#5 It's a Habit

Topic #5: What is a secret habit/thing you enjoy?

I am usually pretty open about the things I enjoy. Everyone knows I love sports and movies and music and all that good stuff so there isn't anything super secret that I have to share in this post. I did, however, feel like I could give you a bit of history on how one of my passions came to be.

Almost two years ago, I wrote a post on this blog about my love of fashion. Since then I have written a couple others on related topics. But do you know how all that got started?

Until now, I didn't. I hadn't really thought about it.

If you were to roam the halls of my high school 12 years ago you would see a junior boy weaving his way through the halls rather quickly from class to class. Actually, you may not even notice him. If you stuck around for a few weeks, you may notice that he wore a cycle of the same five hoodies (black or grey) with jeans every day. Even his accessories were the same. Blue braces and an overstuffed backpack.

What can I say? It was easy and comfortable and my momma always told me to dress in layers in case you get too hot or too cold.

Even throughout my first year of college I held very tightly to that mundane fashion trend. It wasn't until I served my misssion...where every guy wore essentially the same thing...that I even started to notice small differences.

White shirt and tie. Dark pants. This was standard. The only individuality offered to an LDS missionary was his tie...and even then they recommended that it be "conservative in color and style". Seeing the same thing over and over you start to notice differences.

Pinstripes. Fabrics. Minor color shifts. Fit. Silhouette. Shoes. And the hairstyles.

And so it began.

When I got back from my mission, one of the first things I did was go on a bit of a shopping spree. I remember I bought 5 new shirts and had one qualification necessary for these shirts. They needed to all be bright colors and different colors. I wanted to bring color to my black, grey, and dark blue wardrobe.

At that moment, my personal style changed and I began to notice what was in style and what wasn't.

To make things even more interesting, while I was in college I wanted to know what was in style so I googled it. Google led me to the promised land of fashion shows. I remember watching Project Runway a bit and seeing clothes but I didn't know there was such a plethora of Menswear out there.

Google led me to Style.com which has since become VogueRunway.com. It is here that I first searched for an Armani fashion show and saw an entire collection. it was here that I first hear the names Ann Demuelemeester and Alexander McQueen. It was here that I realized two sides to fashion: art and style.

As my passion has grown, my knowledge has grown. I now find myself often returning to these runway shows and catching up on the new ones (Spring/Summer 2018 Menswear shows are going on right now) and doing so throughout each week. I have even properly predicted some of the suits and dresses that were eventually worn by stars on the red carpets of major events.

I'm a nut. I'm a weirdo.

But I figure, if it is something that I like that makes me happy then who cares. I know that it is weird for men to be into fashion sometimes but I think if you liiked into it, you would find it is less weird than you may think.

And anyhow, as Ben Platt said this last week as he accepted his Tony award for Best Actor:

"The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful."


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