Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

"We change personalities like other people change clothes"

17:59 / 06.12.02

Save $50 (or you can go with less). Set aside a Saturday (what're you doing tomorrow?). Decide what new-Tommy would wear (actually, I'd like to hear that here). Then hit every thrift store in town.

I didn't want to pollute Janina's thread with "Help Tommy Shop!", but what grant wants, grant gets.

PART 1: We Must Be Nothing Less Than Fabulous:
So, if you've changed your personality--you've come out of a closet, you've moved from introvert to extrovert or vice versa--what happened to your wardrobe? Discuss!

PART 2: The Saga of Perfect Tommy:
doubting thomas was depressed and mopey for a few years. But to everyone's delight, this was merely the chrysalis stage of another lifeform we'll call Perfect Tommy. Tommy moved into thomas's apartment, did some rewiring, knocked down a few walls, did some redecorating, and added a hidden superhero lair in the basement. But, since Tommy was naked, he took to wearing thomas's clothes out of practicality.

Months later...
Tommy has come to terms with his emerging superpowers, and written them down on his character sheet: Public Speaking, Flirting, Mathematical Aptitude, Compressed Idea Generation, Apt Metaphors. But he still has no costume!

For a while I was thinking Math Nerd Meets Goth Punk (represented as lots of black and metal with torn thermals under a t-shirt reading "What Part of [bunch of mathematical symbols I won't describe: it was the triple integral of something very complicated] Don't You Understand?"), but an awful lot of Portlanders wear the black glasses I had in mind, and I'm losing my hair too fast for a mohawk.

I look good in grey: Matrix denizen? Yuppie terrorist? But there's nothing wrong with color: Hawaiian shirts and '70s jacket? Intellectual rock star? Philosopher in leather pants?

I didn't used to give a damn about clothing... but now, if I were to just wear the clothes that seem like 'me', I'd be really really cold.

pointless and uncalled for

18:12 / 06.12.02

Look, we only published this because of a really stringent contract. Do us a favour and go buy one of our other books. The less royalties this man gets the better your life will be.

18:51 / 06.12.02

I think I'm the same boat as you, Tommy. Plus you've used one of my favorite phrases-- i.e., "the shallow end of the pool."

I want to look more scary. To match my inside.

I'm tired of people rumpling me and not thinking that this could be a dangerous thing they're doing.

19:32 / 06.12.02

Who is cooler:

or, of course,

Once you've made that decision (arbitrary as you like), your thrift store focus will be assured.

19:34 / 06.12.02

Persephone:

I found jewelry made with human teeth made a definite impression on those who got a little too close.

19:57 / 06.12.02

I find that *my* teeth make a definite impression on those who get too close.

20:58 / 06.12.02

none of them were cool.

21:04 / 06.12.02

Y'know, if you're not quite sure, you could wear the stuff you usually do but start to accessorise more. Then, once you've hit on the right set of accessories, you can start to look at the other stuff in the chic boutiques you got them in and see if it's suitable.

23:14 / 06.12.02

I love you potus =(

Persephone: Shaved heads can be scary.

Er, I meant yours, but also running around with clippers would be scary.

Tryphena Absent

01:01 / 07.12.02

When I identified, outwardly, as a straight young girl I was quite the goth, all black and purples and burgundy. Then I told my friends that I was bi and my wardrobe blossomed as a colourful and extroverted entity. I find now that my shoes are representative of my sexual preference (unless I'm walking a lot). When I'm feeling the dyke side of me I wear heels a lot. The straight piece of me wears trainers and flat leather shoes basically scream anything and everything.

16:09 / 07.12.02

Persephone: I'm not kidding about the teeth; I had by widom teeth taken out fully formed and healthy, all four at once. Made a nice necklace, surfer-style. I don't wear 'em any more - they kind of scare people once they realize that they're not actually shells.

Varis 08: They are TOO! The only thing cooler is

and not everyone can pull off the skin-tight sweatsuit look.

Perfect Tommy: Alternately, why mathematics? Whose mathematics are coolest? What's the sexiest thing about math? Ironic, hawaiian-shirt party math or cool, sleek, precise button-down math? Or gnarly duct tape home-improvised Apollo-13-mission-control, Man-Or-Astroman math?

