*SUBSTACK PREVIEW* Motion Politics

Summary

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Throwing Fits: SUBSTACK PREVIEW Motion Politics

Hosts: James Harris & Lawrence Lassman
Date: September 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, James Harris and Lawrence Lassman riff on “motion politics” during and after New York Fashion Week, offer playful critiques of intergenerational trends, and dive into a classic “fit check” dissecting their personal style and wardrobe choices. The conversation flows from fashion show shenanigans and collab overload, to the subtler language of friendship and nostalgia, all delivered in their signature irreverent, self-effacing tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mythology of “The Shocker” & Intergenerational Urban Legends

• The hosts open with banter about the crude hand gesture, “The Shocker,” questioning its place in current youth culture.
• The discussion turns to urban legends like the “Marilyn Manson rib story,” noting how certain myths fail to cross generations.
• Notable riffing on the absurdity and performativity of these legends.
  • Quote:
    • “The Shocker might be one of those things that isn’t like intergenerational, like Marilyn Manson removing a rib to suck his own dick.”—Lawrence Lassman (02:00)

2. New York Fashion Week Antics & Collab Culture

• James recounts an outfit from the IDKNY pop-up: “two belts, five sneakers, three Telfar bags... crop tops, crop pants.” (01:44)
• The duo jokes about the saturation of brand collaborations and how brands like Barstool Sports and Philips Norelco are now partners.
  • Quote:
    • “Barstool Sports, Phillips Norelco. Seems pretty...”—James Harris (03:56)
  • Lawrence: “No, it’s mad normal. That makes total [sense]... Right? Versus, like, whatever, Raytheon, Labubu, Raising Canes—three-way collab.” (04:01)
• Speculates tongue-in-cheek about the logical extremes of cross-industry collaborations. (04:01–04:11)

3. Fit Check: Outfits, Brands & Affiliation

Lawrence’s Look (04:23–07:34)

• Describes his “substitute teacher” vs. “Jeffrey Epstein swag” (04:32)
  • Quote:
    • “You look like... This is Jeffrey Epstein swag.”—James Harris (04:32)
• Vintage pieces and high-low combos: vintage Armani sport coat, Levi’s 501s, Shiro socks, Mon Italy belt, Colbo shirt.
• Riffs on “Shiro” socks—the name, origin, and meaning.
  • Notable Moment: Learning that “Shiro means white” (07:01)

James’s Fit (08:12–10:17)

• Legaches “elf shoes” with Heelys, Bombas socks, Generica pants (“fatigues” vs. “chinos” debate), Our Legacy shirt (with backstory—nephew’s vomit christened it).
• Wardrobe malfunction followed by style improvisation; belts holding up sized-down pants, and the fate of a choker belt.
• Quote:
  • “This is the shirt that was blessed with my nephew’s vomit the first time I ever met him.”—James Harris (10:17)

4. Sizing, Quality, & Retail Experience (09:43–10:03)

• Discusses the importance of “sizing down” for brands like Generica; “vanity sizing” in menswear.
• Expresses a yearning for physical retail—touching fabrics, feeling the “weights,” and seeing patterns in person.
  • “Real shoppers want to get their hands on the textiles and feel the weights and see the chevrons and the stripes and the herringbones.”—James Harris (09:37)

5. Relationships, Nostalgia, & Tone

• Friendship and affection for small brands are layered with irreverence and inside jokes.
• The “politics” of friendship and motion—teasing references to the episode’s theme (“motion politics,” “friendship politics”).
• References to “walking the runway,” “sneaking into private events,” and their own awkward, authentic presence among the fashion crowd.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:00] Lawrence Lassman: “The Shocker might be one of those things that isn’t like intergenerational, like Marilyn Manson removing a rib to suck his own dick. Like, I don’t think that made it to Gen Z.”
• [04:32] James Harris: “You look like... This is Jeffrey Epstein swag.”
• [07:01] James Harris: “Oh, shit means—Shiro means white.”
• [10:17] James Harris: “This is the shirt that was blessed with my nephew’s vomit the first time I ever met him.”
• [09:37] James Harris: “Real shoppers want to get their hands on the textiles and feel the weights and see the chevrons and the stripes and the herringbones.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:55 – Episode kicks off: banter, setup, and cast introductions
• 01:36 – Discussion of generational cultural transmission (“The Shocker,” Marilyn Manson)
• 01:44 – James recounts NY Fashion Week outfit at IDKNY pop-up
• 03:31 – Barstool Sports x Philips Norelco: making sense of odd collabs
• 04:23 – Lawrence & James begin detailed “fit check”
• 07:10 – “Friendship politics,” “motion politics,” and a deeper dive into socks
• 09:23 – Generica pants, vanity sizing, and retail experience
• 10:17 – Nephew’s vomit and stories behind favorite wardrobe pieces

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Episode’s Tone & Style

Freewheeling, self-deprecating, playful, knowingly referential, and peppered with in-jokes and occasional edgy humor. Both hosts display deep affection for the details of subculture and fashion while being intensely skeptical (and comedic) about the industry and their own place within it.

