I bought a pair of brown corduroy trousers. Possibly the strangest impulse purchase I’ve ever made… but that does not mean it was a mistake. My action is also strangely meaningful and symbolic.
Since arriving at university, I’ve worn nothing but standard modern clothes. Burton t-shirts, slim-fit jeans, FILA trainers, an oversized North Face jacket. Fine clothes, to be sure. Good clothes. But… they don’t represent who I am. Wearing them stifles my true personality. I want to be a writer, a poet, an artist. Creative people stand out from society by definition. These lovely modern clothes look nice. But when I wear them, they feel meaningless. I feel hollow. Empty. Trying to conform. Trying to fit in. I don’t want to fit in. I want to stand out.
As a writer, poet, and English student, they don’t seem like suitable clothes. If I studied a more popular and modernity-based course like law or one of the sciences, wearing standard clothes would be fine. But I’ve seen students in incredible outfits recently. Clothes that choke me with envy. And they’re the ones I aspire to emulate. The different ones. Those who wear artist clothes. Oversized sweaters and jackets and trousers, corduroy, flannel. Tucked in tops when they don’t need to be tucked in, or untucked tops when they do need to be tucked in. Those who dare.
Clothes are an outward expression of who we are. Clothes speak to people before we do. They must fit our personality, or we get lost in people’s expectations of us, lowering our chances of good and honest communication. And I’m a guy. It used to be hard seeing everyone wearing the most modern and casual fashions. But I’ve realised how boring that is. To me, at least. You can wear what you want. But that’s the key – what you want. Not just because everyone else is wearing it. Not just because it’s the simplest thing. But because you want to wear it. So from now on, I’m going to buy the clothes that I want to wear. If they suit my personality then to not wear them would be to neglect myself.
Also, corduroy is comfortable as fuck.
Have a good day.
– Iestyn
Iestyn Tudor 