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

18:58 / 07.12.02

...and not everyone can pull off the skin-tight sweatsuit look.

Nor can everyone break someone's ribs with a blow from mere inches away. Now that's fuckin' cool.

I really wish I could help. If I'm not wearing work clothes (blach slacks, white shirt, tie), then I'm wearing clothes my sisters bought for me, knowing my almost total lack of fashion sense. Of course, there are the homemade t-shirts that they beg me not to wear, but c'mon, your sisters can only have so tight a grip on what you wear everyday.

The other day I needed a tie, quick. I was late for work and I left mine at home, so I run into K-mart looking for something cheap. Odd note of synchronicity: I had just watched The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the Eighth Dimension, co-starring one Perfect Tommy, and was thinking about how much I loved the thin tie look. I go into K-mart and all they have are thin little eighties ties. That's it. Those are the only damn ties in the store.

So I bought one and I love wearing it. It looks great. Everyone compliments it. If you're a thin guy, then get a thin tie 'cause it looks better. You don't need one third of your shirt front taken up by a tie. I think tie fashion should go by body-shape anyway.

14:51 / 09.12.02

Ironic, hawaiian-shirt party math or cool, sleek, precise button-down math? Or gnarly duct tape home-improvised Apollo-13-mission-control, Man-Or-Astroman math?

Remember Pi? How Max's computer room was all punkrock improvisational mad scientist, computer science as designed by Trent Reznor? Replace introverted brooding obsessive Max with Buckaroo Bonzai (physicist, neurosurgeon, rock star, jet car test pilot), and there you have it.

Thin ties, eh? Eeexcellent.

15:10 / 09.12.02

Stream of consciousness: punk rock math whiz + thin ties =

shirts, white, button down
one battered jacket, thin lapels (no elbow patches)
badges, buttons, pins, patches - on lapels/over breast (no breast pocket)
Everything is black and white except little badges, handmade monograms, etc. spots of bright, saturated colors.
black jeans
brogues or monochrome sneakers (not running shoes).
hot days, collection of solid color, sloganless t-shirts, black short-sleeve button-up shirt unbuttoned, possibly with white embroidery or letters ("i'm a genius" on the front pocket) or monogram or something.
A belt made of duct tape.

How's that fit?

15:14 / 09.12.02

small machine parts (carburetor components) or circuits (like from inside a beeper) as accessories/lapel pins.

18:03 / 09.12.02

Hooray! My glasses broke! Accessorizing!

18:04 / 09.12.02

Hey, Janina: Is it just your shoes that vary, or do you bounce from colorful to gothy and back on whim?

05:46 / 10.12.02

shirts, white, button down
one battered jacket, thin lapels (no elbow patches)
badges, buttons, pins, patches - on lapels/over breast (no breast pocket)
Everything is black and white except little badges, handmade monograms, etc. spots of bright, saturated colors.
black jeans

Damn - you've pegged a good portion of my wardrobe. I tend to wear jackets with skinny lapels and interesting pins in the lapels (single stud earrings, found pieces, vintage stuff), skinny ties... although if the weather is nice, I'll wear a tank top under the jacket instead of the shirt with buttons.

15:03 / 10.12.02

The key to it all is the skinny ties, which I hadn't even considered before. This is culture being rebuilt after the Terminator/Mad Max/Time Machine Plot Device War, having only Thomas "Blinded with Science" Dolby and John Cusack movies as reference material.

Revelation on the bus: Persephone needs to wear more metal. Lots of barely audible clinking as she moves will subconsciously remind the viewer of cowboy spurs, killer robots, and the very real possibility that she's packing heat.

20:48 / 10.12.02

LOL! Well I obviously don't have a clue about what it takes to be really scary. I'm sitting here thinking that I should maybe wear eyeliner more regularly, and you all are like "Hang metal from your body! Shave your head! Pull out your teeth and make a necklace!"

20:55 / 10.12.02

That metal thing, actually, reminds me that I *always* have my keys hanging out of my pockets. They're on a longish chain. Clink. Clink.