockquote>


Have they ever visited Dappered.com? Do they not realize that paying full retail at BR means you're so rich that you shouldn't be wearing BR or that you're trying to spend all your cash on hand before the wife realizes you're plotting a divorce? These are smart writers, right? It seems that way. I doubt they're making 7 figures as Esquire copy writers.


I have to believe that they're getting paid by BR to call this price accessible and say ...I can barely type this... "just $700".


Someone tell Esquire that BR periodically has sales.

[nicholascrawford]

Also, $159 custom dress shirt? Come on, find another way to describe it besides "less than $160 a pop". I got that whole 159 is less than 160 thing figured out.

[alan]

LOL... FWIW, I'm sure in the world of Esquire, a $700 suit is a good deal. They don't have these new-fangled things called "budgets".

[nicholascrawford]

Our household income exceeds 91.4% of Esquire's readership, and I still find $700 to be unaccessible for a suit. It's lunacy.

[kinek]

Do they ever mention sales in these magazines? I'd be willing to bet that retailers forbid them from mentioning sales as a rule. Also, informed people like those here NEED at least a few people to pay full retail so BR can afford to sell to us at 40% off!

[alan]

Esquire readers are not affluent. They just want to be. They read about things they can't afford. And yes, $700 is a lot for any article of clothing... Especially from BR.

[Rob]

It is a nice looking suit though!

Never hurts to be aspirational, but you have to be careful when you have champagne tastes and a beer cheque book (check book)!


So - read Esquire to get the look, then scour Dappered for the product!

[nicholascrawford]

kinek - That may be. But it just hands off the market to Dappered. Why would I ever, ever, ever look to Esquire for specific style advice and purchase recommendations when there are 3 posts a day on Dappered that give me links and highligh smart buys? Especially with some of the ridiculous outfits in the ads, you have to treat a magazine like that as more of a style lookbook instead of something to emulate.


Still, you look at us collectively and see how wildly different we put together outfits in the WIWT threads despite shopping very similar sales and stores. It's not that we need to follow some cheapo uniform in lock step. Just learn a few basic guidelines, point people in the direction to go, and bam!


I feel like virtually NO ONE buys this stuff at full retail. I don't work at LEC, but I bet they sold 25 shirts at $130 a pop then sold thousands of them at $29 (under $30, as Esquire would say! lol). I'm guilty of this too - I want to see big percentages off so that I feel good about spending my money wisely.

[nicholascrawford]

Another thing, and I know you'll agree with me Alan, Esquire had a line at the bottom of the print magazine saying words to the effect of "A gentleman never says he got a good deal on something..." Some pure BS like that to bolster their BS copy.


I get that it's rude to say, "Oh you got that for $700? I waited a month and bought it on sale for $275." It's a dick move. I just roll my eyes, think they're stupid, and don't say anything. But there is no shame in saying you got something at Target or Marshalls or thrifting. I think of it as a badge! I'm smarter than all y'all - I got a deal, dawg!


Rob - EXACTLY! Weird that Esquire can't do what Dappered does. Probably would scare off their advertisers, but who cares, it scares off their readers. =P

[TheMeInTeam]

"I think of it as a badge! I'm smarter than all y'all - I got a deal, dawg!"


I think of it as just the opposite. Saying you got a deal is a way of showing modesty. It's acknowledging that you have good taste and own a quality item without making it seem like you're showing off how much money you have.

[TheMeInTeam]

Also, I hate double-breasted jackets (excluding peacoats) and wouldn't buy that BR suit for $70, let alone $700.

[alan]

When someone compliments me on something I'm wearing, my first instinct (after saying "thanks") is to blurt how much I DIDN'T pay for it. Whether I hold my tongue or not depends on the company I'm in.


When I found my Aquascutum raincoat at a thrift store on my lunch break, though, I showed EVERYBODY in my department. :-)

[trash]

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of "input" from clothing companies at Esquire and GQ. I'm not saying they're actually being paid to recommend specific things, but if a writer wants to do a piece on say "suit basics" they're probably just going to ask media people at a handful of go to brands.


I don't think you'll ever see articles on thrifting or bargain hunting in those magazines because it doesn't fit with the lifestyle they're pitching, and honestly I doubt that many readers of (and even writers at) Esquire/GQ know much about the pricing games retailers play. I would think a lot of this is common knowledge by now, but I still routinely hear people comment how cheap something is because it's highly discounted below an inflated retail price.


That being said, I do subscribe to both Esquire and GQ (for a few bucks/year each, why not?) and while most of the content is forgettable fluff, the features are occasionally interesting reads. The fashion pages/photo shoots are worth flipping through for ideas, though more for aesthetics of looks and not for specific products.

[nicholascrawford]

TheMeInTeam & Alan: Yes - for me, it's a way of saying that what I'm doing is something anyone could do if they so desired.


trash: Yeah, $6/year for a subscription. I paid $4.99 for one issue at the newstand and found the features very compelling.

[jason_carreira]

A few points:


1 - The retailers they're highlighting are their advertisers, so of course they'll play up how affordable they are.

2 - In the wider world, $700 isn't that much for a suit (although it's ridiculous for a BR suit). I may at some point take a trip down to NYC and visit Suit Supply. There you can get a suit for $700 that is favorably compared to suits that retail for $3000+.

3 - Nobody sane pays full retail for this stuff unless they're desperate (last minute NEED) or lazy / stupid, but the magazines wouldn't have retailers as advertisers if they pointed that out.


Also, don't disrespect the DB! I've come to love DB jackets... Just got a Gieves & Hawkes made by Belvest in Italy DB navy blazer with brass buttons that's just AMAZING. I feel the need to tell my yacht crew to chart a course for the Bahamas when I put it on