Six months ago, I bought some new clothes. Part of this was an aesthetic quest to chill out, to attain a visual vibe and hope it sunk in at least as deep as my clenched jaw.
I’m not sure if I’ve chilled out, but I do like the clothes.
Colors and Gradients
My simplest new shirt is this one:
I like pink in general, but the cool thing about this shirt is that it’s “washed.” Not that I wash it after wearing, though I do. But that it’s deliberately manufactured to have a slightly worn look, adding texture to the color. You can’t see it as well in pictures, but if you look closely you’ll see that there are slight variations in hue, which makes the pinkness really pop.
Lots of other stuff I got was blue, and this shade of pink goes well with that.
For example, these pants:
I’ve really started appreciating clothes with a color gradient. They’re more interesting than a solid color, but because the pattern isn’t intricate they’re easy to match with stuff. And if I wanna be really cutesy about it (which I do):
Boom! Gradient shirts! They’re comfortable and some varieties get dark enough near the bottom that I can match the bottom of my shirt to the top of my pants. My main pair of tennis shoes is blue, too, so the possibilities are unlimited.
A few other recent shirts play with color in other ways:
Okay, fine, the green one is sort of a gradient. Still, the effect of each of these is a splash of color, which I think can go nicely with similarly colored pants. I also still have some pretty basic shorts in rotation which are black, and these match them in a low-effort way.
Pictures and Patterns
Don’t get the wrong idea. I am not an elegant aesthete, posing outside the discotheque with an extra-slim cigarette. I also like gonzo patterns.
And while I do not go quite that hard below the belt, I have become a fan of shorts that tell a little bit of a story. Such as today’s:
Or my wife’s favorite of the haul:
Which I like because of the pretty flowers and she likes because of how it frames my butt.
The flower pants and city pants both go great with the pink shirt, and the city pants are pretty good with blue/green gradient shirts. I also have some plain white shirts that look okay on me but feel a little too basic, but are perfect when spiced up with festive shorts like these.
The Effects
I like my new clothes. I get compliments occasionally, and if I want to be effortful and put an outfit together, it’s way easier than it used to be. And even if I just throw something on, it’s likely to look nice.
Still on my wish list are some good two-tone shorts; these are harder to find for men, and while I’m more than happy to wear feminine clothes, I am also 6’3 and not as skinny as I used to be, so feminine clothes are not always so happy to wear me. I also have a crippling pockets dependency, which rules most girl pants out.
Maybe you should think about what clothes might make you feel nice to wear, and buy them. Or maybe you shouldn’t worry about it. It’s a great bang for your buck, though: clothes are pretty cheap, and you probably have to wear them every day.