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Takeaway

This Throwing Fits episode is a snapshot of modern male friendship and style critique, defined by irreverence, deep knowledge of fashion niches, and a willingness to poke fun at themselves, their friends, and the entire culture industry. “Motion politics” is less about literal movement and more about how subcultures, nostalgia, and fashion trends shift and recycle through the male zeitgeist.

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Transcript

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[Mayra Amit]

From Mark who I just want to thank you for making GLP1s affordable. What would have been over $1,000 a month is just $99 a month with Moji. Money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight. Three months in and I have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet. You're the best. Thanks, Mark. I'm Mayra Amit, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

[James Harris]

Mark is a Mochi member, compensated for his story Throw gang. We are joined by Silk. He loves the Shaka, Lawrence Lassman and myself, the pointy toed titan, James Harris. Welcome to the weekly Running the Boys.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Which today's full episode only available on www.ThrowingFits.com.

[James Harris]

He'S wearing a silk tie, folks.

[Lawrence Lassman]

It's funny you say that because I am dressed like a public defender substitute teacher that would be unceremoniously fired for shocking a student. Yeah, I just. I hadn't read it, so I heard it when everyone else heard it. And that's a bit. That's a lot.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Do you think people still know or like, that's like a thing with kids or is it like six, seven? The Shocker?

[Lawrence Lassman]

I don't think it's on the level of. Of 6, 7. That is a really good song though, dude. That, you know, just blipped on the highway.

[James Harris]

Yeah, yeah. No, when I was at the IDKNY pop up wearing two belts, five sneakers, three telfar bags with my fellow Gen Z New York Fashion Week homies. Yeah. Crop tops. Crop pants. Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah, bro. Yeah.

[Lawrence Lassman]

The Shocker might be one of those things that isn't like intergenerational like, like Marilyn Manson removing a rib to suck his own dick. Like, I don't think that like made it to Gen Z. Right. Certain things I feel like Manson, what's up?

[James Harris]

Not Marilyn Manson.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Well, I mean, they're wearing the Shirt. But they've never heard five songs. They've never.

[James Harris]

They've never removed five ribs.

[Lawrence Lassman]

They've never heard of him suck his own dick.

[James Harris]

I feel like those that don't know. Two in the pink, one in the stink.

[Lawrence Lassman]

All right, dude, this is in front of the.

[James Harris]

Two in the goo, one in the poo.

[Lawrence Lassman]

No one's ever actually done it.

[James Harris]

No. For sure. It's just like a lobster claw. That's a different story.

[Lawrence Lassman]

The claw, the lot. First of all, lobster's claw doesn't look like this.

[James Harris]

What does it look like?

[Lawrence Lassman]

Like this. This is the lobster claw. That would be. Yeah, I guess. Well, think about. Yeah. This is.

[James Harris]

Go home and try it on yourself.

[Lawrence Lassman]

This has already gotten way, way away from a long day.

[James Harris]

I have my. My.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah.

[James Harris]

How's my beard look? Because I was trimming up the. Trimming up the follicles. All 16 of them. In the office bathroom today before the photo shoot. Yeah, because I didn't have time.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Let me see your razor.

[James Harris]

I never time before. Well, first of all, it's in.

[Lawrence Lassman]

You ever use that on your balls?

[James Harris]

No, I haven't. It's on the good art Hollywood bag, so. You're classy.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah.

[James Harris]

This is the.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Oh, right.

[James Harris]

Philips Norelco Oneblade.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Well, they don't sponsor the show, so we don't need to get.

[James Harris]

This is. This is generic razor, you know, with the attachments.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Oh, it does.

[James Harris]

Yo, this is crazy. I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna grab something. Okay, what are you gonna grab? I'm pretty sure that I ordered this off of Amazon and it arrived. Oh, is it. It arrived in.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah.

