Wednesday 18th May, 2022
Wednesday, Wednesday… & I’m so ready for the world.
Happy Mittwoch everyone! Hope you’ve been enjoying the sun. Summer is such a marvellous place to be. Even the rain has been warm… & I’m able to wear what I want from my wardrobe. I’m currently being subjected to a Netflix docuseries about clothes, & I guess that’s what we’re gonna talk about today… because yes, being a musician, or more broadly speaking, an artist, means that you have to think about your clothes. What are you wearing on stage? What are you wearing in that photoshoot? Or that video?
There was a long time in which I didn’t care about what I wore. My style was ‘unstyled’: mismatched, torn, unflattering. Once upon a time, as a young teenager, I was inspired by the Solarpunk styles present in the video game ‘Final Fantasy 10’. I used to sew different coloured ribbons to a rainbow sweatband. I would attach funky pockets to my jackets. I had a yearning for style, & it gave me a way to be creative. Then I got all self-conscious in my teens cause ‘boys didn’t care about fashion’, & I’m a good boy. :)
Nowadays I’m all about experimenting with fashion when I can. It started when a friend of mine started to dress me. She worked in retail & had access to some really nice stuff that she gave to me. When I dressed well, I felt good. Learning that took some discomfort. Which is where I’ll begin. If you’re an artist & you “don’t care about fashion”, chances are, you’re afraid of it. Not to worry. You’ll be fine. It will feel uncomfortable… you will look stupid… but gradually, you’ll start to feel a bit more like you, in a way that you didn’t know you could.
So much of what we do as artists is trial & error, especially when you’re doing it by yourself. I used to have a pair of both luminous blue & bright pink pants (one of which you can find me wearing in an old video on Youtube). These things were so tight, & so silly. But it was my rebellion against the boyishness of my previous style. One thing I’ve always had to contest with is the ‘male/female’ fallacy in the fashion world. Quite often, clothes ‘for men’ are super boring… while clothes ‘for women’ are impractical… I want some beautifully flowy trousers that have space in the crotch! (is that too much to ask?) Another issue that I have is second-hand shopping. I pretty much exclusively shop in second-hand clothes shops… charity shops, etc.
It’s simple… all you gotta do is find clothes that are stylish, practical, the right size, that reflect your personality as an artist, & match your wardrobe.
Okay, enough complaining.
Something I often think about is how my fashion communicates who I am, or who I want to be. I love the future. I love the circussy-bohemian baggyness too. I love sharp, mature, & distinguished, but I also love a younger, modern style. A lot of what I love to wear is contradictory. It makes a mess of my closet & I’m still figuring out what to do with my clothes. I get to make unconventional matches… & through that, over time, maybe I’ll find a consistent style.
One important thing to keep in mind for the stage artists out there: when you have a big performance, keep in mind the colour of your backgrounds. Most stages are black, some have deep red curtains, whatever it is… please don’t wear the same colour as the stage. So many times do I see floating heads in a sea of black, because the artist wasn’t brave enough to pick a colour. When you spend time around new artists you see it everywhere.. then you look up at the big names & see a very different story. Even Ed Sheeran wears a white tshirt, & he’s super normal.
Not everyone has to be Liberace, Elton John, or Nathan Mac…. ;) But if you care about the way you look, (which you do… cause everyone does), just have a think about why you’re wearing what you’re wearing.
Okay Baii for now!
I gotta go to a lovely gig.
Nathan
