It’s an early geeky morning, which roughly means noon, or one-ish in the afternoon. You stumble over to your closet, after no shower, and throw on…the Doctor Who t-shirt sounds good with…the pants you wore yesterday. Good to go.
This is a problem we as a culture need to counteract. I have no problem with Doctor Who tee-shirts or pants that you had on yesterday (they just feel better, right?). The problem is when that shirt is two sizes too big, and the pants are wrinkly, or you just plain don’t match. It perpetuates the stereotype that all geeks are slovenly and socially inept.
But it’s true: most geeks and gamers today don’t know how to dress themselves.
Why is this so? Do geeks lack the self-control necessary to police the articles of clothing that wraps their bodies? No. There just isn’t a care or a reason to invest in anything past practicality in the style sense. We don’t have sweet sets of armor to put on for maximum DPS. So, why care?
Think about iconic style in geek culture: from Captain Malcolm Reynold’s brown coat to Vader’s mask all the way to Superman’s cape. What the characters wore reflected their personalities and gives visual insights into the people that they are inside…just like the clothes on you.
So, are the clothes saying Captain Kirk or Red-Shirt?
I’m not really going to worry about “fashion” because that is best left to the ones whose job is to critique that world. I am here to critique the average geek’s style. Fashion is the runway, which, to this point, hasn’t impressed me enough to look at anything past the Victoria Secret runway show or any walk-off that David Bowie has hosted. Fashion is not an aspect the average geek needs to worry about either, unless he or she is forced to watch Project Runway or Next Top Model; then, you can just comment on how sassy Ms. J is and get on with life.
Another reason I won’t be dealing with fashion is the pure fact that I am terrible at it. I don’t get how a traffic cone and eighteen gelato cups could be used to make one of the “hottest new trends.” That’s just a skill that the good Lord did not give me.
I can understand a little about style on the other hand. Style, to me, is not fashion. Fashion is for the experts. Style is for us common folk that just need clothes to wear and to look good while doing it. I’m going to get you geeky guys and gals looking great without sacrificing your geeky style.
Sound good? I think so.
Send me questions about style or self help at justin@pixelatedgeek.com