Of Clothes and Costumes

I like to think of myself as iconic, in the vein of Mark Twain or Tom Wolf in their white suits.  On any given day you will see me wearing my black frock coat, c. 1870’s trousers with necessary braces beneath my either black or fancy waistcoat of the same period (complete with watch chain), and a black Stetson.  I am told that the homeless people of Glasgow City centre refer to me as “The Duke”.

Ninety percent of my wardrobe would be suitable for a time machine excursion to the Victorian Era without so much as a peculiar look from the natives.  I do not own jeans, T-shirts, or trainers.  The last time I have worn such things is probable when I was about twelve years old and I have worn a tie nearly everyday for over twenty-five years.  Though lately I tend to wear a black, purple, or red ruche (a type of tie usually seen at weddings) or a Victorian cravat tied in the American knot.

Over the past ten years of working in Glasgow City centre I have become moderately famous as “that guy”.  As you may imagine I have received plenty of comments.  The most popular being a mocking “yeeha”.  Some people may asked what I am dressed-up for or compliment my "outfit".  Once a horrible woman asked point blank, “what are you?” without so much as a hello.  That conversation devolved into an argument.  When I am asked where I get my clothes I tell them that they are made for me.

This is true.  I order my clothes online from a company that makes period costumes for historical re-enactors and television shows and all my things are made to measure.  So what to me are clothes is to someone else a costume.

I am iconic because I always wear the same basic thing.  Winter or summer it is always the same, though for summer I wear Victorian sunglasses tinted in my trademark purple. I even get dressed proper when I must go across the street in the early morning for needed milk for my coffee only to disrobe when I return.  Whether I am going to the supermarket, to work, to a club, or a fancy dinner, it is always the same.  “I am the cat who walks by himself and all places are alike to me.”

Of course if I had the money I would expand my wardrobe.  More waistcoats and a grey frock coat are on my wish list.  Perhaps even black cotton trousers as black wool can get uncomfortable in the summer.  And yet even with these additions I would not be moving too far from my current position.

I have appeared alongside others in the “street style” section of three Scottish papers.  On one occasion I sat looking at the article to see a string of pictures including myself and nine others and I realised that of all these men and women, I was the only one not wearing jeans and a casual top.  And this is style?  

When these reporters have asked me about my style I think I surprised them with a conscious answer.  I described Dandyism, Neo-Victorianism and Steampunk and even instructed one reporter to look these concepts up in Wiki.  I concluded that she didn’t when I saw the final piece.  And as with most British reporters she got me wrong and I was almost embarrassed by the misrepresentation.

You may be wondering, my dear reader, why I have been carrying-on about my wardrobe.  My point is this.  When does something stop being clothes and start being a costume and what is the difference anyway?

The place to start is with a concept called social conditioning.  As a child matures and figures out what this place is that we call reality they are being socially conditioned through their parents, siblings, peers, authority figures, people of status, experiences, and the media to view social reality in a particular way.  Once this conditioning is embedded it becomes a state usually termed “normal” and anything outwith this experience is called “weird”.  Wearing jeans, trainers, and a casual top or t-shirt is normal and dressing like Wyatt Earp in the film Tombstone is weird.

But normal and weird are contextual.   Wearing flippers, snorkel, and a mask is weird, but normal when snorkelling.  Likewise you would not wear the ubiquitous jeans and casual top when snorkelling.   There was a time when wearing sports gear, such as a track suit and trainers, was considered weird unless you were doing sports or at least going to or from such an activity, however today it is normal.  Funny thing is, wearing a suit outwith work or a special occasion or a night-out to some place fancy is considered maybe not weird, but certainly not exactly common.  People will keep asking what you are dressed-up for.  And certainly dressing like Wyatt Earp is weird, unless of course you are in a show or going to some event requiring it, like a re-enactment or Halloween party.  Turn back the clock to 1870, and it’s the jeans and t-shirt brigade looking a bit weird.

Thanks to social conditioning every person has a unique and yet still generally agreed upon concept of what constitutes normal in terms of both fashion and behaviour.  There is that magical centre point and the further you radiate from that point the closer you get to the fringes.  The fringes are oft considered to be the cool and hip place to be.  What people forget is that they may be on the frontier, but they are still in the country.  They have not actually crossed the border.

Every frontier needs its trailblazer.  If you in your cozy little world think you are going to bring back powdered wigs then think again.  However if someone with enough social standing pulls it off, the next Marilyn Manson perhaps, then I guarantee that there will be imitators.  The fad my not last, but for a moment in time it will be on the fringes of normal.  So close to the fringes that those near the centre find it weird enough to be interesting but not so weird as to be stupid.  The more popular the powdered wig becomes, the more socially acceptable and “normal” it becomes and voila, the costume has magically become clothes.  At least for a little while.

There is another bit of magic.  Back in the day, when John Taylor of Duran Duran held a bit more status than he does now, he gave a magazine his theory on style.  He said that if a man feels uncomfortable in a nice suit he will look bad, likewise if he feels great in jeans and a white t-shirt he’ll look great.  It’s all about confidence and self belief.

