The Most Important Things

The other day I was driving on the freeway. An SUV pulled in front of me, a nice one too. Except for one thing…it had a GIGANTIC tazmanian devil sticker on the back of it! Now, first of all, I am not a sticker-on-the-car person. I don’t have any fish (christian or otherwise), no NOTW, no Know Jesus, Know Peace etc., no Obama 08, no McCain/Palin, no nothing! Stickers are for putting on your skateboard. Or for placing in your sticker notebook, along with baseball cards.

Second of all, I am not (and never have been) a fan of the tasmanian devil. Not because of the devil connotation, but because of the fact that he’s a…dork. Seriously, anybody who runs around with their tongue hanging out and slobbering all over people is a dork. He can’t speak any coherent language and is too busy spinning around messing things up to make any friends. He’s a dork. That is all besides point. The real problem with Taz? He’s another fad. A fad from 1998 to be exact.

Remember when people were wearing T-shirts with Taz on them? Or keychains shaped like Taz? Remember cups and glasses and pajamas and…slogans like: “muablahefgetlay!” (which is tazmanian devil for buy my gear, dawg!) Now 11 years later, some guy in a blacked out (or murdered out as some call it) SUV has the audacity to put a Taz sticker on his rig?! Point being this, what fad(s) are you chasing?

I have a theory about christian merchandising companies: they are always a fad/trend behind. That’s why no one in their right mind would buy a “fear not” (no fear) t-shirt. Or “A bread Crumb and Fish” (abercrombie and fitch). Or “His Pain, Your Gain“, the Lord’s Gym. All of those ideas were behind the times. They were made in response to, at the time, current or fading trends. As a Christian and a designer, I believe that we should be creating the trends. Never copying or imitating them. Why? I will get to that in the next post. Stay tuned…

Style is a funny thing. I wrote, a couple blogs ago, about creating or buying style. But there’s more to both of those theories. For me, when it comes to style, FIT is king. If the clothes don’t fit, I won’t even bother looking at it no matter how “stylish” it is. To be in style, I think you should look good as opposed to looking trendy.

To understand fit, you must understand your body type. (Since I think anything can be broken down into sets of threes) Here are the three main body types I see in the world. (Note: this blog is not about what fit you are, so much as an observation. I don’t care what shape you are or are not.)

1) Hip to be Square. AKA the box cut. Most large box retailers (macy’s, jcpenny, etc) this is the cut that stocks their floor. It’s great for older people (men especially). When you hold up the shirt and it could fit over packing box, you know it’s a “box cut”. This is Tommy Bahamas bread and butter, drape this over your body and let the cool breezes flow!

2) I am in shape, round is a shape. The nice thing about the box cut is that it can fit over round people as well. You don’t need to have broad shoulders to wear the box cut. If you have sloping shoulders, it will drape just fine. Again, no shame what shape you are. I am just saying, if you are round or square; stay away from clothes that say, “modern fit” or “slim fit”. It just won’t make you look the best. And that’s what style is supposed to do, make you look your best. Not make you look “trendy”.

3) The elongated square. The rectangle is the shape a lot of younger clothiers tailor to. Think H&M, some GAP, etc. These are all companies that create for the rectangle shape. If you are not a skinny rail, shop with caution! If you fall into square or round, it will be harder to find clothes that will make you look good in those types of stores. (Note: i am not saying you can’t, just that it will be like a treasure hunt. Happy hunting!)

The next time you go shopping look for clothes that will make you look good. Not clothes that are trendy or the latest in style. Go for a combo, style and fit. I was at the beach and around town this past 4th of July weekend, too many people wearing clothes to small. And I am not just talking about beachwear. Don’t wear what the store tells you to wear! Wear what makes you look and feel good. If the clothes fit, wear it. Unless it’s really ugly!