Carrying it off

Clothes maketh the man. My grandfather would tell me this quite often when I was a little kid, exhorting me to dress sharp. Somewhere that bit of sound advice was lost. One tends to adopt a peer friendly attitude to dressing, especially if we are part of a comfortable, mature & non – judgmental peer group. Of course this may not hold true for women but for the guys, it’s by & large the truth.

However, maybe at times we tend to get a little too comfortable…slipping from casual to sloppy. That’s a fine line and often breached. It could be either because we aren’t aware of it, we don’t care or we assume a fake bravado, flaunting frumpiness as our fashion statement.

So what happens when one tries to break out of a perceived image? The reactions are startlingly acute and make for good conversation topics with pretty girls, if one happens to be at a social gathering. Recent experiences also tell me that acceptance doesn’t come too quickly! Comments, compliments (?) and exclamations abound. However, its fun to do if you’re ok with letting go. And letting go, I’ve come to believe is a skill not easily acquired and one that can also be much cherished once mastered. Of course anthropologists could have further uses to such experiments and if not anything else, you'll get a good idea about your perceived image among your peer group! A real time visual DNA test if you like heh.

As for me, I’m not stowing that shirt away anytime soon.