[James Harris]

Packaging that was like. This is the Barstool Sports exclusive Philips Norelco collab.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Sick, dude. Hell yeah, bro. We love collabs on this show. Even if it's with bar stool sports. Well. Well, what should we talk about? Like, how collab, like our collab. Could they get even more out of control than what we already experienced this past week at near Fashion Week? Like, at what point? I don't know.

[James Harris]

Barstool Sports, Phillips Norelco. Seems pretty.

[Lawrence Lassman]

No, it's mad normal. That makes total.

[James Harris]

I guess so.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Right? Versus, like, whatever. Raytheon, Labubu.

[James Harris]

Raising.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Raising canes. Three way collab. Why don't you talk about what we're getting into this week? I think we're.

[James Harris]

Oh, sorry, my bad.

[Lawrence Lassman]

No, no, my bad.

[James Harris]

Before we get into walking the Runway at a New York Fashion Week fashion show. Motion politics. Great phrase. Yeah, that's the title. Unsuccessfully sneaking private events. Let's get into a fit check.

[Lawrence Lassman]

All right, so, right.

[James Harris]

We're.

[Lawrence Lassman]

I don't know, you're dressed pretty normal, and I guess I am in my mind, but I feel like maybe people are wondering. We had a little photo shoot.

[James Harris]

You look like. Yeah, it's. This is Jeffrey Epstein swag.

[Lawrence Lassman]

You think so?

[James Harris]

Sport coat.

[Lawrence Lassman]

The jeans, the sport coat that I'm not wearing, you'll see in the picture is Rolex. Yeah, it's vintage Armani.

[James Harris]

Slick back hair. Is this the vin? Is this your favorite?

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah, that's the one. Which is like from maybe that era that. I don't know when Epstein really started putting in that work, but this is like. Yeah, like I said, it's sometime mid late 80s, maybe early 90s. You know, it's funny that you're not a historian.

[James Harris]

You're like, oh, I'm dressed like a substitute teacher. And I'm like, you kind of dress like Jeffrey Epstein. People forget he was a high school math teacher.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah, that's. That's where he got the taste, you know? Well, I guess you're. You're born. It's. It's. It's. Is it nature? Is it nurture? This is nature.

[James Harris]

Yeah, I think it's nature.

[Lawrence Lassman]

With that said, if that's your nature, working at a high school, probably not good for nurturing that bad shit.

[James Harris]

That nurturing. Good for the nature.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Exactly what you're wearing. Okay, so that was a sport coat. Not going to wear it on pod Might be a little hot, but. Yeah. We were doing a photo shoot and this is what I wore to the photo shoot. We have on the second layer boots that have made a bunch of appearances lately because they are fucking fantastic. Oh, the dress socks. Shout out fucking Shiro. Best new dress socks in the game. This is a newly added product. Nice to the repertoire. Could not come more highly recommended from yours truly. From Hong Kong or they're Japanese, the homie is definitely. You can't say.

[James Harris]

Can you say far East?

[Lawrence Lassman]

Do you say that?

[James Harris]

East Asian somewhere. You gotta say far east, bro.

[Lawrence Lassman]

It's somewhere far out from the Orient somewhere. No, and I feel bad. Yeah, I think it's. It's like, is it a Hong Kong? Is it Singapore?

[James Harris]

Singapore?

[Lawrence Lassman]

I don't know. All I know is friend of me, friend of the show.

[James Harris]

Not that great of a friend.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Some of the best socks in the game. Shadow Shiro. I know you're not offended by anything we said because you're the fucking man and you make great socks and that's what fucking.

[James Harris]

What's his name.

[Lawrence Lassman]

The jeans are. What a friend.

[James Harris]

What a friend. Lord.

[Lawrence Lassman]

It just. It's Shiro.

[James Harris]

Oh, okay.

[Lawrence Lassman]

No, it's. I don't think it is. What is she. What does Shiro mean? Does that something that rec. That you know the meaning of sounds Japanese.

[James Harris]

Shiro.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Shiro san. Yeah. I don't. I don't. I hope it is. But what's. What. It's important. Don't get. Don't get caught up in the guys. It's.

[James Harris]

Oh, shit means. Shiro means white.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Well, there are white socks that. The socks are fantastic. That is the point. Let's not bury the lead with all these. With these politics. Let's get out. We don't.

