Do you want to be a writer? Dress like one.
A few words about writing fashion.
My friend recently told me I looked like a writer. I wore a beanie, rounded glasses, and bowtie. Yes! Finally, someone acknowledged my writing. I was too humble to consider myself a writer. But when someone called me like that, I started playing with the thought. I was a writer. But wait for a second! Do you have to dress like a writer to be a writer?
Andy Warhol (The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, 1975) wrote that he “put Warhol on”. In his case, it meant a pair of black Ray-Ban Classes, a striped T-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a leather jacket. And voila — an artist was born.
I had a hypothesis that there must be a certain pattern of how writers look nowadays. I asked my writer friend who was an author of five books. He said that writers did not care about the look, it was their content that mattered. But he had glasses, a shirt, and a loose jacket. Interesting, right?
I searched for more clues and found an adorable how-to article on wikihow. It describes types of writers and how to become one of them:
1. Intellectual writer
signs: wear glasses, wear a vintage backpack, have a pen and recycled notepad, and smell nostalgic (very important!)
2. Artistic writer
signs: wear sunglasses, blazers and dark denim, for females, is mandatory red lipstick and smokey shadows (hot!)
3. General writer
signs: read books, wear comfortable clothes, carry a notebook
So, there are some stereotypes about how writers should look. One says fake it until you make it. But it is undeniable that clothes make you feel confident and comfortable. I suppose a similar thing can happen when you write. Your clothes can set a mindset and help you focus.
If you work in the office, you dress like a white-collar. But if you work home and write, what do you wear? Nothing special? I experimented and tried to put a shirt and my boyfriend’s blazer on whenever I was writing. Sadly, I did not become a new Allen Ginsberg. I was stuck with my writing as always.
There is no groundbreaking conclusion of my fashion research. Wear what makes you happy. Like in writing, there are no boundaries. Writing fashion dictates trends and topics. They appear and disappear and appear again.
So, don’t worry. As long as you keep on writing, you are growing as a writer. But if you want to extra enhance it, well, wear glasses.
