How we feelin about this one?: Brutalism - Topic of the day 10/11/25
How do we feel about brutalism in fashion? Feel free to also talk (and argue) about the architecture, and also check out this MFA thread from six years ago on it: https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/9qv5l8/brutalism_in_fashion/
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concrete my beloved
brutalism (architecture) gets an unnecessarily bad reputation but it is something I will defend to the death
What is brutalism in fashion
Rick owens i guess?
I think clothing that shows their construction might be somewhat adjacent
Probably accessories are the easiest to find analogues
THANK YOU
rick does feel like the most obvious instance to me and that seems to bare out given the runway sets I've seen him preference
Based on how the smithsons defined brutalism this would be the answer
It's a bit hard because to me brutalism is as much about the material as it is about the shape of the thing, the really stark and geometric lines and forms
Doesn’t CdG do this? And maybe needles rebuild. I’m sure there’s. A lot of others too
but it's weird to imagine what the brutalist form in fashion would be. maybe anything unstructured? the silhouettes I tend to see from lemaire kinda come to mind to me as well.
The kind of severe or angular elements are probably less common
Whos that uk guy who puts a million buttons on his tops
I feel like his stuff is brutalistesque
@lyss and i wrote an essay on brutalism that centered around the smithsons, but obviously had to bring up erno goldfinger and ian flemming being such a piece of shit
I think the problem brutalism faces is largely one of poor upkeep and mislabling. A lot of buildings that were built (at least in the UK) in more functionalist styles repeatedly get misidentified as being brutalist when in reality oftentimes they were just built for the sake of being cheap.
also so much of the brutalist architecture that remains is entirely devoid of the greenery and life that as intended to be incorporated
how this then works with fashion idfk
Do you think there’s an equivalent to greenery in brutalist adjacent fashion?
I feel like the closest eqvuilent would be functional accessories
A lot of brutalism doesn't age well in the damp rainy British climate compared to other countries, i.e. brutalism movements in Spain, Greece, etc. Much more noticeable water stains and algae
I’d have thought the opposite. Brutalist fashion surely has to be Kiki
I love brutalism and strongly associate it with armani although its not the architecture the man himself said he was trying to match
Its very muddy grey brown (often) has an imposing form in its own way, is very practical
to me brutalism's form is striking in its blunt simplicity. it's like starkly minimalist in terms of the shape of it and the patterns and construction. adding in a bunch of imposing angles onto clothes feels to me like it matches brutalism's angular design on a surface level but not on a spiritual level.
Nail on da head
Thats why its armani baby
I think there’s a difference between a garment having imposing angles and structure? To me the term unstructured implies a certain levity and playfulness (mostly due to the garments we tend to call unstructured) which imo is a stark contrast to my perception of brutalism being earnest to a fault.
yeah I might have just picked a weird word to use to describe it given how unstructured is tied up in the casual/formal spectrum, but just the idea of a fabric draping as the fabric wants to without any attempt to modify it or design details or structure into it feels very brutalist to me.
I do also really like what jibba said about visible construction being brutalist
I feel like this could be considered brutalist
idk what the brand is but my brother has a few tshirts that all have really really visible seams, like the shirt almost looks like it's turned inside out (I've accidentally tried to warn him over this before) and it's just intentionally how it's supposed to look. that's what kinda comes to mind when I think of what brutalist fashion could be.
This could not
I think there’s also a line being there between straight up wearing a potato sack which imo wouldn’t be brutalist and wearing something that uses the fabric to create structure
my kinda problem with this as a vision of brutalist fashion is that another pretty important aspect of brutalism to me is how it kinda becomes imposing in its simplicity of material and details.
does pesty dress brutalist
I kinda feel like he does
idk, i agree with holfram. brutalism is often misinterpreted as "imposing structures" when at its core it is a reverence for materials
I feel this way about brutalist architecture, I do not feel this way about brutalist furniture eg. that means I’d conclude that it being imposing comes from the sheer bigness of our main exposure to brutalist being buildings rather than something inherent in the style?
it's possible idk, it's hard for me to consider brutalism as not imposing because those concepts are so intrinsically connected in my brain
I think brutalism could also be cute. Like this amphibious seatings design.
I think this isn’t imposing, it’s fun and playful.
But still earnest.
yes! its direct and purposeful. which can easily be imposing, but this is a great example of the philosophy over the aesthetic
and imo workwear pretty seamlessly encapsulates this idea
Instinctually I feel like brutalism would use boiled wool a lot.
This same instinct tells me brutalism could be the antithesis of whatever it is I wear regularly.
I’m not big on brutalism in anything tbh, I used to try to be but I’ve figured it just doesn’t work for me.
I agree with this a lot. I’d say it’s about putting function and material as primary issues in much the same way as David Lynch’s look there does
i think of it as the "useful" part of morris' “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
I think armani is actually a great example. Its simplistic in the way that brutalist architecture is but still visually interesting.
