Why do you only wear black?

"Wait your t-shirt cost you $300? And you bought it used?"

Among people who know me well, my proclivity for fashion has been a frequent topic of interest. Usually met by:

disbelief ("How could you spend thousands of dollars on a USED jacket made in 2007?")
disdain ("You know you can buy a nice black sweater at Banana Republic for way less, right? I think you're getting ripped off.")
curious interest ("You have an interesting style, but I can't put my finger on why since you're just wearing all black...").

Treasured friends and new visitors, I want to share with you my perspective on what I endearingly call "luxury black rags fashion" and about what fashion means to me as a hobby.

X-men origins

I first started my hobby with fashion and clothing in 2011 upon entering university. Freshman-Jeff wanted to look more appealing to girls and be more confident/presentable to the wider public (I suspect this is a popular original motive).

After researching some internet guides on "dressing well", my journey kicked off by exploring bolder colours palettes and size-too-small clothing - usually both at the same time. I quickly realized that this combination didn't make me feel very confident at all, physically nor emotionally. I'm more of a shy and reserved personality, so my "fashion phase 1" felt out of place and not genuine of my own preferences. Subsequent phases dialed down the peacocking to more muted and subdued shades, feeling more confident when I wasn't on centre stage. I trialed and erred repeatedly over the years, my pruned wardrobe became more and more grey-scale, to now prodominantly black-scale.

Clothing-wise, wearing black has a few advantages: expression by texture, modularity of pieces, lack of seasonality, as well as disadvantages: it's very difficult to find a specific item in the dark. I can go on about these details, however the largest personal advantages are outside of physical clothing and fabric choices.

Signalling

I developed an unexpected superpower from my hobby. A few years in, I realized that from a first glance I was able to make educated guesses on a stranger's personality, internet browsing habits, and wealth to a lesser extent. All from their wardrobe choices that morning. People that browse reddit tend to dress a certain way. People who wear certain brands tend to cluster into certain personalities. Deliberately or not, our choice to buy and wear clothes is a product of our personalities, inspirations, and individual life contexts.

This is a very fascinating advantage: unlike a hobby in skateboarding, or collecting model trains for instance, fashion is one of the few hobbies that can be communicated silently. Just from glancing at a stranger across the street, I can guess what kind of person they are, and confirm if have the same hobbies as I do. And it's vice versa if they're also in fashion. For a shy person like myself, this signalling is one of the primary benefits of the hobby. I will always be able to find fashion friends by looking at the clothes others wear. By symmetry, dressing the way I like also lets new friends find me and understand who I am.

About me

The way I like to explain my own fashion choices is that I want to be noticed on the "second glance". I don't want to be the person wearing the flashy famous branding (obvious at a first glance). I wear all black because I prefer the details of my outfit to be appreciated on a second glance. "Oh, the way his scarf and jacket have contrasting texture is interesting". "Those drop crotch jeans change proportions and elongate his torso". "Those pants have really cool stitching details." Perhaps 99% of people will think: "that guy wears a lot of black" (rephrase: I suspect most people don't think about it at all). But the people that do notice the small details: those are the people that fashion helps me befriend.

Today the way I dress is for the image or mood I want to express, both for myself and to others. I own a wardrobe of "designer clothing", but it's not about the brand name, price, number of compliments, or colour. It's about selecting clothing with care, and representing how you "feel": through black rags, suit and tie, free swag t-shirts, gifted scarves. The satisfaction comes from fulfillment of self-expression, as well as occasional recognition when someone also recognizes your style. Two people that see signal mutually understand the effort in choice and are able to understand each other.

This silent communication of quality is the reason I wear black. For myself and for others, I wear black for others to see me and get to know me outside of the spotlight.

If you like fashion, come say hi. I'd like to speak to you.

Postscript:

While I was writing this concluding section I realize choosing clothing based on "how you feel" is a nebulous descriptor - but upon reflection this is an inevitable byproduct of straying from the idea of something (fashion) and incorporating more "sense of self". Hobbies have rules to them at the basic level where goals and milestones are accomplished. And once you understand the rules and goals, you then begin to incorporate individuality and self expression. The game changes and decisions start being made on "feel". Perhaps a topic for a future blog post.

Yet another future post will explain the economics of luxury fashion resale, as I realized I did not properly explain why someone would spend thousands of dollars to microenhance their sense of self with a piece of fabric.