Clothing

Umm clothing. I’m not as much as a fashion person as maybe I should be and I didn’t really make that much effort until older. The first time I went to a club I was wearing a suit and it was brown! When I worked in a bookshop as a Saturday job I used to alternate between wearing a pink shirt, mint green tie and sleeveless jumper and a mint green shirt, pink tie and sleeveless jumper, nice.

I wore pilot shirts in my sixth form because they were practical and my step dad forced me to wear sandals in the last year of junior school to allow my feet to breathe! This might have been a sound policy but I couldn’t see beyond the taunts of ‘Jesus creepers’, barrage of cold and rain and the inability to play football without my toes flopping out of the front and scraping along the floor. For me school uniform was a blessing to prevent a multitude of crimes against fashion.

Out of school I wore Gallini, Dunlop green flash trainers and elasticated cotton trader jeans that were unceremoniously yanked down on more than one occasion. You can imagine then the relief and admission to the regular world that was granted to me when I purchased my first pair Levis and Nike air.

My clothing since has hardly been memorable but I do look good in a suit and not bad in a kilt. I have a couple of lime green Adidas tops that seem to be universally despised by everyone! I think they like the cut but just think the colour a little bold. I’m not a tart but hell the worst thing than being seen is not being seen so I’m happy to wear them. I don’t have a problem wearing loud clothes. I love tops that are baggy and comfortable, not that I’m trying to hide my shape or anything. I’ve just like the cuffs to of a top to be slightly longer and think maybe it stems from a belief that I used to always buy clothes slightly bigger so I could grow into them. I also find that if a top has even the slightest feeling or tightness or constriction that I don’t enjoy wearing it.

I’ve got this wicked short that I got from T K Maxx about 18 months ago that is a basically white, with short sleeves, made of polyester and is covered in what looks like silver hole punches of differing small sizes. In a club it catches the light and look like a walking glitter ball. I’m not stupid or gay and I realise that it can’t possibly be classed as ‘hip’ or ‘cool’ but hopefully people in clubs when they are looking at sweating individuals or people in white and UV painted hair might think favourably of it. To be honest whenever I wear it people always comment with a ‘nice shirt’ or I’ve even had people stop in there cars when I’m en route or leaving a club to comment on it. I’m not a woman and thus don’t have boobs in a low cut top to get people’s attention, I wouldn’t say I’m handsome or have a rippling torso but this shirt does catch people’s eyes and that, in the right environment, is all you can really ask for.

Unlike some of my friends I don’t think I’m equipped or designed to stand in the corner looking cool and moody in a subtle shirt so invariably I’ll plump for something a little different but not of course in some kind of Timmy Mallet style.

I’m not averse to wearing a little fancy dress and have a great school boy outfit for school disco and the Miami vice /don Johnson garb replete with shoulder holster and hand dye pink vest for that 80’s look!

Fragrances

It’s funny but when I was younger girls used to comment to me more about how I smelt. I’ve always been paranoid how my smell. I don’t think I have a problem but having been around others who have had I know that it isn’t very pleasant so I always thought well if I can’t do anything about my looks I can sure as hell make sure that I smell good.

If I was ever lucky enough to get a girl dancing close to me I either wanted to ensure she wouldn’t run away due to me smelling or have a pleasant scent to remember me by. I used to like wearing Fahrenheit, which always seemed to get a complimentary response, or Kouros Frachier which was a sportier version of Kouros. I think for me the design of the bottle and whiff of the scent is a powerful reminder of the evenings going at in my late teens and early twenties.

I now like to wear either Happy by Clinique or am considering getting one of the new Lacoste. Despite continuing to strive for smelling perfection I don’t seem to get any comments anymore but this could be down to either women not being as bothered or more than likely the amount of women being in close proximity to me diminishing!

On girls there are a couple of perfumes that I really love. When younger I used to go crazy over white musk. I know that’s a bit clichéd with it being such a popular scent from Body Shop but god I loved it. A girl I massively fancied used to wear and it used to drive me insane, such to the point that at lunchtime when she was working and I was on my break I would take a quick smell of her coat collar. It was harmless and that was all I did ( I wasn’t touching myself as I did it or anything) but obviously it would rub against her neck when she put on her morning perfume and combined with her own scent, which is different from everyone, it just smelt fantastic. Another fragrance that I really liked, and like white musk still do, is Tresor by Lancôme. Wow, what a belter this is. I know it’s another musky smell but to me it just smells so womanly.

To be honest I just adore a good smelling woman. There are so many nice perfumes out that whether just getting a whiff as a girl walks past, smelling it on her neck or the smell of freshly washed hair is just great.


Oct 2007

Just as a quick addition I'd say my current trio of fragrances would be Happy by Clinique. A lovely fresh scent that has been a favourite for some time. The clear simple packaging and branding is excellent.

Next up would be CK Summer. I found this when in the CK outlet store in Orlando. It has a lovely fragrance and I wore it so much during the holiday that I think the smell will forever be linked with Florida.

Finally we have Colonia Assoluta by Acqua di Parma. This is the daddy and quite exclusive. A friend somehow discovered it and their website details it's history and how it came from being popular with movie idols (Niven, Grant etc) in the 40's and 50's before fading into obscurity during the 70's and 80's before being re-invigorated by a trio of Italian businessman. It's a hard one to get hold but this isn't a bad thing I think. I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly classy guy but I find wearing this fragrance makes me feel a little more elegant with a hint of the David Niven!