agrammar:

… stemming, as is probably obvious, from this Decibel bit on Urban Outfitter’s “Classic Rock Boyfriend Tee.”

1. Just so I don’t sound nuts, let me say that I do understand what the marketing category of “boyfriend” clothes is trying to conjure: some kind of insouciant grace where you’re just so fabulous that you can throw on other people’s too-large clothing and look all casual and smashing in it. Plus maybe boyish in that one small way it’s considered feminine to be boyish. Personally, I own some roll-neck cardigans that are this close to being advertised as “great-uncle” sweaters — it’s not like I don’t get the thrust of this stuff.
2. Note that this insouciant grace, “boyfriend”-wise, requires you to be really thin and feminine from the get-go, because if that “boyfriend blazer” looks like it actually suits you, suddenly you’re “butch” instead. The society-approved feminine-boyish zone is awfully exclusive, body-wise — it wants you to be so small and feminine that the large men’s-clothing item actually contrasts and accentuates those qualities. (It’s also, significantly, not aimed at much of anyone above the age of 25 of so.)

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