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A Man's World

​Counter-culture fashion

 


 

BY JUSTIN BREWER

Whether you have your Easter Sunday searsucker on or you’re sporting flip-flops, a band shirt and messy I-just-surfed hair, everyone in Charleston has their own distinct style. Nowadays, more men are taking a look in the mirror and are really thinking about their appearance. A couple of those guys are Zac Mallard and Josh Ratliff.
     Mallard is a tall, athletic College of Charleston art school graduate with untamed black hair and piercing dark eyes to match. He just broke into the fashion game and walked for Charleston Fashion Week for the first time.
     Ratliff, on the other hand, is a young veteran. A slender spitfire. He’s worked with Charleston Fashion Week for more than years and for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York before that. He is currently a contributing fashion editor at the Post & Courier.

     They each recently sat down with Pluff's Justin Brewer to talk men's fashion.

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Brewer: Where do you shop and why?

Mallard: I got this sweatshirt at Family Dollar. I got this thermal at Family Dollar. I feel like the most important things for dressing as a man are having really basic clothes that complement your body shape. Accessories are what sets everything off, and they can complete your look.

I get my accessories at JLINSNIDER.

Ratliff: I like estate sales and thrift stores. Thrift stores just because who knows, hell, you might find whatever. It could be anything. Random shit that you like for super cheap. The thrift shop is your best friend; it's not your enemy.

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Brewer: What is your favorite piece of clothing?

Mallard: These black jeans I got from my roommate made by UJ from Japan. The fit is killer. Then, I have a pair of Cole-Haan & Reid black military boots. Sounds like a law firm. They are very simply but interestingly detailed. Understated.

Ratliff: Oh, my gosh. I don’t know.

Brewer: Let’s say your home was burning down. What would you run back in for?

Ratliff: I have this vintage London fog fur jacket that I feel like I would lunge for. I love fur. I could be naked, and that is one thing I would just have to take with me.

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Brewer: If you’re moving to Charleston, what’s the one piece of clothing you think is essential?

Mallard: One thing that you can get away with in Charleston is having really short shorts. Like, stupid short. So, if that’s your style, go ahead and buy some short shorts. And a bowtie. Being in South Carolina, you have to have some kind of bowtie. You just have to.

Ratliff: A tank top. I don’t even own one. I hate them, but that’s the one thing I’ve seen here in season and out of season. Everyone here does the tank top thing. A tribal printed tank top.

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Brewer: When did you start to care how you dressed?

Ratliff: My sophomore year of high school. The night that I was supposed to perform, my tux was late and I panicked, because I spent hours picking that tux out and I was not going on that stage until I got that tux. My friends were all trying to get me a different tux or saying I could borrow theirs and I was like, no, mine is fabulous, it has a cummerbund. I threw a bitch fit and wouldn't perform until it got there.

Mallard: One of  the first moments I remember caring about men's clothing was going in B ZAR. It’s closed now but it was on Upper King and they had Nudie jeans. They were raw denim and they were my first pair of high-end fashion ever and that’s when I started dealing with the counter-culture of men’s fashion.

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Brewer: That’s interesting that you call it a counter-culture. Why?

Mallard: When you talk to girls about clothes, you can assume that they care and they have some knowledge about it. With dudes you have to actually be active in finding out what’s out there. I spent a week watching the runway shows from Milan on the Internet, but it’s all women.  Basketball is huge in America, but if you’re playing women’s basketball you have to go the extra mile to find out about it because it is still a male-dominated sport.

Men’s fashion is the same way.

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Brewer: Do you think men’s fashion is a counter culture, Josh?

Ratliff: It’s a hard question because it’s growing so much. People don’t put emphasis on it when women shop, but when men shop it is more of an investment. If he buys something, it needs to last. It’s changing. Being a well-dressed man is  kind of the thing right now. In America, it’s been put on the back end for so long. Before, when you saw a well-dressed man, you always thought, is he gay? Is he going to church? Is it a funeral? What’s the deal with him? But in other countries it is more common for men to be well-dressed and cutting edge.

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Brewer: Zac, you walked in Fashion Week for the first time. Do you feel at a disadvantage in a predominantly female industry?​

Mallard: No, I feel like we have it so much easier because we have a smaller pool. Being a male and trying to enter the game at 23 is something I wouldn’t be able to do as a girl.


​Brewer: Where would you recommend men shop in Charleston?

Ratliff: I’m starting to get into the sneaker boutiques on King Street. It is a great step up from guys just wearing jeans and a shirt. I like SneakerFF and Continuum Skate Shop for sneakers. Even women are dumping their stilettos for a nice wedge, cut-out sneaker. It’s fashion. It’s moving.

PHOTO BY JONATHAN BALLIET

Zac Mallard

 PHOTO BY  D'YANIS SAMUEL

Josh Ratliff

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