I think someone could mistake brutalism for being minimalist but in a way its actually very maximalist
How we feel about Valentino
I do agree with Armani
I think it encapsulates the idea but not necessarily the aesthetic or feeling
Fair. I'm only coming to this from a historic/philosophical context as put forward by the smithsons
I need to look up the smithsons
I dont think your wrong and there is some workweary stuff that i definitely think fits within the aesthetic
John skelton was the guy i was trying to think of
I think he has a lot of brutalist elements in his work
I'm holding too many groceries. Need to get home
I also think xenia telunts feels mildly brutalist
With a name like xenia telunts how could you not be brutalist
these do feel very much brutalist to me but now I'm like tryna shake the association that I have between brutalism and concrete/grays/browns, cuz I think it's a good point that brutalism doesn't necessarily have to be that that's just the popular idea of it
These feel more brutalist to me due to material and construction rather than color but i agree
but the construction of those garments do feel very brutalist to me, very plainly and boldly presenting the material, the pocket detail on the sweater in particular I think leans into it well
those fisherman sweaters everyone was obsessed with last year are for sure brutalist
Ok i thought this was a dumb topic initially but its good actually
It feels like with brutalism in fashion there’d be two rivaling schools where one uses a lot of wool and leather and one leans super heavily into super advanced techy fabrics.
I could see that
agree
I think darkwear/workwear/techwear all have some strong brutalist elements
for sure
Especially techwear embodies the functional strength of the material over form aspect imo
And again not necessarily because of muted colors but a focus on on construction and material and simplistic but calculated design
I thought about tech wear earlier too. Tech and gorp and work wear all encapsulate the philosophy for me
Yeah I didn't think you were arguing with me. I just felt I should clarify my position. A few years ago I worked on this piece about "eco brutalism" so I find it necessary to add the philosophical context because it is so often flat out ignored in favor of vibes. That's all I'm trying to get at
Alison and Peter. There are many places that brutalism grew from but they are it's parents in a way
yeah it's always difficult to square those circles because there is that origin and intention and then there's what has become the popular perception of a thing
(they are by no mean it's creators or the only important brutalism architects. Just a good starting place)
I mean we're all talking past (because we're based) how the predominant public opinion of brutalism is that it's pretty universally bad and lazy and cheap
We are based and not wrong
Is it?
I may be overstating a bit but I'd say yes it's a very popular view
It was used in a lot of public housing, so a lot of people spent a lot of time demonizing it cause they hate the poors
Ahhh ok
I always liked brutalism so maybe its just the bias of seeing more people celebrating it than shitting on it
See Ian Fleming naming goldfinger after erno goldfinger the architect
Born hater gotta respect it
also:
- brutalist architecture is sometimes used as an excuse to make cheap buildings that are not interesting to look at or thoughtfully designed and just made of concrete because it's convenient/cheap
- brutalist architecture, regardless of stated intent, can often look nominally like cheaper concrete buildings because brutalism is so much about centering on its material and budget minded buildings will look this way out of cost savings
- there's a whole "degenerate art" angle thing here where people really idealize the kinda cottage core aesthetic house with bricks and a fireplace and etc and can't think past how brutalism making them a little uncomfortable with its boldness is a cool thing
see also: people hating abstract art
it's fun that this topic came up just after I went to Glenstone which has so many examples of amazing brutalist structures and buildings
I don’t think your third point holds tbh.
The degenerate art terminology does you no favors here imo. “Degenerate art” wasn’t that because it made people uncomfortable, but because it could possibly have made people question the virtues and ideals of the regime.
Further I think it’s not entirely obvious that your living space making you a little uncomfortable is a cool thing tbh. I can acknowledge that for some this has value, but I also fundamentally disagree with the point of having to appreciate something solely because it’s art.
Maybe also bad use of a preexisting word and I’m for sure thinking about the building style more than anything else with it
I just know I’ve seen “we used to be a proper country” posts of brutalist buildings up next to churches
Brutalist architecture can sometimes nominally compare unfavorably in that context for the same reason abstract art compares nominally unfavorably to renaissance art, the detail and realism is a very obvious thing to point to for many people as a mark of “quality”
Therefore buck mason is anti brutalist
Absolutely
Part of what makes brutalism compare unfavorably, the same reason abstract art compares unfavorably is that it’s undeniably necessary to view the artwork in a bigger context than just the thing that you are seeing. In part this is a logical next step -the dimension of craftsmanship in architecture is “full” in a sense, as is the dimension of technical prowess in painting. So it’s sensible to create artistic value in a different dimension of the piece. These dimensions aren’t immediately obvious and require work to be understood. (This also poses the problem of elitism in appreciation of art btw.)
Now the question I ask is “do i want to have to view my living space in a broader context than just the thing I’m looking at in order to appreciate it?” - and my personal answer to this is “no”, but yours might well be yes.
This is unironically a great example of the point joan was making with “we used to be a proper country”
yeah and to be clear my point is def not that it's a moral imperative to like or even appreciate brutalist and/or abstract art, but it def feels like a relevant point to mention given that both brutalist and abstract art are less popular in the mainstream and some portion of that is due to that whole discourse
Fake fucking fashion server nobody said Acronym
ACRNM blends natural & synthetic materials in a way that shows a deep appreciation for both function & aesthetic.
Heavy, angular blocks and lines that exaggerate or closely adhere to a body's contours; a level of functionality thats so extreme it veers into playful; homage & references to media, literature, extreme sports, etcetcetc
100% brutalism
I SAID TECHWEAR EARLIER OMG