 
We all have our social conditioning buried deep within our programming.  Humans being social animals, the mind tries to keep you line with your social conditioning.  Should you deviate from whatever your social conditioning has deemed normal, then your mind, in an effort to protect you from social failure, will give you a little shock, like a dog crossing the invisible fence.  This shock is commonly experienced as nervousness, shame, anxiety, worry, or fear.  If your mind tells you some girl is out of your league then it will make you choke on the approach, thus keeping you safe from social failure.

Take one beautiful sexy girl and dress her up fine.  The girl’s a knock-out.  But guess what.  If her mind says no.  If her mind says, "I’m not that hot".  If her mind says that she is fat and ugly.  If her mind says that she does not deserve this.  Then she will appear uncomfortable.  These are not her clothes.  She is wearing a costume, even if it is a socially acceptable and normal outfit.  Context applies here too.  She might feel comfortable wearing this in the club, but not on the street in the middle of the day.  It all has to do with social conditioning.

From self-confidence comes frame control.  If you believe in your clothes, your image, then others will too.  If you feel uncomfortable; if part of you says, “This is not normal”; if you feel the impressions of another’s frame upon your consciousness, then you’ve lost.  You are a costumed fool playing dress-up –- pretending.  I’ll be honest.  It’s not easy and you’re outnumbered.  Their frame represents the social conditioning of millions of people, and sometimes even those in the deepest recesses of your mind.  Your own little fifth column.

I found a group on Facebook about some sort of “Steampunk Day” where members were encouraged to go to places like the supermarket and send in pictures of themselves.  I did not know what to make of it.  To me, that is like having a jeans and t-shirt day.  It seemed silly and unnecessary to someone who has dressed in this manner for well over a decade.  For me and my social conditioning how I dress is normal everyday wear and not contextual for clubs or special events as an excuse.  I can only speculate that these people needed permission to veer to the fringes and cross the border.  But still it’s just a costume.

A few months ago I went to a concert of someone known for her distinctive style.  Online, I have seen many pictures of girls in imitation of her.  The day of her show I spotted her walking the streets of Glasgow.  She could have been any alternative chick.  In fact, I was not even sure that it was her at first.  Her stage name and image is really nothing but a show.  It’s a great show, but a show nonetheless.  She wears a costume fit for a particular time and place where it is socially permissible to cross the border, but she doesn’t live there.  She lives on the hip and cool fringes on the right side of normal.

“But I am the cat who walks by himself and all places are alike to me.”

The Decadent Romantics believed that life should imitate art and not the other way around.  We see that in the Romantic Goths and Steampunks who have taken an idiom and brought it to life.  Real life.  Life in the supermarkets, on the buses, at work, at home, in shopping malls, and not just clubbing on a Saturday night.  Life in every context. They have become the living, breathing, all singing and dancing embodiment of the fiction.  They make the fiction fact in heart, soul, body, mind, and clothes.  The difference between clothes and costumes is that clothes are lived in.

The default mode for normal in our society is the uniform trainers, jeans, and casual top.  Women have a lot more leeway in this department then men have as long as they remain within the spheres of acceptable fashion.  But for men, we are pretty much stuck with the uniform.  But that’s okay because that is what most men have been conditioned to be comfortable wearing.  That formulaic mode applies to men who are mainstream as well as those who are considered alternative.  Look at the men’s section in some gothic clothing sites.  I’d wager the jeans and casual top equation dominates.  You’ll see it beneath the colour black and the chains and straps to nowhere.  It’s the acceptable fringe.

I do not judge or disparage the jeans and t-shirt crowd.  This is the year 2010 and that is the way things are.  I do not advocate breaking away from society or retreating into some clique or commune.  My purpose here is to give permission and guidance to those who want to turn life into art and still be part of life.

But how far is too far?  Beau Brummell invented the men’s suit in 1800, and men’s fashion has not changed that much since.  My iconic image is little more than a tie, waistcoat, trousers, three-quarter length jacket, and a hat.  It doesn’t seem so extreme when written like that, does it?  In fact it is fairly traditional.  And yet for some reason it causes a stir.

My guiding light is anachronism.  I go for clothes that still can work in the modern day, but also fit in with the past.  I put a modern spin on some old styles and it works.  It is not about rote copying from a history book.  It is about creating a viable pastiche that still works today.  In other words, powdered wigs are out, but spats are still cool.



Young dandies are renowned for going over the top.  They have yet to truly define a style that works and there are many stages of stupid along the way.  I know of no mature dandy who has not regretted past sartorial choices during their experimental phase.  Eventually they find their place and the means to buy it.  Until that time they are wearing costumes.  It is not until they are emotional secure, confident, and yes even a bit blasé, do they begin wearing clothes.  When they do, they have succeeded in transcending their social conditioning and redefining the borders of normal to something a little more Romantic.