Boots (borrowed directly from our cowboy friend)

September 26, 2016 8:50 PM

A week ago GQ published a fashion shoot featuring rock climbers (warning: autoplaying video with sound). Outdoor Research offered its own take.
posted by jedicus (34 comments total)

"Custom hat, $1,400"

Oh, GQ. Bless your little cotton socks custom hat.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:59 PM on September 26, 2016 [9 favorites]

As a climber, the OR version has been making the rounds in my Facebook feed. Some wonderful genderswapping from "Dirtbag Quarterly".

Personally, I know many climbers who Boulder in $8,000 outfits.
posted by misterpatrick at 9:04 PM on September 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

The sum total of my entire wardrobe is less than many of these individual items of clothing. Also, having bouldered in Joshua Tree, I can attest to the fact that none of what there wearing in that GQ shoot would last long between red dirt and rough rocks. I mean... a cardigan? really?

Also seconding the brilliant gender-swapping in the OR piece. Love it.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 9:14 PM on September 26, 2016 [12 favorites]

Personally, I know many climbers who Boulder in $8,000 outfits

But surely those are special bouldering outfits, same way as (I imagine) racecar drivers wear special racecar suits? Not cashmere sweaters.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:57 PM on September 26, 2016

The gratuitous female-skin-flashing in the GQ ad is even more ridiculous than the stupid clothes.
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:02 PM on September 26, 2016 [15 favorites]

PS: Well done, OR.
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:02 PM on September 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

There's nothing inherantly better about spending money on expensive clothes than on expensive excercise experiances - they're both forms of 'vanity'. Rock climbers probably spend as much on that hat as they do on gear. When my friend goes exploring he always wears nice clothes so he looks good in the inevitable Instagram photos.

Though I kept getting confused, since Outdoor Research guys looked really Coachella/boho fashion/Instagram-ready.
I knew a rock climbing guy who built a climbing wall in his garage. That was interesting.

New Yorker just ran a massive article about the founder of Patagonia and his rise from rock climbing guru to fashion kingpin.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:25 PM on September 26, 2016

Oh god I want the At Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace: Blazer, $2,475, (similar style) by Roberto Cavalli / Henley, $1,300, by Dolce & Gabbana / Hat, $249, by Stetson x Buck Mason / Restaurant location Pioneertown, California
. It looks like a very expensive version of something Tim Rogers from You Am I would wear.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:26 PM on September 26, 2016

Literally no one I know has pants that cost $700 but look identical to $50 Gap pants. Who are the people buying $700 pants? Or better yet, what percentage of GQ's audience actually buys $700 pants?
posted by zardoz at 11:18 PM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

The OR people are having just ridiculous amounts of fun -- and they are so much better-looking.

But the weird thing is, the contrast exposes a semi biker gang undertone of violence and viciousness in the GQ shoot that caught me by surprise.
posted by jamjam at 11:33 PM on September 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

aww I know it's for yuks but those OR guys being cute are pretty sweet
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:44 PM on September 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

The climbers I know wear appropriate clothes for rough wear and none of them have $8000 to spend on gear. Love the gender swapping. The GQ bit was just too much for me when I got to the part with the women watching the male climbers on the sidelines. Oh, and the 2,000$ shirts.
posted by branravenraven at 12:13 AM on September 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

the OR piece was exactly perfect. I don' t know anyone who boulders in more than 200euro of gear - and that's ~125 for shoes and the rest is clothing to cover the body, ~75 pants/shorts and a t-shirt. Mind you, I don't go to the 'cool' climbing gym.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:33 AM on September 27, 2016

this works really well if you look at the OR link first. because you're like "ok, so why is this a big deal?" and then you go to GQ and it's like *blam*. ouch.

(also, y'all need to get some better friends. i know someone who gets taken climbing in a friend's private jet. lowlifes.)

ok, so i don't actually know the jet owning friend of the friend myself....
posted by andrewcooke at 3:04 AM on September 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

The gratuitous female-skin-flashing in the GQ ad is even more ridiculous than the stupid clothes.

Yeah, I was like, wtf? Am I back in the 1970's, looking at my brother's secret magazines?

Here's an article about clothing... and here's a Flashdance pic for you to wank to. Because all the best rock climbers, have some arm candy, amirite?
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:27 AM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ruffled dress shirt (part of previous Halloween costume, $15)

Drink if you have ever had a part of a Halloween costume migrate its way into your everyday wardrobe.

