Fashion & Fantasy

I have observed for a while that I seem to have an innate attraction to the fantastic when it comes to fashion. One of my signature pieces is a pair of black leather arm bracers that look like something out of a gladiator match. I frequently wear them in combination with a pair of tall leather black boots (no they're not girl-boots) that look like pirate boots. The combination of the two bring a fantasy element to my outfits that largely creates my style. I usually wear this in contrast to a basic pair of jeans and a button up to bring the outfit back to a wearable level (full ensemble can be seen in the profile picture).
I have wondered for a while what it is that attracts me to the fantastic and recently I think I have come to a conclusion. The truth is, I am sick of reality. Reality is depressing. Reality is not fun. Especially with the obsession in American culture with Reality T.V. shows, gossip columns and the push to use "honesty" on a societal level as means to conflict resolution...I am sick of reality...and this generally reflects in my style. I go well out of my way to delve into "un-realistic" fashions (but of course fusing them with realistic elements to make them wearable and understandable). This is my signature. This is the means I choose to express my emotions and grab onto an outlet outside of reality without actually leaving it.

Interestingly enough, I think that the rest of the
fashion world is beginning to take a turn towards the fantastic as well. The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), down the street from me, just recently did a superhero-themed exhibit and shortly after The Metropolitan Museum of Art did an extensive exhibit on superheroes and the culture surrounding them. Both exhibits contained numerous fashion innovations into the world of superhero fantasy. They provide glimpes of an alternate reality outside of this ugly world, that fascinates so many people.

Another aspect of fantasy, if you will, that I find myself drawn to is exotic foreign fashions. These inspirations are usually derived from non-Western cultures and usually manifest themselves in the form of various Asian and African infusions. Three summers ago, I traveled to India for an altogether mind-blowing experience, while I was there, I picked up a number of eclectic pieces of clothing and accessories (such as the tunic top in the profile picture) and have since incorporated them into my everyday style.
This, although not quite otherworldly or fantastic, I see as another means that I use to leave my American reality and bring some alternate reality to my persona.

As long as our culture continues its obsession with reality, I think the fashion scene will continue to progress in ways that make the beholder feel as though they have risen above the norm.

Uniqlo Skinny Jeans = The New Sex

Dude...they are amazing. Uniqlo's Men's Skinny Fit Tapered Jeans® are, hands down, the best jeans I have ever had. No joke. Being a pretty skinny kid growing up, I always had my clothes falling off my body and it didn't help that I went through a "thug phase" around middle school right when I was growing too fast to fill in. Basically up until this year when I discovered these miraculous jeans, I had never owned a pair of jeans that truly fit me in my entire life. I didn't even realize what I was missing out on because I literally did not know what it felt like to put on a pair of jeans that perfectly fit up until this year. My life will never be the same. I will never go back to my baggy jeans as long as I live (or at least until they come back in style lol).

These jeans are killer! Made with 97% cotton and 3% spandex, they have just enough stretch to perfectly fit the contours of your body yet enough rugged structure so that they're not cutting off your circulation. They allow for a perfect range of motion, are perfectly breathable, and get this: they come in your basic denim, darkwash, white, and grey as well as blue, purple, green, and red! They are sick, seriously! I already have three pairs (darkwash, white, and red) and counting. If you get a chance seriously visit their website (http://www.uniqlo.com/us/). You will not regret buying a pair of these jeans!

The funniest thing is that less than a year ago I was an avid opposer of skinny jeans on men just because I didn't like how they "looked like girl jeans", but that was before I tried a pair of Uniqlo's on and completely changed my opinion of them. Seriously these jeans make me realize how much of a difference, well-fitted clothes make. Honestly, I know this sounds really cheesy, but when I wear my Uniqlo's my confidence boosts. I feel so comfortable in my own skin, simply because they fit so superbly and look so sleek. I have yet to see someone look bad in a pair of Uniqlo's (unless of course they are wearing the wrong size). Skinny people, average people, muscular people, and even chunkier people all look amazing in these jeans just because they work with your proportions so nicely and make you look so natural. I don't know too much about their women's jeans, but from the little I have seen and heard of them, they are incredible as well!

Okay so to backtrack a little bit, for those who are unaware, Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing retailer similar to like an H&M except way better. They have a flagship store (the largest in the world) that opened in 2006 in Manhattan's SoHo district on Broadway, right off the Prince St. MTA stop, right in the heart of SoHo shopping district. They specialize in offering sleek and classy clothes at a very affordable price (their skinny jeans start at $49.99). Their style is something like J-Pop meets hipster, Harajuku meets Williamsburg.

