Profiles: Marco Martinez— Style Actualization and the “Body” and “Soul” of Clothing
“I think authentic connection starts with putting your own ideas out there without fear of judgment. It can be difficult to believe in myself as a designer of a product…but all I have is myself.”
Marco (IG@p0cketman), dancer, beret savant and self-described off-kilter Japanese farmer Cowboy. To try and capture his aesthetic in words is difficult. So we’ll let the pictures do the talking.
What we can describe, is the immediately apparent joy that Marco has with clothing. His feed expresses a genuine commitment to exploring fashion and truly having fun with it. Style experimentation and the spark of movement are signature aspects in most, if not all of his pictures.
Apparel and Attire sat down to chat about his style journey, building towards self-actualization with clothing and more.
So to start off, how do you describe your style and why do you dress this way?
My style is many things... I can’t quite put a finger on it but it’s personal. I often default to an off-kilter Japanese Farmer Cowboy at Woodstock 1969 and I’m sure that can conjure up some hilarious imagery!
I say personal because I can attribute so many things to my style and to my personal development. I spent 18 years in the Philippines before going to Wesleyan University in Connecticut; I had long been a baseball player but I found dance to become the driving force of my pursuits in college. There were other hobbies adjacent to dance that led to my discovery of clothes as a form of expression (going to concerts and watching films for example).
There are few things that we can control in life..and obviously the body one has been given is the only body one can have! Clothes are the skin I can control depending on how i’m feeling. Not only do I feel elevated when I put these outfits together but it’s a form of “play” I’ve incorporated into my daily routine. It helps me lighten up to start the day!
How did your style develop into how you dress today?
It was around junior year of college when I started paying attention to how I dress. My peers at Wesleyan had their own eclectic styles and as a dancer, I started placing value on how I presented myself to those around me. Though I was a very “lazy” dresser in my freshman and sophomore years, that was influenced by b-boy culture and being a part of a local crew.
As time passed, I allowed myself to become a sponge of the eclectic styles represented at Wesleyan. At first, I dived into Workwear and Americana because of its accessibility. My first goal was to get some Red Wings because every /r/MFA and every style website was recommending them for their build quality and heritage. Then… by the luck of the gods I came upon a Barbour jacket that fit me perfectly. It had been sitting in our university center’s lost and found for weeks and went unclaimed. I snagged that thing faster than you can post your /r/MFA WAYWT fit at 12pm EST.
By that point, I had come into the precursor of my current style. I was unafraid of experimenting and I found inspiration everywhere I went. That approach continues to be a part of my daily process. Since graduating from college, I’ve been to numerous music festivals, gone to 100s of concerts, and have made an annual trip to Japan every year. Each trip to Japan inspired different levels of joy for the clothing I owned. At first, it was about being thrifty and finding deals on as many directional pieces as I could find. Then, I wanted to find the under-the-radar Japanese brands that could refine my style direction. And more recently, I only returned with 1 or 2 things that would complement what I currently have.
Whether I am wearing Engineered Garments, Kapital, Needles, Craig Green, Bode, or some niche Japanese designer label, I know my college self would be proud if they say what my style has evolved into.
What do you do and how does that influence your style?
I’m lucky to be working in tech where there is no required dress code. Some of my pieces were great conversation starters when I was based out of San Francisco. I have steadily dialed things back since moving to LA because of how relaxing the energy is on the West side.
I also commute to work on a motorcycle so my uniform has to be practical: a Vanson Perfecto, Waxed cargo pants, and engineer boots. I still take rideshares from time-to-time when I feel like wearing one of my happy outfits!
So where does it go from here? Any grails eluding you? How do you see your style evolving?
I haven’t thought about where I want to take my style! My grails change every so often because I tend to ascribe feelings to a piece instead of the utilitarian question that is “will this actually add to my wardrobe?”. And that’s something I cannot shake because my moods and my inspirations are constantly shifting.
But if there was one thing I wish I didn’t have to pay for now, it would be an electric blue Lewis Leathers perfecto Jacket. Something durable, classic, and eye-catching for when I get on my motorcycle.
My style is evolving if I actively choose to work within my own wardrobe instead of hopping on some Y! Auctions to get my next bargain fix.
I feel as though keeping up with trends and trying to build a following were 2017/2018 priorities and are not as important now.
A personal goal of mine in 2019 is to seek authentic connection within the community and to create building blocks for my own ideas to manifest themselves in some shape or form.
That’s an interesting shift from 2017/2018 to 2019. How would you describe this authentic connection you want to build? What would these building blocks to manifest your own ideas look like?
I want the fashion enthusiast community to feel more tightly knit. I find that the proliferation of forums, chat servers (ie. discord), and instagram has made it easier to get into this hobby. By that token, the scene can feel very fragmented. You have the repro workwear crowd, avant-garde darkwear crowd, and high-fashion x streetwear crowd among others.
I think that there’s much more that we can learn from each other and folks can be quick to dismiss a style that they themselves wouldn’t wear. Though this may sound far-fetched, I want to create an experience where clothing enthusiasts of different style philosophies and collections can interact on a deeper level than your typical transaction. I want the platform to transcend the exchange of goods for money. After all, clothing is personal! It’s an amalgamation of our beliefs, upbringing, and our soul.
I think authentic connection starts with putting your own ideas out there without fear of judgment. It can be difficult to believe in myself as a designer of a product..but all I have is myself.
What’s the process like with creating your own clothes? Have you started exploring how you would actually make these things?
I have no set process yet but I feel like it will be dictated by the emotion I feel sifting through clothes. I’m going back to picking from flea markets and finding low-risk pieces that can be reimagined differently from what everyone is putting out right now. Maybe I just want to mess with existing clothes just so I can figure out what exactly works for me. The tough part about having ideas is actually executing or doing something about them. I’ve taken weekly sewing classes but haven’t gotten my own machine. I imagine it would be a fun project to do commissioned upcycling for close friends and acquaintances.
They send me visual inspiration and I find old pieces to mash together that embodies the spirit of what they’re looking for.
That’s also a good point with putting yourself out there. You’ve definitely done that with showcasing your style on the web. How else do you see yourself putting your ideas into the public?
Well I really miss how easy it was to dance in college. I could do it 4–5 days a week for 4 hours and still finish my schoolwork without a hitch. If I ever “showed” my clothes (LOL) I would choreograph something special and personal. I would want to see my clothes in motion.
If design/construction is the body given to clothes, then movement is its soul.
I’m gonna respond with the biggest cliche…putting one’s ideas into the world doesn’t mean you have to be constantly making something (though ideally that’s what we want), you just have to be comfortable in your own skin and be yourself. Society says we have to behave a certain way in order to be accepted but self-love is a powerful, rebellious act in the 21st century. You can empower others just by being yourself and I’m ok with dying knowing that I could help others feel better about where they stand in the world.
Marco’s personal style journey captures the power that clothing and style exploration has over identity. He’s in the process of manifesting his ideal reality through how he dresses, the garments he’s creating and the way he captures the “soul” of clothing.
Putting deliberate thought into what and why we wear clothes is a form of self-love that we can all begin to explore and embrace.
How have your experiences influenced your style? How will you continue to shape and actualize your identity through clothing?
