Some people obviously don’t understand what we here in Boston recognize as Bruins couture. How else to explain GQ magazine's piece naming Boston not just the worst-dressed city in the country -- worse than Asbury Park, NJ, worse than Buffalo, worse than Wasilla, Alaska -- but “America’s Bad-Taste Storm Sewer: all the worst fashion ideas from across the country flow there, stagnate, and putrefy.”
Among Boston's style offenses, according to GQ: “Branded flip-flops from a Sam Adams giveaway, distressed jeans baggy enough to shelter a family of four, undershirt with vomit stains from latest Boston sporting event, a print collared shirt two sizes two large, hair gel, Boston Red Sox baseball cap.”
As Bostonians absorbed GQ’s sartorial attack, Newbury Street boutique owner and style arbiter Alan Bilzerian saw a compliment in GQ’s attempted insult. “We’re not fashion victims,” he said, “we’re confident enough to dress for ourselves.”
New Yorkers and L.A. residents, he pointed out, are so desperate to dress like everyone else that they’re “always looking over their shoulders to see who has what on.”
Suffice it to say, there’s no fear of that here, or, as GQ so kindly put it: “If you wonder how a people can live like this, well, it's kind of a Jurassic Park for fashion troglodytes.”
Boston wasn't the only major city (or portion of a city) to be attacked for its style on the GQ list of fashion offenders. They ranked Los Angeles No. 2 worst-dressed, right behind Boston, followed by Chicago (No. 4), Manhattan (No. 5), Miami (No. 9), Las Vegas (No. 13), and Cleveland (No. 30).
In case you're wondering, the rest of Massachusetts doesn't emerge unscathed. GQ ranked Martha's Vineyard No. 14.
