About a Wardrobe: A Rising Faction (Sometimes I Pretend to Have Style)
July 26th, 2009I’m a huge geek. I love to live on the cutting (sometimes uncomfortable) edge of technology. I know tons of computer-related information, and don’t make an effort to hide it. This is a huge part of my personality, but there are certain related stereotypes (read: nerd) that I actively attempt to avoid. Enter: acne treatment, spending time in the sun, working out, and (more recently) attempting to dress fashionably. I approach style from a more scientific angle. I might notice an feature or way to wear an article of clothing that I have identified as "cool," and work from I know about simple style generalizations. Of course I always go shopping with at least one girl whose taste I trust.
I love to document, so here I go.
I noticed today that there is an immerging schism in the different types of clothes I have. There are some new clothes, "the new style," which are significantly outnumbered my old clothes, "the old style." Today I conscientiously dressed in "the old style."
Notice the baggy pants, key on the belt loop, and a graphic T with a geek appeal. What kind of underwear am I wearing? It doesn’t matter because I’m a nerd and no one will see it unless the bully depantses me in the hallway.
Tonight I found some preppy clothes that I had worn the previous Friday. This would be the "new style".
Notice the well-fitting low-rise boot-cut jeans… with boots. Then I have the nice shirt that says, "I dress myself." And what’s that? I do think I see a hint of a preppy label above that white cotton belt. My problem here is that, well-dressed or not, I look like a huge prick.
This is interesting, because with “the old style,” I felt comfortable that people wouldn’t assume I was a jerk, but I also felt that they would assume I was a nerd. With “the new style,” I feel confident they wouldn’t assume I was a nerd, but also feel that I might come off as a jerk. Clearly I must find a balance or stop caring.
This is more an interesting process for me than anything else. I feel like I’m dressing an avatar of myself for a website more than actually going out in new clothes… which is good, because I’m not going to take offense if a friend tells me I look stupid. Quite the opposite, I think it’s really interesting to hear what other people think. I always mean to strive to try new things, so hopefully this will give me some useful insights into another subculture at the very least. The journey is more important than the destination anyway…
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“New style” is definitely better if you follow these simple pieces of advice:
- Button up your shirt. Leave only the top button open. And don’t even think about showing off your underwear like that. The buttons down there are not supposed to be open either.
- Decide whether your sleeves should be rolled up or down. That in-between thing you’ve got going is not cool.
That’s it, really.
heh, Thanks, Casper. I’m pulling away from the “American Eagle” style… honestly those guys look like assholes, and there’s no way to justify that. Plus, well… AE is for people who want to be fashionable but aren’t actually. The clothes themselves are still nice… no overt AE logos anyway.