Now, don’t make the mistake of thinking I was completely ignorant of style. I wasn’t, and am not. I don’t read GQ like my friend Jules, but I’m pretty good at pattern recognition, and when every XY or XX that walks past me on the street is wearing something that looks a lot like the last XY/XX, I tend to notice.
When everyone starting wearing “ringer tees”, I noticed.
When screenprinters realized they could artificially “distress” things, I noticed.
When screenprinters realized they could move things off center, I noticed.
When screenprinters realize they could OVERSIZE their designs, and print shit on the sleeves, I noticed.
When everything started to look like a Gaelic family crest, I noticed.
This year, I’m noticing the sheer number of shirts that look, well, like combinations of all of the above. Like they were created at an arts and crafts session by a bunch of 3 year olds high on glue.
I’m not totally blind. I guess it doesn’t take a genius to notice that stuff, the real skill comes from seeing what’s next.
What’s next is always the thing that you see someone wearing, and it’s just a bit too far for you to wrap your head around. Either that or it’s too expensive. Based on a little bit of preliminary research and just gut aversion/attraction, I think the next new style is …well, I’m not good at naming things, but I’ll just call it post apocalyptic. Or Children of Men. Or dystopian future. Here’s some stuff that I think I would -almost- wear, but it’s just a little out of my reach, for now.
But anyway, back to me, and what I am comfortable doing. In the next installment of this indulgent article about fashion, I’ll talk about the Alpha (and some say Omega) of fashion. Shoes.