B-Boy Fashionista

Man 5/19/09

It was the watch that set the whole thing off. Perhaps it was the morning commute but I wasn’t paying much attention to this man initially. But a good glimpse at the watch and it made me look at him in a different light.

It was big and it was very bling. This large round black face, matte black watch with small diamonds in the bezel, diamonds in place of the numerals, and right smack in the middle of the watch face a skull assembled out of diamonds. Mind you, one couldn’t really be certain if the diamonds were real. But paired with the matte black metal link strap and the silver dial. It was one very, very striking watch. Black on black with a diamond skull.

His look was classic B-Boy Fashionista. Any other day and he’d be photographed for The Sartorialist or LookBook or any of the million Japanese fashion sites on the internet.

On his feet were Nike Air Force One high tops. White and pristine. On his head was a black baseball hat with a black New York Yankees logo. He was wearing it backwards with the bill flat and the manufacturer sticker still stuck on. Black and pristine.

The pants were an olive cotton that were extremely tapered and clung to his legs but wide and baggy on his thighs. As if he was wearing some sort of military riding pants. The cuffs were folded over but not revealing any ankles. He also had on a loose deep cut v-neck cotton sweater and a grey v-neck tee underneath. In the neck of the sweater he had placed his glasses, which were a retro Woody Allen-type plastic frame but with a modern twist of a brown colored front and a bright yellow reverse color combination.

There was this enormous black scarf wrapped around his neck and looked almost like he had an extra layer of clothing around his shoulders.

The skull motif repeated itself on his right ear lobe which had a black skull earring stud. The left ear lobe didn’t have a stud, but he did have a loop pierced into the top of his ear.

His hair was long but tucked into the hat. A few wisps appearing in the front, but the tail very visible out of the back. It was black but streaked brown. On his face was a light goatee that really looked like a light mustache and some form of a soul patch. Honestly, he probably couldn’t grown a full beard if his life depended on it.

There was of course the fashionista messenger bag. Well, there is no such thing as a fashionista messenger bag. There is however large men totes or in this case a large bag masquerading as a messenger bag. No flaps, no outer pockets, just one long zipper at the top of the bag. Black leather but a wrinkled leather and to his credit, slightly worn. The shiny silver tab on the side said Marc Jacobs.

As he got up to leave, I caught a glimpse of the label on his pants. Dickies. Does Dickies make pants for fashionistas now?

Son of a Scotch Peddlar

Man 2/6

A kilt. He was wearing a kilt. The coldest day of the year and the man was wearing a kilt. Not a traditional one either, mind you. It was a fashion kilt – without a real tartan but a textured brown fabric with geometric squares.

You’d think that there would be some much going against him, what with the kilt on the coldest winter day. But no. He pulled the look off with great panache and made it into a personal style rather than a costume that one only wears on a Scottish holiday. I actually envy that guy. Not only having the chutzpah to wear a kilt, but being able to pull off the entire look so effortlessly.

So, what did the rest of him look like?

For starters, he had a leather double-breasted overcoat on. It was a very worn, old leather coat with these incredibly large 70’s or early 80’s lapels. The color reminded me of a chocolate M&M. The jacket reached to just above the hemline of his kilt.

His head was a mop-top mess of dirty blonde wavy hair. It was long and it just about blended in with his shaggy beard. The round back frame glasses on his face made him look like a homeless version of Mike Mills from REM. The parts of his face left untouched by the beard showed scars from acne. Wrapped around his neck was a brown scarf – wool and not too distinctive.

The kilt wasn’t the only Scottish influence on him. The blazer sleeves showing revealed a windowpane pattern – blue and yellow lines on a dark brown texture. The white tattersall shirt was finished off at the top with a tartan tie. He also had on brown leather gloves.

The piece-de-resistance had to be the riding boots. They were a leather and canvas combination that stretched to just under the knee. From the top of the calf to the top of the foot was the dark brown canvas, and the rest of the shoe was a tan leather. The boots were as worn as the leather coat. And sticking out were equally high tan socks.

Over his ears were a set of over-ear headphones that were orange in color. Plugged into the iPod that he checked every so often; always placing it back into his left breast coat pocket. He did also carry a small purple Bergdorf Goodman shopping bag, which he later placed into a small Apple store plastic drawstring shopping bag.

Did I happen to mention how much I liked his look? The Satorialist would have loved him.