This thread had pretty impressive legs for a Friday night, yikes!

I had some super insightful and moving thought right as I was going to bed last night I was going to post this morning, but, it's totally vanished. Dammit.

Last edited by Pedro de Mendez (2013-05-04 08:05:34)

I know that a lot of the reasons i dress like I do started with a concept of what I thought was impressive. I think insecurity has to play a part with the suit as psychological armor and a resume for respect by all around you but also a touch of self love and pride, a desire to stand out and be recognized as different and more interesting, successful, well mannered, cultured, and at the same time virile. I say that last part because not only do I think some feminine touches are mandatory to make an outfit more manly but it also depends on what sort of insecurity one faces.

I know that when I was younger, I was probably rougher than usual for my set and compensated with extra preppy gear.

However, I might have been overly harsh on myself because recently I have been around more than my fair share of lower middle class, middle Americans to whom I believe  I come off to as effete. These men believe anything with any color, pattern, style or flair is a sign of god-knows-what but it certainly tortures them to distraction.

One man who is in his 50s actually wears shorts and a t-shirt to his office and thinks he comes off as younger. He finds my clothing fascinating but it is clear it frightens him because he asks me about every reason I wear something all the while telling me how little he cares about clothing. Another man in his seventies actually crawled under a table to get a better look at my red socks and then announced to everyone that I was wearing them. I think he expected a more lively response than he got. To be sure, it was more remarked on that he was crawling around on all fours. Sometimes going after a person's dignity can scuttle your own.


Thus insecurity is relative. For some it may be an attempt to offset a feeling of coarseness and for others it may be a deep seated fear of being mistaken as precious.

I find that the people I need to interact with in real life like the way I dress both men and women and that the people I dont like are repelled by it. Thus, my clothing represents a double value.

One man (who talks about women non stop) hates my Duchamp ties even though he has seen women come over to me again and again saying how much they love them. What can I say, it's like trying to explain Success to Failure.