Other than this one entry a few years ago, I seldom think about, read about, or write about anything to do with fashion or style. To be truthful about the matter, I have to admit that I've supposed that the time-honored, comfortable aging preppie with outdoorsman tendencies look that I've settled into is largely above reproach.
Then, a while back, while reading the Boston Globe, I noticed a photograph of an older male modeling an outfit. "Gee, that kind of looks like me," I thought, fully expecting the accompanying article to heap praise upon the outfit's timeless appeal.
However, to my chagrin, the writer--some graceless whelp named Christopher Muther--had done the opposite. The article was headed "Oh, no he didn't!" and was aimed directly at guys like me who have "all but given up on their appearance."
His first target was my jeans. Calling them "dad jeans", he criticized their color (too light) and their cut (nondescript). He made the sarcastic observation that they were "even sexier when worn with white sneakers." What? My New Balance 601's are no longer cool? I hunt all over for those things. He went on to propose that guys like me go out and buy some "dark rinse" jeans. Bull. We sat out stone-washed and acid washed, and we'll sit out dark rinse, too.
Then the temerarious twit went on to my khakis. Oblivious of their undiminished stylishness, he seemed to think that the only reason to wear pleated khakis was as a backdrop for the old guy cell phone holster, sardonically pointing out that modern cell phones like the Blackberry are "small enough to fit in your pocket." But, ha! The joke's on him! I not only don't have a Blackberry, I have--when I remember to carry it--a Tracfone, which fits snugly into my Swiss Army phone holster. How cool is that?
Mr. Muther concludes that guys like me seem to feel that 2002 was a very good year, and we're going to keep reliving it. 2002? That just happened. How about 1992? Or '82? Now you're talkin'.
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13 comments:
"Graceless whelp"! I love it.
As one currently sitting out the exceptionally silly "low rise jeans + extremely pointy shoes with extremely high heels" trend, I sympathize.
My time honored winter look -- turtleneck + fleece vest + jeans + Bean boots -- is similarly derided lately. It's not as if I'm wearing elastic waist jeans halfway up my torso, either. Just normal jeans, which are now called "classic," meaning "a bone thrown to all the poor schleps who believe they look just fine thanks, but for whom there is no real hope of true stylishness."
A pox on them all. Don't budge, man. You look great.
Don't hate me if somehow I feel better that there is such as thing as "Dad jeans", you see, I am constantly made fun of for wearing my "Mommy jeans" and well, you know misery loves company and all that jazz. I say they're jealous.
I think you look just fine. Of course this is coming from a woman whose hair the 80's won't let go of!
No, really. Who really cares? I mean the people that you know and love care about you NOT about your sense of fashion, which changes with the wind.
Long live New Balance sneakers! :)
I meant that fashion changes with the wind, not that YOU fashion sense changes with the wind. I should read before I hit post. :)
Ok, now for the third time. YOUR fashion sense. YOUR.
::slaps forehead and slinks away:::
Wear what you like, the fashions change like the wind....He probably has some interest in the fashion industry and if he gets everyone to where what he thinks is appropriate he gets a cut of the money they spend. LOL
It seems that we are both suddenly taken with wardrobe as self-definition. Your reflection at least exudes your consummate sense of humor while mine reeks of this awful place in which I find myself.
Even here, however, and like Kathleen, I presume, I find the "aging preppie with outdoorsman tendencies" look irresistible.
That was one of the best entires on sartorial splendor I've read to date.
It's a certain kind of guy thing, I think, picking a look and sticking with it over the centuries. I admire a guy who can stick to his guns, no matter how much Carson Kressley threatens in the dressing room. Turk, who just let go of his Members Only jacket in last month's big clear-out and doesn't even own a mobile of any kind (he's afraid someone will...call) likes to go out to every dinner looking like he's about to tee off between courses. He hears and feels your pain ~ graceless whelp indeed! I, like Kathleen, think you look just fine. You rock that phone holster!
Ditto, from the pics I've seen, you look just fine. I love my faded jeans...
We are the flower children...always will be. We walk to our own music. the good news is that we have the freedom to dress and think as we choose. we give you the readers that permission as well. It is always there if you can focus. Life is about what you project, not what you conform to.....feel the freedom.
Thanks for the laugh and for your note of condolence, Paul.
It's all very nice of you to defend my brother on this issue, but come on he really does need a serious makeover.
doubt if the man would like my attire much either, but like everything else in my life it is ever changing, even if it is so gradual that a casual observer may not notice.
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