I
often wonder what people are thinking when they leave their house
in the morning. I mean… geez… at some point these people we are
looking at with disbelief either said or thought something close
to the following:
“Oh
yes, that’s what I wanted. That looks good.”
In
other words, that person you’re looking at actually dressed that
way… fixed their hair that way… teeth, makeup, shoes, and everything
else involved that way… on purpose!
I
suppose there’s no accounting for taste. That would be a simple
explanation. After all, there are people that let children wear
a New York Yankees t-shirt. And not just in private. Not when
doing sweaty, dirty, wear your junk clothes because they’re going
to be destroyed by this work. They wear these Yankees t-shirts
in public. So perhaps this is well beyond understandable thought
and sound decision making. Still…
The
fundamentals of the thought are… they intentionally dressed that
way. Where it gets frightening is when you realize they didn’t
just make their choices and believe they did so without an error.
No. The truly alarming part is that they feel the look they had
when they opened the door and stepped outside was the look they
wanted.
Are
you kidding me?
Hey…
look… I’m not asking for full on conformity or formality.
Jeans
and a t-shirt are the foundation upon which I build my reliable
everyday image. And sure, I get that it’s an amazingly boring
approach.
I
still comb my hair the way I did about thirty years ago. Might
be forty. I long ago gave up on fads and trends and the latest.
None of that worked for me. (And the not working wasn’t even close
to working.) About the only things that have changed over the
years are the number of grey hairs and the idea that it’s a bit
shorter (and gets cut slightly more often).
There
is no way I’ll apologize for that though.
Not
when stylish is something I don’t understand… beginning with the
idea that tucking in the front of a t-shirt while leaving the
rest hanging out is apparently cool. (To me it looks lazy. As
if you thought leaving it untucked looked wrong, but couldn’t
be bothered to invest the energy to fully tuck it in.)
Not
when stylish is something I don’t understand… continuing with
the idea that today’s suits appear to be judged perfectly fitted
when one or two sizes too small.
I’ll
stick with jeans and t-shirts.
And
yet that still beats some of the ideas I see intentionally displayed
on the street, in restaurants and stores, and… where it gets really
funny… in places of business and more formal settings.
There
are certain social moments when we make the jokes that letting
yourself go is acceptable behavior. One such moment is after you
get married, when being attractive to appeal to a potential partner
is no longer important. Another is arriving home after a long
day, thrilled to find some pajamas, when comfort and television
is the goal.
I’ve
found where you live and what you do can influence your decisions
as well. There are differences between working outside or doing
physical things for a living as opposed to commuting with others
in close quarters and setting up shop at a desk all day.
But
those aren’t the decisions that make me laugh, make me shake my
head, or make me realize that we are in fact all quite unique
snowflakes at heart.
And
maybe that’s just it. The unique snowflake part. Because often
when you see those walking fashion question marks, a good portion
of it features items and decisions that go to one extreme or the
other… either caring too much or caring too little.
At
least I hope that’s it. Because the alternative is they really
do think they look good.