I’ve never been well dressed.
There’s been this mix of apathy, misunderstanding, and a lack of resource in my life that led to an endless stream of stretchy khakis or cords and baggy t-shirts. Giant fuzzy sweaters, loose-hanging, wrinkly dress shirts. Big black tube-socks. I had heard the words of people who cared about fashion, “this is the way you present yourself; it’s the first impression you give, the message you tell the world”, and thought internally, “ha, the message you’re giving off is that you can’t stand on your attributes, so you’ve got to hide behind some ideal of flashy popularity”. What mattered to me was that my clothing was comfortable. That I could go crawl through a sewer or climb up a wall and my shirt could get a bit messed up. If I don’t care what I look like, why should you?
My opinions have been there a long time, and for some reason – likely just increasing maturity – they have been changing. I’m beginning to see the value in having a well made garment. I won’t be suggesting that I am hiding behind a flashy ideal, I’ll just be showing off the fact that I’ve thought about this. If I care how I look, it shows that I’ll also care about other things. The difference in thought has been subtle, but this feels like a sweeping change.
It’s led me to recognize that there is a difference between having a piece of clothing that’s comfortable because it is loose, and one that fits properly. As a child, I likely understood only “too small” or “not too small”, and I certainly didn’t want “too small”.
So, I’ve decided to invest some spare cycles into this. I don’t think I’m going to really take to fashion, per se, but to a pursuit of being well dressed. This means fewer clothes, which fit and look better, which I take better care of. Better care here means “more regular washing/drying and ironing, as opposed to “no longer crawling through sewer grates or climbing up walls.”
Some guidelines occurred to me as a place to start, they are that a good piece of clothing must:
- Be comfortable without being too large.
- Provide some variability or option to the way it is worn, and
- Strike a balance between reality and imagination; because the best artist is in the observer’s mind.
I think that if I can manage to find things that fit those guidelines, I’ll probably look pretty good. Next up is figuring out where and when to buy things.
As my opinion progresses, I’ll keep you posted.