It really is incredible. Not only to they offer an unparalled jeans collection, but they also have countless funky graphic tees, scarfs, blazers, vests, and everything in between. Free same-day alterations are also offered with any of their apparel, which is incredible! The architecture and layout of the store is phenomenal too, making the entire Uniqlo shopping experience incredible. If you are in the city, with 30 minutes to spare seriously hop on the R train and stop in for a couple minutes, you may not be able to tear yourself away but it's definitely worth it.

Case Study No. 1: Cherokee Fusion

A few generations back on my dad's side I have Cherokee (Native American) Indian blood. I know almost nothing about my Cherokee ancestry other than I had a great-great or great-great-great grandmother (not quite sure which) that was full-blooded Cherokee squaw. Even though this heritage is rather distant and seemingly irrelevant to me, there is something about it that fascinates me. Maybe it's a desire to cling to what little hereitage I have left in my melting pot of ethnicities. Maybe it's a desire to feel some sort of connection to the continent where I was born and raised. Afterall, of all of my varied ethnicities, my Cherokee blood is my only non-imigrant ethnicity, my only blood that is truly American.

I've visited Europe on two separate occassions once to France, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg and once to the U.K. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Europe; it truly was eye-opening. However, it was not home. I did not feel as though I belonged there as many European-Americans do when they go back and visit the "Motherland" and rediscover their lost heritage. No for me I felt like a tourist, a thoroughly-intrigued tourist but still a tourist. When I came back home to the States I did feel as though I wanted to go back but only to visit not to live. I did not have any identity crises or tugging feelings in my soul, nope, none at all. What has caught me by surprise however is that, throughout my travels, after I have returned home, I have seemingly felt even more lost than I did overseas.

I think the truth is that I feel the effects of being the son of immigrant heritage, people without a home, almost nomadic. Even though many Americans have been on this continent for hundreds of years, they never really became connected to it. Americans, afterall, are a mobile people, we are always on the go and on the search for the most effecient and productive lifestyle, even if that means uprooting your family and moving to a new place. This very American lifestyle has left its people feeling very disconnected and at times lonely.



For me, my Cherokee blood represents the one part of me that in a sense "truly belongs here". It is the bridge between my heritage and my homeland. It gives me a physical and psychological connection to the land that I call home. That is a feeling that many Americans are deprived of and seeing that makes me even more grateful for and proud of my Cherokee heritage.


And so about two years ago I was fishing through my dad's old closet and all of the vintage jackets in our basement in search of some cool stuff to work with as I prepared to move off to New York. I was hoping to start a brand new life out there and so I thought it only fitting to start a brand new look for myself as I moved out there. While I was rumpaging through the pasley and the plaid and the denim, I found an authentic Native, leather-fringe jacket that my uncle had bought for my family. When my family moved back to where my dad grew up in Ohio (also home of our Cherokee heritage), my uncle paid for the installment of a full-sized, fully-authentic teepee in our back woods property and with it an entire set of Native apparel. At the time, these things meant very little to me, especially since they had come in one big set, but when I rediscovered this jacket two years ago, somehow it meant a lot to me. I felt as if I had rediscovered a little part of myself and a perfect "piece of Ohio" that I could bring with me to New York.


When I moved to New York, I immediately began to think of ways to use this jacket as I worked on creating my new style. I started out using it almost as an overcoat, usually with a collared button-up and tie underneath to balance out its very rugged, country look. This started working pretty well. I would get multiple compliments a day about it walking through the halls at school and even more just on the streets of Manhattan. It caught me by surprise that I was getting so many comments about such a rugged, country piece in Manhattan of all places.

After thinking about it, however, I relized that this was not surprising at all. New Yorkers, maybe more than any other people, are desparate for authentic connections to their heritage and to the earth, being that New York is so void of nature, earth, and authenticity. This jacket spoke to them, it told them a little bit of my story, it brought a little bit of rural southwestern Ohio to the streets of Midtown Manhattan in a very visual way and New Yorkers loved it!


Now, two years later, that jacket has become one of my signature pieces. After studying this jacket and further developing my style around it, I have been able to pinpoint my success with it. I have come to the conclusion that what made this jacket work with my style was the fact that I fused it with my normal wardrobe. If I would have walked down the streets wearing full-on Cherokee garb, I probably would only have collected bewildered looks and laughs with the occassional salutes of respectful gestures. But instead, I fused the jacket with my normal wardrobe: with jeans, a button-up and a tie (and whatever my style evolves into). This touch turned a Commemorative, going-to-a-Pow-Wow outfit into a wearable, everyday oufit; an eye-catching, conversation-starter outfit but nonetheless a wearable, everyday outfit.

The secret was in the fusion. I have found that lots of people have great ideas and creative eyes, they just don't know how to put their ideas and their creativity into an everyday context that is applicable to your average Joe and Jane. The key to creating movements whether it be in fashion, ideology, or commerce, is that you have to bring them down to an understandable level to the people.

