Good day my fashionable readers! Let me begin by painting a picture for you...
Teal men's skinny jeans from H&M (I've mentioned them numerous times), charcoal gray button down from H&M, brown/black/yellow diagonally striped vintage skinny tie, and gray Converse. Business casual with a flair I would call it. It is a Wednesday, I am excited to leave the apartment in this outfit, ready to take on the grueling and often times very un-stylish world of immunology...
Now let me paint another picture...It is Boston, Massachusetts in the end of August, and as with any respectable New England state, a change of seasons will not come easily. It is pouring. Pouring. Alright, well I'm the Boy at Sea! A little rain can't dampen my sartorial spirits! Fabulous white rain slicker (from TopMan London) on and let's do this! Skip ahead thirty minutes to my arrival at my lab. Completely soaked. I have to strip down to just my jeans and the white tee I'm wearing so that everything else can attempt to dry while hanging over the backs of various chairs.
Alas, even the best laid plans of fashion and queers cannot stay dry against the fickle weather of Boston. So, when I began writing this post I was in my lab (it was a quiet morning folks! Do not think I was neglecting serious science!), sitting at my desk, in the bare minimum trying to not only maintain my core body temperature but also thinking about many exciting things concerning fashion - despite my very damp appearance I was not going to let a little pre-fall rain dampen my excitement for just that - FALL.
People, seriously, I cannot emphasize this enough: Autumn is fast approaching and as any good gender-bender knows, that means layers, and layers mean being able to better hide what you want hidden, it also means opportunities for even greater and bolder styles (in my opinion). Layers mean the chance to pair button downs with various styles of jeans, and brightly colored ties tucked in military-style between the third and fourth buttons, and you can add a hoodie and a fitted leather jacket, and perhaps also a hat or a scarf or a...okay, I'm getting carried away, but you understand my point.
The options become greater, more nuanced, leaving you more room to experiment with a few pieces that otherwise might not be worn together. That is when fashion becomes really interesting. And while the approach of fall does also mean the inevitable approach of Massachusetts winter, I think we can all agree that layering is next to godliness and we, as people living outside the gender binary, often have to preform fashion miracles everyday.
Well my dear readers, that being said, I have already started to pull thin brightly colored sweaters over tees and I have brought out my scarf collection and wait with baited breath until the temperature drops.
Get excited.
And I suppose this post was really meant to be my preliminary fall post just to make sure you are all getting in the mood for a lovely New England autumn and everything that comes with it.
That being said I realize this has been all words and no pictures and there is a good chance that by now you have become bored of my ramblings and returned to more important matters. If I still have your attention though, lucky you! Here's a fun picture of me in that H&M beige striped sport coat:
Now, I was in this particular outfit for a friends party with the theme of "as gay as possible", so there are aspects of this outfit that I wouldn't necessarily recommend on a day to day basis.
For instance, the sleeves of the white botton down I'm wearing (monochromatic paisley from H&M) are too long for me and I decided to just fold them over the cuffs of the jacket once. It worked for this party where I was trying to be a bit more outrageous, however, I recommend instead that you just find a shirt that fits, or get it tailored.
The cuffs on your button downs should fall at the break of your wrist.
Missing from this picture was the black and gold tasseled vintage ascot that I was wearing tucked into the button down. That was overkill, but again, worked with the over-the-top look I was going for. But the ascot with the purple silk pocket square, unnecessary, so just choose one my dears. In this case, I would say the pocket square works to give the outfit a little flair but still keep it within the realm of "dapper". Lastly, that jacket fits me almost perfectly - no tailor necessary. Thank you H&M for being awesome.
A couple other points of interest before I leave you in peace...
1. I have become increasingly fascinated lately with the ways in which the strict purpose of the tie and the bow tie have altered. The tie is no longer just a formal addition to a business outfit. It is not longer only meant for dressy occasions and the bow tie is no longer relegated to the the likes of chemistry professors and old men. We are seeing neckties and bow ties everywhere now, on everyone, in every occasion. They can be hip, classic, vintage, and dapper. They can be seen in bold masculine colors and patterns or light pastel shades with a bicycle print. They are being worn to the office, on the weekends, tied askew, tucked in, or thrown on as an after thought. It is brilliant, edgy, and the perfect accessory for any queer. If nothing else my endorsement this fall goes to ties and bow ties. This particular look that I came across on GQ, I found particularly invigorating:
I plan on writing a much more thorough post on neck wear in the near future, so stay tuned. But in the mean time to get you started, I stumbled across this website while I was (again) perusing GQ - so thank you GQ online. And again just to be clear where I spend my time. The site is called The Tie Bar and as the name suggests it has a wonderful variety of ties, bow ties, ascots, cuff links, tie bars and more all of which are offered at awesomely reasonable prices. FYI: All of their ties are $15, trust me, that's a great deal on ties this nice. So, check it out and begin compiling your wish list of dandy accessories that you can ask for when your birthday rolls around.
2. I was very recently given an absolutely gorgeous digital SLR camera by my dad (this is your first shout out Dad, thank you!). Therefore my fine folks, you now can look forward to even more of my own pictures of outfits that I put together. And hopefully all in better quality than what I was offering you previously with my little tiny old school digital.
My plan is to have some new pictures and new outfits ready to go for you the next time I post. So, if you found yourself questioning why you're still reading this time around, JUST WAIT MY FASHIONABLE FRIENDS! I will return again soon with pretty pictures, classy outfits and more thoughts on how to make male fashion work for the female-bodied genderqueer.
Until then....
Keep them guessing,
BaS
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