Vincent said:
What do you prefer to wear?
Loose fitting clothes that are pastels or grey to try and become invisible?
How many people wear bright vibrant colours like yellow, red or orange?
I have darker clothes, but I realise by wearing too much black it just draws more attention. I guess really I should wear similar clothes to others to be most at ease. But, that would be offensive to a need for self expression and differentiating myself from others.
Hey Vincent,
Haven't seen you for a while buddy. Still in Thailand?
You pose an interesting question, as I'm sure a lot of people on this forum are perhaps more interesting than the majority of society and perhaps more inclined to want to express that in their choice of clothes yet at the same time there is the dillema that at the same time they are perhaps more likely to want to blend into the background and not draw any un-needed attention to themselves
I've been guilty of a lot of fashion crime, often influenced by my spiritual beliefs at the time as well as my emotions. I've outlined them below into the following stages
Depressed Christian From age to 16 - 18 I almost exclusively wore one of many bright Hawaian shirts loosely over the top of a plain tshirt and plain trackpants, jeans or trousers. I nearly always carried a standard WW2 issue gasmask bag and nearly always wore a 1920s/30's style "grandfather hat"
I wore what I did to avoid persecution by my christian peers and fit into my christian families idea of what a respectable teenager should wear. at the time if anyone asked me why I always wore a post Edwardian style hat I would always answer that I liked it cause it was old fashioned, or that I had came across it by chance but in honesty I wore it cause I felt like I was going through the great depression. With only a few exceptions I managed to resist the temptation to actually wear the gaskmask.
Post Christian Anti-Socialite By the age of 18 I was somewhat sick of people and frustrated by my failed attempts to form relationships. My clothes reflected this and were rather varied.
I would wear dark suits and waistcoasts at the most innapropriate events. When I went to church I would usually dress like it was a funeral, not to draw attention to myself but because that was how I felt.
The grandfather hat stayed and would often have a matching tweed jacket or trench coat but I only wore the hawaiian shirt when I watched "Pearl Harbor" too many times
My clothes got progressively darker as I became less afraid of wearing clothes that matched my feelings and less sensitive of the judgement of my christian peers
Jack the Ripper Meets Film Student Age 19/20 for about a year I wore trench coats nearly every day and a tall black tophat. Perfect for roaming around the Victorian era allyways behind film school
was probably about then that I realised that clothes can say "dont fuck with me" and dress sense became a perfect oppurtunity to reject not only modern popular culture/fashion but also misguided religious misfits
Dark Night By the age of 21 nearly all my clothes were dark and all rather plain. I no longer wanted to draw unwanted attention by wearing my tophat or coats but at the same time didnt feel like wearing bright cheery clothes that misrepresented how I felt. Life was a charade enough as it was and I didnt need to add fake clothes to the mix.
Working night shifts for a year didnt help, black was perfect for me, I could melt into the shadows on my way too and from work and it was if I scarecly existed. After I finished working I spent about six months in my room, wearing exclusively black, again only leaving the house occasionly at night and dissapearing into the shadows. My clothes reflected this as well as how I felt inside.
Formal Gothic/Current Things have changed somewhat in recent years with a change for the better in my career.
I still wear dark clothes but more formal and less eccentric. Black formal trousers, black formal dress shirt, dress shoes or lace up military boots, old black almost Victorian style jacket. I can now slide into a boardroom meeting in an acceptable manner yet still melt into the alleyways and bars at night and look very much in place with the 19th century architecture as my backdrop
What I'd like to wear If I was more confident with my looks, was in better shape and wasnt so afraid of the extra attention then I think I would inject a bit more Victorian/Gothic and possibly even Rock/Punk style into my clothes. I'd wear my pocket watch and tophat from time to time, perhaps a few more slightly elaborate shirts, a trench coat again, maybe even the old 1860s policeman's tunic I have in my wardrobe.