A lot of you may be tired of my “Is it OK for an Australian to Like Anime” series of articles when the answer, clearly, is “yes”. But I also blog about the aesthetics of the Geek/Nerd lifestyle. Having already covered why Girls who Wear Glasses should by no means be deprived of passes made at them, I’m going to cover some fashion in this article.
Kilts are not unmanly attire, and have a proud tradition among the Scottish warrior folk of yore. Here is Gerard Butler wearing a kilt, in a pink shirt. Now Gerard Butler, for those of you who saw my post of the “This is Sparta!” clip from 300, will be aware of Butler’s manly reputation. Nobody’s going to argue with a huge sword like that either. But how soon people forget he was The Phantom in the movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera, one of the unmanliest musicals ever created?
Also, it is unlikely that you should wear a kilt without knowing at least something about its Scottish heritage, and also, if you have Scottish heritage, it is likely you will have to wear it without underpants underneath, the traditional way.
Say what you like about H.P. Lovecraft, he was a tad racist in some of his short stories, but he knew how to entertain, and certainly how to wear a suit. The “gentleman” look for the Geek and Nerd man is only really seen at Neil Gaiman fan events or Merchant Ivory fan club meetings, yet for those of you who are a Geeky or Nerdy young man who are willing to accept there may be something appealing about looking good in smart formal attire, this could be the look for you when you’re not wearing your Goku or Gundam t-shirt around the house. Note the glasses, very stylishly worn by Lovecraft in this picture.
If you don’t wear glasses because you don’t need them, Edgar Allan Poe’s take on the gentleman attire might be good, if you wear contact lenses and have a stylish moustache it’s a look that can kill, and hide the bodies under the floorboards if you know what I mean.
Now we have the Contemporary Jacket wearing look (as modeled by Neil Gaiman) and the Dandy look (modeled by Alan Moore). Neil Gaiman’s fashion plate looks good if you’re skinny, but the portly Dandy always has his place in the fashion scene. If you like steampunk fiction the Dandy look is great for conventions and parties, also a fabulous Halloween costume or fancy dress item. But a word of warning, the Contemporary Jacket look isn’t for everyone, and if you don’t like wearing jackets, or don’t think you look good in them, try something you might be a bit more comfortable in.
Finally, we have Frank Miller, taking it easy in a t-shirt, hat, and black jacket. Sometimes the simplicity of an outfit helps you out for many occasions where formal attire isn’t appropriate, such as hanging out with your non-geeky friends, or going to a doctor’s appointment, or going to buy milk. Doesn’t take much to put together an outfit like this, but be creative and choose your own colour pallete.
That’s it for this installment, do visit for another look at Geek/Nerd Aesthetics later on. Remember, just because you’re a Geek or Nerd doesn’t mean you don’t know anything about fashion, we don’t dress to impress others so much as ourselves. But when we do dress to impress, the results can be fun and inspirational.
I had to stop by and figure out what you were talking about and whaddaya know, Alan Moore does have style! Maybe I get him confused with Richard Stallman under all that beard, but at least Moore dresses like the crazy person that I’m pretty sure he is.
Neil Gaiman seems to dress like everyone I went to school with (art school…), the kind of look that makes me think he has an extensive Sisters of Mercy record collection at home and just might LARP in his free time.
As for Lovecraft, yes he was pretty much unforgivably racist, but it was a fear thing — HPL was afraid of everything. He was like the OG of western hikkikomoris, which means at least you have to admire the fact he wore a suit even though he rarely left the house.
Hope you enjoyed the article, even though it wasn’t an Anime article, I guess it had universal appeal.
Glad to see you here!
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Try to comment on my more recent blog site at http://aspergers.dasaku.net/ in future, that’s where all my new entries are.