I was working at the nightclub entertaining some friends that were celebrating their birthdays together (trust me I'm getting sick of birtdays too). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a really cute guy giving me a look of recognition. He had brown hair, a lean build, and a boy-next-door look. I don't really make the first move on guys considering I'm not really out of the closet so I just continued to chat with my friends. Next thing I know, the cute guy touches me on the elbow and asks me if I was at a certain hotel the other day. I was. The guy says he recognized me because of the way I was dressed that night (a fitted gray sweater vest, a navy skinny tie, a striped blue shirt and charcoal pants) and that very moment (a dark aquamarine shirt, a black vest, a b&w striped narrow tie, and black pinstriped pants). I thanked him, and I was glad it was dark cause I started blushing. We exchanged names (we'll call him Noah). He asked me what I was doing at the hotel that night (I was visiting a friend at the bar) , and I asked him what he did there (he's in accounting). Noah also introduced me to his friend who looked a little annoyed. I thought maybe his friend was straight and didn't approve of us having a conversation that excluded him so I grabbed a couple of my female friends and introduced them. He didn't seem interested in them. So Noah and I started wrapping up our conversation, and I gave him my business card. I didn't really know how to ask for his phone number so I missed my opportunity. When am I going to learn? While the whole interaction did make me smile, it also made me remember that I wasn't always the well-dressed guy.
In fact, between high school and college I went through about three fashion phases. During 9th grade, I had somewhat of a nerdy/grunge look - I had acne, braces, and wore oversized plaid shirts and baggy jeans. The high school in-crowd took me in during 11th grade after I ditched the braces and lost the acne. My style switched to a hip-hop look since that's what was in at the time. I still wore baggy jeans but I wore Adidas, a lot of jerseys and bright colored XXL activewear even though I was only a Medium. By the time I won Homecoming King I was leaning towards more of a preppy look. This helped me a lot when I was rushing fraternities in college. I wanted to be a part of one of the two best fraternities on campus - one which resembled an Abercrombie & Fitch ad and the other looked and acted very spoiled like the guys from the movie The Skulls. I'll let you guess which one I ended up joining.
I started working at the clothing store as a sales associate my freshman year in college, and it's taught me a lot about fashion and style. The two can actually be very different. Someone can be very fashionable but lack a sense of personal style. I've only decided within the past couple of years that I would rather be known for having a sense of style than always wearing the latest trends. I'm still working on editing my wardrobe cause I'm somewhat of a shopaholic, but it's all coming together. And with what happened Thursday night, it looks like my decision to pick style over fashion has paid off.
