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Fashion is not something that is normally synonymous with geekdom. Sure, we're aware of how we are dressing and those of us with professional jobs tend to blend in on a daily basis. However, we still sport our spants and Superman wallets on the weekends when we can get back to dressing how we like. Never did we think that the geek way of representing our psychical selves to the world would become anything more than just a niche style of dress, just as individual as we are. Things change though, and now it's easier than ever to find the "geek" style of dress everywhere. That said, it may actually be a fashion.
"Like Poetry, fashion does not state anything - it merely suggests." - Karl Lagerfeld
So what is fashion suggesting? Fashion is clearly suggesting that the geek style of dress we're all used to and grew up with can now be considered as a fashion. We see it all over the internet, from T-shirts with 80's and 90's Nintendo and Mario jokes, to the odd cubicle section at Target selling Lucky Charms T-shirts that only the most ostracized of nerds would have worn ten years ago. What was once the trademarked offbeat style of dress that geeks adhered to, has now become a mainstream fashion staple.
What was once strictly the quirky and individualized strangeness that made up geek fashion has now become something of a mainstream and hip occurrence. One could even call such thing a style or "in" but then one would have to have an ear to the fashion train tracks to determine this. Though with the clear popularization of geek culture in general, it was only a matter of a couple belt buckles and some keen gamer t-shirts before it all went mainstream. Thankfully, the l33t speak clothing is still reserved for those who actually know what the hell it means. The rest however, is spreading around the youth and not so youth culture like a bag of Cheetos at a Lan party.
So if geek as we know it has suddenly become fashionable, is it then still something that would be considered geek? Or would it fall in with the rest of the Gap and Old Navy crowd? Part of the appeal of geek style was that it was the ultimate anti-style. There was no rhyme or reason, it was full of tech and video game in-jokes. Full of sarcasm, puns, Monty Python one-liners and comic book themed belt buckles and backpacks. So the question then is what is geek style? Was it the materials themselves as I mentioned, the dorky shit we had piled up in the corner of our rooms by the Star Wars figures or is geek style a movement? Is it the resistance to the mainstream through individuality and uniqueness?
Frankly, I'm not enough of a fashion or sociology expert to be able to answer that question. We can safely say that punk was not only a style but a movement and they went hand in hand. The style defined the movement. It was the color on the canvas. For geeks however, the expressive individuality and the apathetic view towards being anything more than what you are never seemed to me like a movement. It was just the way we dressed. As I mentioned above, I was that kid (and now that adult) with the spants and Batman Velcro wallet. I'm the guy that wears a Halo "Capture the Flag" belt buckle to work.
Regardless of what we think, the transition of geek style into a full blown and popular fashion happened without our interaction. The same thing happened with the hipsters. Suddenly, skinny jeans on men and wool caps in the summer were "hip." I put hip in quotes because I'm really not qualified to make that designation so I have to use air quotes. I say not qualified because, well, I wear spants. I think we established that. By the way, spants are what used to be proper slacks, just cut off (with scissors) about 4 inches below the knees. I think women wear them as Capris. The point is, that in our own minds we have to decide if we really give a hoot about what is fashion, even if it is us.
Geek as the movement (if there is such a thing) wouldn't give a flying Charizard about fashion or wanting to belong to it. Geek as simply the style also wouldn't care for suddenly being popularized on sites such as Jinx.com and Busted Tees. One would think, as I do, geeks would simply find it amusing and enjoy the sudden outspread availability of funny shirts and accessories. The challenge arises when we are not recognized as geeks, but rather as fashionable persons embracing and participating in mainstream fashion trends.
Thankfully though, we know we're geeks and that's all that matters isn't it? Fashion trends come and go, but we'll always be geeks and that won't change. Someday the way we dress will go back on the joke aisle in people's minds where it belongs and all will be well in the universe. Balance will be restored and so on. Until then, I need to go put my Batman key chain tags on my new laptop bag.
What are your thoughts on geek fashion? Is there even such a thing?
Image Credit: Jinx.com
h/t @jennywilliams
