entering The scene

First of all, a confession. I am quite new to the world of tailored clothing. In fact I think my first serious suit purchase, which marked the start of what is now a passion, took place about a year and a half ago. To be fair, every decision I made back then was a bad one and although I’d say my preferences were quite literally the opposite of what a good suit represents, I got one thing right; quality. 

Needless to say I am still learning, still evolving, and making mistakes is a big part of that. Also, I do not claim that everything I believe looks smart and well put together necessarily is so, nor do I claim that what I write on this page is a depiction of any truth besides my own. Furthermore, I am also as judgmental as the next guy, so I understand the need for someone to “critique” other peoples’ style. I do it, you do it, we all do it. However, no matter what, I think the most important part of how you approach what you wear and what you like is to do so with confidence. Knowing that, in the end, the protagonist of your story is you after all. 

There is no doubt that moving to Japan had a big impact on how my opinion on style in general changed. I think this holds true for anyone who moves overseas for either studies or work. You finally get cut off from the norm you’re supposed to or expected to be bound by. In my case I always had a tendency to try out pieces that were somewhat out of the ordinary in the opinion of friends, albeit nothing overtly special. I guess it says a lot more about the ‘rules’ within my social group, that leather oxfords were *input pejorative*, rather than the actual act of wearing the shoes. Or, let’s put it this way; the confines in which I had to experiment in were limited. The irony of course being that merely a year later, leather shoes in all shapes and styles suddenly were okay. A slight victory, although, on the other hand, the fact that the juxtaposition of tan leather shoes and black jeans isn’t always a good one, seemingly wasn’t completely clear to them yet. Baby steps.

Returning to where Japan fits into the story. It’s actually really refreshing, this feeling that you have a chance to start over with a blank canvas. I’m not necessarily in favor of changing your style (or personality) completely, but more in terms of feeling free to make choices you probably wouldn’t have, or experimenting with something you always wanted to but didn’t, due to conformity. 

As in my case in Japan, I got exposed to such an array of “personal” styles and if you live here for a certain amount of time you are bound to start evolving your own style in one way or the other. As was the case with me. And for the less self-confident finding themselves in Japan, South-Korea or China: if you are a non-Asian foreigner here people stare at you no matter what you wear, so you have to grow a thick skin regardless, and you might as well make the most out of it. Just try to skip the crazy hair color phase that some tend go through…

It’s difficult to give advice on how to be more confident in your appearance and your style choices. After all, the three keys to my progress were: getting as far away from the restraints of my hometown as possible. The second being me living in a city were I had an abundance of inspiration and influences around me and not to mention Tokyo, where I lived at the moment being somewhat of a fashion capital. Lastly, the third being age. The two former are not something one can simply do. You can’t just move to Tokyo, or New York or London for that matter, nor can you necessarily leave the confines of your hometown. 

But I think in the case of the latter, there are some valuable advices to give. The older you get the less you give a shit. You simply don’t have the time or energy to care and you’ve (hopefully) learnt that in the end the only opinion that matters, is your own. Which leads to the inevitable conclusion and, which I will leave it at, in the (possibly cheesy) words of Marcus Aurelius:

“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value to his own opinion than on the opinion of others”