Menswear 101: masculinity derived from confidence not fashion

Discretion: I always feel like I have to justify what I say in my fashion posts because I know it sounds like the only thing I care about is appearances. But I don't mean to knock people's sense of fashion (or lack thereof) or put people down, I'm just presenting another view from what I've been seeing and experiencing.


Tee hee: You want ultimate menswear in effect? Here's Dolce and Gabbana Spring 2008. The stuff is very JT.


Then again I don't see why JT and D&G are so great if the Asians were already doing this in the first place.

I miss New York manicures.

Listening to: Jay Chou's Twilight Seventh Chapter. It's really an amazing combo of his regular pop with classical and rap. I love it. This song kinda sums up all my interests in music.

And this one's good too: 'It Started with a Kiss' OST, Jason & LaraSay You Love Me. Oh so fruity. XP

I couldn't sleep last night because my head was filled with ideas of shu cream, baking cakes and menswear. Sad. I woke up early this morning thinking about how to up the anti on a men's blazer. Sigh.

So yesterday I went to a press release for this collaboration between Lola, a cosmetic company, and the Children's Cancer Society. I went to work at 10:30 and had to draw on this shirt that Lola gave us. Long story short I did the design in an hour with fabric paint I bought a few days before. When I asked my designer what I would use to make the design, she said "pen and marker" and thoughts of gr 8 autographing t shirts on fuzzy cotton gave me enough chills to go out and buy paint. Yeah they looked good. There were a few celebs there: Christine Ng and Stephanie Cheng. One's a chinese series actress and the other a singer. Both of them I'm not really familiar with but I've probably seen a 'kek jap' or two from the actress.
The t shirt turned out better than I anticipated although I wanted to hurl when I saw my boss go up and tell them that it was her design. On one hand I understand she can't say "hey and my intern designed this for me..." but at the same time it annoys me that I'm not given any credit. I guess I was appeased when they unwillingly gave me a gift bag with one item in it: a lipstick that has this snap out mirror which I really like. And then as I was about to leave I discovered someone stole my $30HK umbrella! RAWR.

No worries I was going back to Mong kok anyway so I bought a new one. I think I should just live there because I'm there every other day. Robyn and I ended up chilling with the menswear designer for an hour and a half showing him our sketchbooks, placing orders and minding his store when he had to help customers in the change room. I purchased this one button vest for my brother: a thin navy black wool that I got to pick out from his swatchbook with two pockets on one side and a pocket on the other but I customized the single pocket so it has a double flap. The shoulders have the military cuffs and the placket I placed two slits on either side so you could slide a skinny scarf or tie through it for a punch of colour. The back has a separate back placket with two points. Very cool. The buttons are black and gold with a classic emblem and a small face. I love it. I'm going to force my brother to wear it. XD I swear I kept it to the minimum so it still looked 'manly' :P. For all the customizations, tailoring and alterations I got it for $270? We're friends so we get a discount. ;)
I want to swap my internship and work for him. It's a lot more fun. Here I get to watch customers try on clothes, give opinions on styling and colour: more people come in because Robyn and I are just sitting there. I think psychologically one enters a store where there are other customers: makes you feel less self conscious if there are others browsing. ;) So when we were just hanging out there, there was a continuous flow of customers coming in and out. Then there are the guys who bring their mothers/aunts/sisters/girlfriends. So funny. They remind me of my brother: kinda "meh" about everything while their mothers are nitpicking about the colour and the way the clothes hang on the body. But the look of the day: a customer who already had a white vest paired with a grey blue dress shirt, black skinny tie and the designer's black pants and a pair of white sneakers. HOT
Anyway there are times when I don't realize I'm smiling at people because I'm so in love with what they're wearing. The corners of my mouth twitch into a small smile and then I have to look away lest I look like a creep. Correction: I already look like a creep. :P
Anyway I want to work at his place now: it's tiny but I can sit on his stool all day talking to customers in my broken canto. I've realized a lot of the time the reason for me going to a certain place is not because of the location and the activities offered, but because I like the crowd that hangs around that area. In Toronto I love bubble teaing at Go for Tea and Destiny's on certain days because there are a lot of others around my age there. I love going to Mongkok and Causeway Bay because there are a lot of fashionable people to see. The reason why I'm not interested in say the clubbing scene is because the people don't really interest me. I go to places for the people. And the problem with my workplace now is that there are very few clients so I'm missing the salesperson-client interaction. I love talking to customers. It's so much fun especially when they're uncertain about what to try on and I get to help them.
Yep and the designer's super cool! Doesn't slouch, doesn't like to game (says it's a waste of time), is passionate about designing menswear and took initiative to start his own company. Why aren't there any Christians guys like this?
I know I sound smitten by him. I am somewhat am. He's like the male version of me in terms of his intensity in his passion for what he does.