*drinks*
posted by Rock Steady at 4:50 AM on September 27, 2016 [26 favorites]

I just started rock climbing (indoors, in way less awesome clothing), and it's really comforting that this is the community's response to stupid stuff like the GQ article! I look forward to someday using my forearms and pincer grasp of steel to mock ridiculous sexism, too.
posted by ChuraChura at 4:52 AM on September 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

Also, what is it with GQ and ridiculous photo shoots? Lin-Manuel Miranda's very nice article was accompanied by the most ridiculous pictures and all I could do was giggle at him and his several thousand dollars worth of pants and baby face.
posted by ChuraChura at 4:53 AM on September 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

OR's response is fantastic.

Climber spaces can be bro-ish, especially bouldering. (I'm a female climber, mostly boulderer, been climbing over a decade. I travel for work so end up in new gyms pretty frequently. If I had a new patagonia shirt for every dumbass bro who has tried to give me beta when I'm just warming up.. well, I'd have a pretty fabulous climbing wardrobe.)
So it's pretty great to see the gender swapping.

That having been said- I am definitely susceptible to marketing aimed at "active women", and I do spend money on gymwear (more than in the OR response, a couple orders of magnitude down from the GQ). And as climbing becomes a more popular sport, I'm not hugely surprised to see it included in marketing crap like this.

I know I'm not the target market here (not being male, and not spending that kind of cash).. but still, this marketing doesn't work if the "active" women in question don't have the musculature to do the activity in question. Turns out bouldering grows you some serious forearms. (My growling here is more about Athleta than it is at GQ.. but still.)
posted by nat at 5:17 AM on September 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

The only thing I previously knew about OR is that their logo is on my hat. It's a hat that looks a lot like what is apparently now sold as the "Seattle Sombrero", except more a lot more shapeless and battered-looking. I got it some time in the 1990's, and it was probably about a decade before I learned what "OR" stood for. It has protected the top of my head from sun, spray, rain, et cetera for literally thousands of hours. It seems to be completely indestructible. It's slightly disconcerting to learn that they have a website and a marketing budget.
posted by sfenders at 5:37 AM on September 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

edgy - mocking fashion editorial.
posted by JPD at 5:55 AM on September 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm glad splitpeasoup called out the irrelevant skin-flashing, and even more happy to see that most everyone who mentioned it pretty much agreed. Glimmer of hope for humanity in a year when we all really need it. Also, commenters didn't end up getting called names... maybe I've been spending too much time in YouTube comments.
posted by Lorem Ipsum Wilder at 6:42 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's reasonable to mock fashion editorials full of beautiful men and the beautiful half naked ladies who love watching them be amazing.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:14 AM on September 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

edgy - mocking fashion editorial.

I guess I'm kinda happy that pushing back on the relentless depiction of women as accessories isn't "edgy" enough these days. That's progress, of a sort.
posted by Etrigan at 7:53 AM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Some of the best climbers in the world right now are women. The OR spread isn't "genderswapping" or "edgy", it's reality vs the GQ fantasy.
posted by gwint at 8:00 AM on September 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

Who are the people buying $700 pants?

I have a pair of $700 pants (and several other pairs of pants that I got for way less but retail for more). They're nice pants!
posted by kenko at 8:12 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Good lord, the GQ shoot is practically NSFW!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:48 AM on September 27, 2016

The OR one is cute but my experience with Joshua Tree is that the GQ one more approximates the culture in terms of guys/ women. There's a lot of assholes and their insecure girlfriends at Joshua Tree, it's kind of famous for drama and assholery. Or it was back in the day.

The OR spoof was definitely conceived by women staffers, is what I'm saying.
posted by fshgrl at 9:20 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I really, really, really loved the contrast between "Stupidly expensive vest, $3500" and "Vest, thrift shop, $5"

Who wore it better? Thrift store for the win.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:43 AM on September 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

There's a time and a place for fashion, maybe, and I don't think rock climbin' with your buds is it. Thanks a lot, social media! Climbing gear is already expensive, and I don't care who has photo proof that I went out this weekend, so I wear the same shit I wore on laundry day.
posted by destructive cactus at 11:39 AM on September 27, 2016

I also have a shapeless and battered-looking OR rain hat. Someday I will embroider "AND" on the other side.
posted by clew at 12:36 PM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'll bet there are some women out there bouldering in $$$ bras, but those are tactical fucking bras, not useless sparkly bikinis. No wonder that girl just took it off in one photo, it doesn't look like it supports anything.

Also, to GQ's credit, that Jimmy Chin is a good looking man. Oof. Objectification achieved.
posted by maryr at 2:14 PM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I really, really, really loved the contrast between "Stupidly expensive vest, $3500" and "Vest, thrift shop, $5"

Who wore it better? Thrift store for the win.

I mean you can get clothes that should be really expensive at thrift shops. That's kinda the point.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:07 PM on September 27, 2016

Good link that shows the pictures side by side.
posted by jillithd at 6:56 AM on September 29, 2016 [1 favorite]