Coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg, “third places” are public spaces that are neither work nor home, but a neutral environment in which social interactions take place. Third places can be cafes, bars, and social areas, such as parks and markets. Los Angeles is a buzzing city, filled with endless coffee shops, music venues and places to hangout. Third places have existed without their official categorization for as long as people have joined together for the sake of creating community. So what’s the deal with casual fashion in Los Angeles?
Third places are becoming increasingly necessary in a post-pandemic society, where people are seeking social spaces to create and re-establish connections after years of distancing. Perhaps the style adopted in Los Angeles’ third places can tell us what “casual fashion” means today, in a city that is constantly evolving and forming around the creations of its citizens.
Casual or “third place” fashion remains undefined by buzzwords and categories. This is unlike the current urge to aestheticize the various spheres of our lives, such as “office-core” for work style and “athleisure” for athletic fashion. Casual or third-place fashion is completely subjective because everyone’s idea of casual is particular to them.
LA is a cultural hub where the entertainment and music industries have always thrived. It is a diverse community of musicians, artists, actors, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Fashion and personal style are inescapable here.
As a Los Angeles native, I can’t help but notice the overuse of yoga pants, hoodies, and big T-shirts worn in spaces where communities merge. While this might be especially true for the Westside, where beach towns such as Santa Monica and Venice are privy to the calmness of seaside living, I can’t help but question if personal style is on the decline in LA’s most sociable areas.
To get a better idea of what “third-place” fashion is and what other folks think about the fashion in LA’s hangout culture, I spoke to people in various third places whose outfits stood out to me.
Hitting the streets of LA
At Bodega Wine Bar in Santa Monica, I met with Ally Mathieu. Ally is an artist and the owner of Paint: Lab, a community art studio that offers classes for children and adults. She wore black skinny jeans with studded details, a white long-sleeve body suit, a newly thrifted vest, green mules, a metallic baguette bag, and lots of layered bangles and necklaces.
When asked what her ideal casual outfit is composed of, she said casual outfits for her, as a professional, are “juxtaposing in styles”. This can mean nice pants, tennis shoes, and a funky shirt. She also said that she “tends to gravitate towards streetwear. As opposed to formal wear, the outfit is never uniform in mood.”
Her go-to piece for a night out, if all else fails, is a big funky jacket, or one big statement piece. For her, third-place outfits need to be movable and breathable.
Although her business is close to the beach, she loves to spend time on the Eastside, where she says she sees more fashion-forward people.
Ally gave a shoutout to Los Feliz– everyone wears a nice fit and eclectic jewelry. She also mentioned Silverlake and Echo Park, where music venues and concerts attract those with more spunk in their step.
Ally and I talked a lot about the lack of personal style in Santa Monica’s third places. She expressed similar surprise at the abundance of leggings and T-shirts in spaces where casual fashion could be especially interesting and unique.
Perhaps the third places at our disposal aren’t conducive to more fashionable attire. However, we both agreed that the way we present ourselves aids in the response we get in public.
She curiously begged the question: “Why not put a little bit of time into your clothing? Show up as your full self.. Is your full self really yoga pants?”
Fashion backwards is the new fashion forward
I attended a local concert in Venice, Los Angeles, on a breezy Wednesday night. There, I had the opportunity to speak with Harlan, the lead singer of the band Truckbox.
For the show, Harlan wore his high-waisted Wranglers, a white vintage graphic T-shirt, a varsity cardigan, and black cowboy boots. However, Harlan also builds homes, tailoring his style to be movable when he is working.
Harlan told me he was interested in Western attire for a long time. He said he’d put on some roper boots and a bomber jacket. Recently, he’s more into chunky boots, his go-to pair of Wranglers, a shirt, and a button-down.
I asked Harlan where in LA he sees the most fashion-forward people. His answer: “I like fashion backwards, people.”
He didn’t give me an exact location, but he alluded to his Dad’s style and the fashion “rules” he tends to follow. For instance, he matches his belt to his shoes, and follows other rules such as never wearing blue and black denim together.
I gathered from Harlan that casual fashion isn’t necessarily about wearing the next best thing. Rather, it’s about finding pieces of clothing that speak to our interests and to our personalities.
The main consensus from Harlan is that casual fashion for him must carry a piece of history, and in his words, “I just like old stuff.”
What non-LA natives have to say
I had the pleasure of speaking to Joanne, a 57-year-old mother and wife. Joanne currently lives in San Diego, but has spent time in Los Angeles.
For Joanne, the perfect casual going-out outfit is jeans, a blouse, and an adorable pair of shoes– ideally open-toed and heeled. She said she always centers her outfits around the top and then accessorizes with shoes and jewelry.
I asked Joanne to describe her everyday style and she put it simply: casual elegance.
Joanne expressed similar frustrations to me when it comes to casual fashion. She mentioned how surprising it is that people in LA feel comfortable wearing what she calls “inside clothes”—referring to sweatpants and sweatshirts—outdoors.
In San Diego, where she lives currently, La Jolla and Del Mar stood out to her as fashionable areas. But similarly to LA, there are pockets of town that seem especially lacking in personal style.
For both of us, the million-dollar question remains: what is good casual versus bad casual? Moreover, what does “personal style” mean at this moment in time?
The fashion chopping block
Lastly, I spoke with Dariush, a Los Angeles native born and raised in Santa Monica, like myself. He wore black jeans, a pair of sneakers, a white T-shirt and a vintage leather bomber jacket.
Dariush’s ideal casual outfit has to be comfortable. As he put it, “comfort comes first.” His go-to outfit formula involves pants and a hoodie, but specifically high-quality and structured ones. However, on a night out, he reaches for baggy jeans, a pair of New Balance runners, and a graphic tee or a plain T-shirt.
I asked Dariush where in LA he sees more fashionable people, and he said Sunset Boulevard in Silverlake and Abbot Kinney in Venice. He described the style in these areas as “more creative and out of the ordinary”.
I was most interested in how Dar described his everyday style, or what he wears to third places. He labeled his style as “comfort-modern mixed with a Euro flair”. This is evident in his attention to silhouettes and the structure of his clothing.
I asked him where he sees less personal style in the city, and he said Santa Monica, where the majority of women, in his experience, wear Alo, and men wear baggy cargo sweats and T-shirts.
However, for Dar, sprucing up casual fashion and looking presentable are very important because he never knows who he might bump into in LA. He wants to be prepared to make a good impression on those he encounters.
A snippet of third-place fashion in LA
What resonated most with me in my discussions with Ally, Harlan, Joanne, and Dariush is that casual style is completely subjective, but still requires effort and personal flair. Fashion is not only an expression, but a reflection of one’s values.
The way we present ourselves to the world, though seemingly frivolous, does affect the ways in which others communicate and respond to us.
What constitutes “casual” is constantly evolving and forming person to person. There is no need to put a definite label on “third-place fashion,” or to aestheticize everyday wear for the sake of creating trends.
As third places begin to re-populate across Los Angeles, social gatherings prompt fashionable takes on everyday style, making for a richly diverse and unique conglomerate of outfits, styles, and appearances, despite the occasional yoga pant.