He asked us what Canadian guys were like in terms of fashion. Um, baggy t shirts and.. cargo pants/jeans? I pointed to what he was wearing: a t shirt with sparkly beaded text, a long necklace and snug black cotton pants and watermelon green plastic Converse and told him all our friends would think he looked too feminine. He looked a little surprised and retorted that he couldn't talk to guys who weren't interested in clothes. Lol.

If the inside is what counts, then something caught fire when I got here. Before this trip I was okay with the Waterloo attire. I'm not against people who don't care about fashion but at the same time it REALLY HELPS. I guess it happened gradually: firstly menswear was on my radar thanks to japanese dramas, and then my skinny tie obsession.. then I saw Andrew for the first time after his four month stay in NY. Yeah that time at Congeee Wong for the photo shoot he entered in his Mong kok black trench coat made me think, "wow you look so much better! cleaner lines, less baggy and more cosmopolitan." It was just one coat but it became a symbol, if you will, that canadian guys can change if they put in the effort. XD Oh and also go to HK to get some clothes that actually fit them. Yeah go talk to my cousin: she's also been caught in this whole hk menswear look. XD Correction: just look at her sketchbook. KEKEKEKE!!!
For some reason something inside me 'woke up' when I began observing how people dressed here. As a Christian I'm always in this tug o' war between the focus on appearances vs character. Yet something about how a guy dresses reflects what he thinks about himself and sends me a message to me that he cares about how he presents himself as well as his availability. Lol. It makes no sense but in my head it does. Trust me, if you put the designer next to any Chinese Canadian, I'd notice the former first. The typical baggy shirt and jeans guy makes me think that he's bored, just fell out of bed and decided to make an appearance for the heck of it. It doesn't make me think "hey you're an open, friendly person to talk to!"
Sorry the hoodie and sweatpants combo doesn't do it for me: I won't judge people because of their outfit changes but at the same time it inevitably sends me one message or another. If the inside is what matters then why are all the girls ga-ga over Timberlake? Because he dresses well.

While most NA guys would probably say the designer's clothes are too feminine and 'gay looking', he has the ability to wear it in a way that makes them look masculine. He looks as if he owns the clothes and the clothes don't own him. And that ability to still appear masculine despite the feminine connotations in his fashion sensibility shows confidence. When I look at him I don't think "gay!" and that's saying something as a person who goes to fashion school. Even when I look at the stuff he sells I wonder how to make it look like it's not from the women's section: he styles them very well. I think a lot of guys would look good in his clothes however the reason he can carry them off and a lot can't is because he wears them with ease. Stick one of his blazers, vests or dress shirts on the typical Canadian guy, he'd immediately slouch his shoulders, look away and fumble nervously. Clothes with a strong character and taste require wearers who can match them in intensity and personality. Put 'flamboyant' clothes on a insecure guy will look awkward and out of place.
They say, "I don't look good in these kinds of clothes."
I just say "you look good in them. It's not an issue about your body size. You already look good: you just need a confidence to match it."

I wish my canto was better so I could talk to him more. He'd make one really cool friend. I was looking at his shoes and saying how much I liked them, he points to one pair and says "Undercover."
While probably most people would ask "why are they under cover?" I just grinned.