My Inspiration

I have a very unique style. I'm not saying that to be boastful or get some sort of special attention, I'm just saying that because it is true. I frequently get stopped in the streets or in my restaurant or at parties and asked what the inspiration for my fashion is. Nearly every single time I'm at a loss for words. It's not that I'm hesitant or unwilling to give others credit for creating trends that I follow, it's just that honestly I don't know how to describe where my style comes from.

I was talking to a good friend of mine recently however about this dilemna and I think that I may have been able to make a breakthrough in pinpointing where exactly my style comes from. I wear a lot of bold colors...a lot of matching colors...a lot of accessories...a lot of foreign infusions...a lot of leather...a lot of items that individually look like they should belong in a costume shop...a lot of intense hair styles...a lot of retro...a lot of layers...a lot of bizarre fusions of style...and a little bit of high end fashion. I've tried to say some Johnny Depp, some P. Diddy, some Midwestern smalltown boy and some cosmopolitan fashionplate, but even then I was not accurately pinpointing my inspiration.

I think the truth is that I latch onto snippets of genuine artistic expression that I find from various experiences throughout my life, experiences where I find an almost innate, divine source of beauty in the human context. Once I find these sources I fuse it with contemporary style to make it realistic and wearable in an everyday context. I think the most common source of these inspirations is fantastical cinema and literature. I latch on to pieces of culture and beauty from all the different phases of human history and then by fusing it with a pair of jeans, a vest, and some accessories I find a way to second-hand experience these different forms of human beauty.

So I don't know if any of this made any sense to anyone, but that is the closest I have come in a while to being able to pinpoint my inspiration in the fashion world. Maybe as I continue to write and express myself through this blog I will come even closer to doing so.

My First Post: Fashion & Humanity

So here I go starting my own blog. Never quite thought I was the blogger type...guess I was wrong.



Fashion.



It's a huge part of our contemporary culture. Especially living in Midtown: it's the world.



For the longest time, largely due to my more conservative upbringing (don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful upbringing, but here on blogger.com we are honest), I had a rather skewed view of fashion. It had always been an interest of mine yet always something that I had viewed almost as a guilty pleasure. I had always felt like my interest in fashion was a vain interest and that indulging in fashion was arrogance or self-absorption. I don't think it was until two years ago that I realized that these feelings that I felt were not due to arrogance or self-asorption, but rather a flawed underestanding of fashion.

Interestingly enough, it was at a church on Easter Sunday that I heard a sermon that really inspired me to rethink my views on fashion. The pastor told a story that took place during World War II. The setting was towards the end of the war as an Allied victory was approaching and the libereation of various concentration camps and prisons had begun. The Allied troops had come to a ceretain concentration camp (we'll say in France) where hundreds of barely-living skeletons of human beings had spent the last 4 to 5 years of their lives. These people had been abused, tortured, humiliated and treated worse than animals to the point that they no longer really viewed themselves as human beings. They had been so dehumanized that they had almost completely lost all understanding of their inherent value as human beings.

Victory was close by and you could feel the excitement in the air of the surrounding towns. These prisoners, however, had little to celebrate as they starved to death and waited anxiously for the Allies to rescue them as the Geremans tried to hide all evidence of the mass genocide by starving and killing them off. However, amidst the chaos in preparing for liberation someone slipped in a stick of lipstick into a cell in the women's prison.

By the time the Allied troops arrived to liberate the concentration camp, nearly all of the prisoneres had already died of starvation, malnurishment, or from the chaotic conditions. The sight of hundreds of desolate and mutilated, lifeless corpses was almost too much to bear for many of the liberators. The soldiers came to the cell of the women's prison that the stick of lipstick had been slipped into and they saw something of nearly indescribable beauty: there laid dozens of women heaped on the floor, dead, but instead of a lifeless look of despare on their faces, they found huge ear to ear grins with lipstick smeared all over their faces.

That lipstick, as simple and basic as it was, brought the humanity back to these women...it reminded them of their inherent value as persons, as individuals, and as women. That lipstick brought joy to these women's lives in their dying moments.

In concluding the story, the pastor stated that any animal can fight for survival. Any animal can cheat, kill, and deceive in order to attain power over one another, but only human beings value beauty and the aesthetics. That is a characteristic that is uniquely human. That is a characteristic that separates us from the rest of the world. It makes us capable of enjoying life, of creating beauty and culture and fashion that enhance the lives of others and make life worth living. Human beings are above survival of the fittest.

It was after hearing this story, that my entire perception of fashion changed. No longer did I view it as arrogance or self-absorption, but rather as a form of art and a means to enhance peoples' lives. Obviously fashion can become arrogance and self-absorption but so can just about any other industry. At its root, however, fashion is art.

And that is when I decided to pursue the fashion industry...