[James Harris]

With these friendship politics.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah. With these motion politics. The jeans are vintage Levi's 501s. The belt is Mon Italy. The shirt is Colbo, who will be talking a bunch about later. The beater. Because the shirt can be a little see through. I didn't know what the lighting situation was going to be, so I'm like wanted to. I wanted to keep the pepperonis wrapped for freshness. So.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Smoke the meats.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Haynes beater. The tie is the tie I talked about that came in super clutch at my boy Matt's wedding.

[James Harris]

It's nice and fat.

[Lawrence Lassman]

It is. That's. That's why I really like it. To me it's. It is a fat, elegant silk knit tie from Howard Yontz. I think the website is still up. If you order something from said website, I don't know if that's gonna like make its way to you. So let the. May the buyer beware. But it's still active in some places. Rolly on the wrist. Wedding around the fingy wifey on the pinky. Chrome on the other hand, Lower east side's finest in the hydro flask. Violet licorice, slim zins.

[James Harris]

James the elf shoes with the heelys are our legaches. I think the cipher loafer. The socks are bomba socks. The pants are genetic. I finally got my pair of your favorite fatigues. Right.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Do they have. They don't have the patch pocket though.

[James Harris]

Oh, okay. So the. Are they. So are they not fatigues?

[Lawrence Lassman]

I don't. I think. I don't know. I think technically not. Those are just like chinos, but they have this.

[James Harris]

Is this chevron? Is this or herringbone?

[Lawrence Lassman]

That is a striped. Neither. It's just like. It's striped with then like just some hatch marks in it.

[James Harris]

All right. What it do.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah, chevron is like. Like this. Like the.

[James Harris]

Oh, right.

[Lawrence Lassman]

You know, from, from, you know, this to this to this to this to this.

[James Harris]

Yo, yo. I hit it with.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Hit it with the yvl. I hit it with the yvl. Damn. Yo, yo, baby, baby girl, you're trimming, you know, because she trimmed with the. See where I'm going when you have.

[James Harris]

To explain the jokes by bar School sports razor.

[Lawrence Lassman]

When you explain the joke, that's how you know it's good.

[James Harris]

Yeah, but these are fantastic. Shout out Generica. I would love to. I gotta hit up Jesse. I'd love to know where I can get my hands on some Generica in New York.

[Lawrence Lassman]

What? Yeah, I don't know.

[James Harris]

The store in Stockholm. I think I said this was swarmed with customers. It is.

[Lawrence Lassman]

They're next up.

[James Harris]

For real. They are making fun stuff.

[Lawrence Lassman]

I just. Yeah, the web, the website, obviously. But like. Yeah, but of course, yeah.

[James Harris]

Real shoppers want to get their hands on the textiles and feel the weights and see the chevrons and the stripes and the herringbones.

[Lawrence Lassman]

And in my experience, big. I don't know if you can attest this big size down situation.

[James Harris]

Yeah, I mean, I, I.

[Lawrence Lassman]

It's vanity size.

[James Harris]

I am holding these up with a. Our Legacy Workshop belt. It's confirmed. A belt, not a choker. Well, be.

[Lawrence Lassman]

What did you do? What did you do with that? What ended up happening?

[James Harris]

It's just like, it's just like hanging on my.

[Lawrence Lassman]

So you didn't return it? You still have it?

[James Harris]

That. No, because like returning to Sweden's a.

[Lawrence Lassman]

If you had rocked that to the IDK party, no one would have even batted an eye.

[James Harris]

No, they'd be like, really, bro? Only one choker?

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah. What are you doing? Come on, uncle. We need more chokers.

[James Harris]

The shirt is our legacy as well. This is the shirt that was blessed with my nephew's vomit the first time I ever met him.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Beautiful.

[James Harris]

No, sorry. Liquid.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Christened with liquid.

[James Harris]

Yeah, Liquid swords.

[Lawrence Lassman]

What do you say to the dry cleaner when you bring a shirt covered in liquid?

[James Harris]

My brother and sister in law just threw it in the washer dryer like immediately.

[Lawrence Lassman]

And it didn't get up.

[James Harris]

It kind of did, but in a way that like made it. It's so silk, so it kind of made it more like matte.

[Lawrence Lassman]

I really, really like that shirt.

[James Harris]

Yeah. Thank you. Because, yeah, it used to be a little like, I want to see like a little shiny now. It has this like tackiness feel to it too. Like someone got up in the washer dryer. But hey, that's called our legacy Workshop from Ol to olws.

[Lawrence Lassman]

Yeah, the the internal properties of the fabric probably have changed when you throw silk in a washing machine with detergent. Yeah, well you had no choice.

[James Harris]

Fabric weigh in.

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