The Clothes That Made This Man

    When I did my special series earlier this year about my comic book history, I mentioned how I almost did one about my clothes history.  I didn't, because much of it would be about the same few stores, just at different locations in the chain.  However, I got to thinking about some of the clothes I actually purchased. This week, I will be going down some of my most favorite clothing choices.  Not everything is mentioned, because a lot of the things I've worn, I either don't care about or don't feel as special about.  In only a slightly particular order, here are some of my favorite outfits.

• Favorite sneakers: Two-toned black-and-white Reeboks, Sears, Huntington Mall.  For the most part, I had gotten solid color shoes.  Sure, some of the pairs I had as a kid may have had more than one color, but I generally chose black or white by the time I picked Reebok as my go-to brand.  Then, one day at this Sears, I saw this pair just sitting there.  Most of the time, athletic shoes were either solid or a mishmash of color.  These were fashion-forward, black with white trim.  And they had my size, that actually fit. Sometimes, even the right size doesn't quite fit.  I was barely looking for new shoes, but I got them anyway.  I made sure not to wear them too often and never on rainy days those first few months.  Even then, the soles started to peel off.  While I could have had someone try to repair them, my mother strongly urged me to throw them away instead, while at the same time convincing me to keep other shoes in worse shape.  Really hurt my heart.  I've since bought a new fashionable pair of tri-colored Reeboks (blue with white trim and yellow highlights), ordered from JCPenny's and not available from the Reeboks site.  They are not them same as the old ones, but they are holding up, except for the aglets on the laces.  I can't find replacement blue laces anywhere.
• Favorite jackets, tie: Blue-grey 'baseball' jacket, unknown, and color blocked silk jacket, Dawahare's, Weddington Plaza.  Back in seventh, eighth grade, my mom got me a jacket similar to what baseball players would wear with cuffs on the sleeve and trim on the waist.  Sort of like Members Only, but with snaps instead of a zipper and no chest pockets, inside or out.  I wore it all the time, into my freshman year of high school. Then, it vanished by the end of the year.  I found it again early in my sophomore year.  By then, I was a bit taller. I mostly wore it unsnapped because the top ones were tight and with the sleeves rolled up to prevent anyone noticing that the cuffs didn't hit my wrists anymore. I even wrote on the back by then.  I loved it, as it made me feel cool.  However, by my junior year, I was about a foot taller than when I first bought it. (I never had one big growth spurt during puberty, just a bunch of smaller ones spread out over the years. And yes, it was a pain always being one of the smallest boys in my class, if not the school, until my senior year.). I definitely had to stop wearing it, converting to the similar styled Members Only.  I still wear a modern knock-off of one in gray. In college, I managed to find something similar to my old jacket.  It was a silk jacket with a color block design.  Mostly black for the back, but with patches in blue, gold, and other colors.  I could only wear it during early spring, early fall, and the occasional cool summer morning, on days without rain obviously. I wore it for over fifteen years, until I accidentally tore it.  I couldn't repair it, but I still have it.  I just don't wear it.  I hate that, but it is too special to throw out like I did with the first one.
• Favorite jeans:  Purple(?!)/grey Levi's, JCPenny's, Huntington Mall.  I didn't start wearing jeans until college or so, as I really didn't have the body for it until then.  The majority were grey.  (Yes, I have bought actual blue jeans. I currently have a pair of blue 501 button-flies, but it is my only pair that is blue.) While shopping at the mall, I noticed a sale on Levi's in off-season colors, including a kind of purplish pair.  I always try on jeans when they are on sale, so I found one in my perfect size, no need to hem or anything.  It was a weird color, but I looked great in them. Since then, the purple has faded into a great shade of mostly gray.  They are my go-to jeans, especially since my backside, what little there is of it (I need to do more deadlifts that focus on my glutes.), look great in them.  Sure, I have many others in my jeans cycle, but I feel these are the best.
• Favorite dress shirt:  Striped INC, Macy's, Fayette Mall.  I was shopping with my mom, and I had to wait while she was in the restroom.  She doesn't like me wandering, so I was forced to browse nearby.  The INC department were near the restroom entrance at the time, so I was looking over the shirts when I saw this.  It was a vertical striped shirt, in brown, white, yellow, and others.  It was totally not me, but it was me at the same time.  I was rarely needing to wear a dress shirt at the time, but this one grabbed me.  It was a challenge to get my mom on board with the idea, but I bought it that day, my first new dress shirt in over a decade.  A year later, I bought a second one in blue, red, and white stripes.  That one was a little looser, and more formal looking.  I loved the first one, even though it was a tad tight.  It would get even more tight when I added a bit more upper body muscle.  Not enough to prevent me from wearing it, but enough to keep me from buttoning the top one. It didn't matter, because I would lose that top button, as well as the replacement ones.  I haven't worn any of my dress shirts since the pandemic lockdowns, but I would still like to wear this one, even if it isn't as formal as it once was.
• Favorite pullover shirt;  Color-block, striped long sleeve, JCPenny's.  It was a Friday, my freshman year of high school.  My mom had ordered me some clothes that had just arrived that day while I was at school.  I was getting ready to go to the football game that night to play with the band, but my mom thought it was too cool to wear what I wore to school that day.  She had me put on my new shirt.  It had blue-violet shoulders and chest with white sleeves and bottom, with multiple stripes between.  I remember orange and yellow, but it was not a complete rainbow.  I hated to wear it that night, but I grew to love it over the rest of the school year.  Then, that summer, my grandmother cut the sleeves off and had me wear it at home, without asking me first.  Now, I had only grown an inch or two since I first got it, and the shirt was still a little loose.  I probably could have worn it for at least a few times during the fall of my sophomore year.  It wasn't fair, as the least she could have done was ask me first.  Since then, I have almost always gotten shirts in solid colors or color-blocking, no patterns like this shirt.  Yes, there are exceptions, such as my red-orange to navy blue ombré, but these are mostly recent additions over the past few years.
• Favorite board shorts: Light blue with a special design, unknown.  This one is a little different, especially in how I got them. It was early June, my last day of high school.  It was just after graduation practice, and I asked to go with a friend to play ball with him.  I had never had done that before, since I'm horrible at basketball, but I felt that I should take a chance.  Technically, I wasn't supposed to do that, but I was eighteen and it felt right.  He drove me to his home, the only time I ever went, and we played ball with a bunch of other guys.  We then went for a brief swim.  I was wearing shorts, but not swimming trunks.  I was worried I'd get caught if I came home wet, so he gave me a pair of his shorts to change into in his room.  They were blue, with a pattern of skeletons on skateboards on them. Now, he was at least five inches taller than me, so while these shorts would have looked good on him, they went well below the knees on me.  Now, I don't know if they were old, or just something he had around that I never saw him wear before, but they were I gift I thanked him for.  Soon after, while some of the other guys were playing video games, I was driven home by another buy, again a first time event.  I was able to get my wet shorts into the dryer and switch into the pants I was supposed to have worn that day. (Yeah, I was into trouble the whole way round that day.) I only wore those shorts a few times, just around the house, as they were not my style or size.  Still, I appreciated them because of the reminder of one of the most perfect hours I had in my life of just having fun and being myself with other guys. I just wish I had been able to have had more of them, but I was kind of aloof and shy at the time, and I never did.  Today, as I'm writing this post, is that guy's birthday.  He probably won't be reading this, but I would like to thank him again for that day.  We could have, and should have, had more times like that.  If we ever see each other again, I will tell you to your face just how much you meant to me.  And Thank You for being a friend.