As soon as I started pinning on Pinterest, I found myself browsing like a mother-trucker. Do you know how truckers of mothers browse? At first thoroughly. Antepenultimately rabidly. Penultimately unrelentingly. Ultimately embarrassingly: I browsed all of the Men’s Fashion section. It took a whole evening, but I powered through to its anti-climactic end, at which point I slumped back in my chair and contemplated the meaning of life.
Just kidding. I contemplated Fashion. And Style. And what it all means. And by ‘all’, I mean just those two things. I was struck down and dumb after the at times visually orgasmic click-fest because… because… wow, this is ultimately embarrassing… I felt like a fraud.
Why am I looking at Men’s Fashion? Seriously. Why the heck am I perusing all of it?
Check it out for yourself. You see guys in skinny jeans – not exactly flattering, in my opinion. You see guys in full-on mountain-man beards – something I can’t currently pull off. You see those shoes with the two buckles like you’re some modified Geppetto – I don’t make puppets. You see cardigans like you’re Mr. Rogers – I cried after he died, so no, they make me sad.
This is fashionable. It also makes me puke a little in my mouth. So unless I’m dressing up like a hipster for Halloween, it ain’t happenin’ – sorry ladies.
So if this stuff is fashionable, or so says Pinterest users, and it’s not clicking with me, then why do I continue to subject myself to shudder-inducing visuals?
I continue to veg out because I’m looking for what I like. So what do I like? (Do you even care?) You see Oxford wing-tip shoes with the thin laces. You see bow-ties. You see creative cuff links. You see other fun accessories.
So if this stuff is fashionable, too, and it doesn’t make me puke a little in my mouth, or anywhere else for that matter, and yet (stay with me, here) there is other stuff that does… it’s all fashion, yet it elicits two very different reactions. Why is this?
Enter the dragon the second word: style. I’m not looking for any ol’ style. I’m not looking for the currently popular style. And I’m definitely not looking for the slender part of a pistil – I’m not into plant porn. I’m looking for my style, the stuff that resonates with me, the stuff that feels like forms of me. I’m looking for… me. (Wow, that’s deep.) And I’m looking for me on Pinterest of all places.
Assumptions: I’m characterizing ‘fashion’ as ephemeral and ‘style’ as essential. Thus, I’m not looking for the fleeting & crowd-sourced, but the everlasting & self-sourced.
Are you looking for your style? Are you looking like a mother-trucker?