Fashion Uniforms.

I work at a bank and at a bank you see a lot of the same people come in every single day. There is a guy who comes into my branch every day to make a deposit for a certain angry-teenager/dorky-gamer/gothic-metalhead store in a mall near by. He is a really cool guy but he looks kinda scary if you don't know him. I was in my coworker's office when he came in the other day and my coworker was ripping this guy about what he was wearing. The guy was wearing a sleeveless metal band t shirt, super skinny black jeans, black low top vans, and he has super long greasy hair and he is covered in tats.

My coworker commented on how this gentleman wears almost the same thing every day, and the coworker would know because he does actually see this mall worker every day. Before I responded to his comments, I thought about something: I kind of wear the same thing every day and so does my coworker. Our normal attire is your basic office "shirt and tie with slacks or sometimes a suit". It's basically a uniform. Pretty boring, pretty standard, but we get to ditch the tie on Fridays in lieu of a "golf shirt" or just a button down. I made a joke on my twitter just last Friday about this very thing: "It's Friday which means businessmen across America will try their best to look like Tiger Woods".

I told my coworker my thoughts and he agreed with me but still made fun of the guy because he "looks ridiculous". He even made the assumption that the guy probably drives some sort of Mustang or an old Datsun or something. Turns out he was close. The guy drives a beat up Firebird.

Either way, I think fashion uniforms can be good. My fiancee' gives me a hard time because sometimes I take longer to find something to wear then she does only to end up looking like I hardly tried and looking like I did the last time we went out. Our mall worker friend probably NEVER has trouble picking out something to wear. He knows what he wants to look like and he know what he has to work with. He probably doesn't spend time attempting to match or to pick out just the right t shirt with this particular pair of black jeans. He doesn't worry if he has already worn something similar last time he went out or looks the same as he did yesterday. I imagine he just pulls out the jeans, grabs a shirt off a hanger (or off the floor), slips on his beat up vans and walks the f out the door! Easy right? And he probably looks totally different from everyone around him.

One person I consider not only a fantastic musician but a fashion icon (and my personal fashion hero) is Albert Hammond Jr.

In the early days of his band The Strokes, Albert OWNED the suit with Chucks look before any of these fashion snobs did and he did it very well. In fact, I would go so far as to say Albert has helped shape the current state of men's fashion with his look. I read once that Albert said his motto for his look is to "always look like you are about to go on stage". Guess what, Albert is pretty much wearing a uniform when he straps on his Olympic White Fender Strat and plugs in for a performance: Suit jacket and trousers, T shirt, and Chucks.

I have always made an attempt to go with that motto and I always look to Albert when I am going out or when I am just bumming around. Albert also has a stronghold on the T shirt and jeans/pants look as well. To me anyway.

Another example of the "fashion uniform" is from my favorite fashion movement: the Mod. In the '60s in England, the Mod ruled the streets. Checked Ben Sherman shirt (or Bennie), slim blue Levi's 501 jeans (the original "skinny jean" [if you were wondering where the skinny jean originated, your welcome]), and of course Tan Clark's Dessert Boots (or Dessies). This was the Mod look in England back then and when it was cold they threw on a parka when it was chilly, a Barracuda jacket. Now call me crazy but that sounds like a uniform to me. When I am picking out or even buying my clothes I try to model my entire wardrobe after the Mods. To me there is no better look for a modern man with good fashion sense.

You could spend hours shopping and looking for the perfect outfit for you and wear it one time and then never look at it again OR you could buy a few things that look really good on you and wear them everyday, even if they kinda look the same.

I think seeing this mall worker dude come in everyday wearing nearly the same thing and me having a conversation with my coworker opened my eyes to this concept.

Bottom line: uniforms ain't so bad.