Broad&Market

“Can you tell me your name, and your hometown, and your age, if you want.”

“Sure. I’m Rebecca, from Buffalo, and I’m thirty-one.”

“What’s your favorite thing on?”

“These two cloth buttons that I got at a craft festival where they were teaching us to make buttons. And so, we just had like, all this material out to sew up. So yeah, that’s my favorite.”

“What’s your goal when you get dressed in the morning?”

“Oh, um…”

“And like, keywords for your personal sense of style or look…”

“I definitely like … carnival-nalia stuff. What else … Something like a little, probably a little sexy, a little BDSM stuff. What else … Probably kind of like exciting and a little, hmm. I like a lot of loud brash colors together. So that’s some of it. And the goal — actually I want to entertain myself, but also entertain other folks. There’s not enough fun entertainment out there with how people get dressed up. So those are my goals. Is that enough?”

“Yeah!”

“Good. Okay.”

“And then… Is there anything that you think about Philadelphia fashion that you see, that you hate or love or don’t get, or you’re like … Philadelphia is nuts… Or, any other commentary you have?”

“Yeah, it’s interesting, cause I just moved here from Brooklyn, so I have all this, like, I’m looking for my other weirdos here! And um, it’s interesting because I feel like the people who are dressing kind of fun and experimental, there are fewer of them here than in Brooklyn. But I also feel like the folks who I do see who are doing something really exciting or dressing kind of like … They’re weirder than what I’ve seen in Brooklyn. They’re a little bit more personal and more, like, chancy? Because I think, well, I really actually believe in Brooklyn folks are wonderfully influence by each other, but there’s sometimes less room for personal expression? So I feel like I’ve seen a lot more riskier, chancier stuff here, even though less frequently. But I also like that people don’t wear like all-black here as much.”

“Oh yeah, yeah…”

“That’s like a big scourge of New York. So…”

“It’s true. When I go visit my friends that live up there … Well, that’s an aside.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, is there anything you would like to say to Philadelphia or Philadelphians?”

(gets momentarily stuck)

“Oh man, I dunno what I wanna say to all of you yet! But I wanna make it good! Umm…”

“Any shout-outs?”

“Shout-outs, okay. I saw some incredibly beautiful people who were dressed up at a samba show the other night at the Calvary Church, which broke my heart. That was really… That was a gorgeous experience, like dancing and seeing people from behind, and being like, that piece right there is lovely! Those (something) right there are lovely! That V-line in your back is absurd!! So, that was kind of absurd. I had a lot of beautiful fashion moments in that.”

“In the Calvary Church…”

“In the Calvary Church. Yeah, at the Crossroads show. So that was maybe my shoutout. Is that good? I feel like I’m giving you lame-o answers.”

“No, no, they’re great! And your current obsession is what?”

“Things I’m kind of fussing over… One is eugenics. I’m totally fascinated by eugenics right now and I’m freaked out by how many brilliant people were eugenicists. Totally obsessing over sex and disease. That’s something I’m thinking a lot about.”

“In what capacity?”

“Like people finding sickness sexy, and thinking about where those crossovers are. That’s totally intriguing to me right now, like what I’m studying – I’m a sexologist. And um, actually toxic sites. So like, Chernobyl and Love Canal, things like that. I’ve been reading a lot about that. And an ongoing love of squid…”

“Like, eating squid? Looking at squid? Anything?”

“Ingesting squid feels really exciting to me! But also like, just looking and loving and studying up on more squid. And um… I feel like is there any kind of musical excitement that’s in there right now … Um, the new Flaming Lips album, Embryonic, and their release of The Dark Side of the Moon are the two albums I’ve been walking around and like obsessing over.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah. It’s good news. I would recommend them highly.”

Rebecca! What excellent answers!! I was a fool not to ask for a peek under her green coat, but some part of me wants to refrain from seeing under-outfits in colder seasons such as these.

So I screwed up a whole interview here with Rhoda and her lovely daughter, Eyrin. I keep opening the record function on my phone, not realizing that I have to press the button a second time to actually record. Dammit.

Rhoda, 32, and Eyrin, 5, are both from West Philly (I think you could safely assume anyone waiting for the trolleys at 30th street would be…). Rhoda thinks that Philadelphia should dress more original. saying people here kinda dress like everybody else and don’t take chances. Her favorite thing on was her BCBG dress because she likes their cuts and their fabrics. Her goal when she gets dressed in the morning is to feel like a diva, to be original, and of course, to look good. Eyrin’s favorite thing on was her skirt because she thinks it’s pretty (sequins!). Rhoda’s current obsession was shoes. The types she likes are stilletos, sexy boots, dramatic stuff like that.

Dramatic is right, because as soon as the two of them walked down the stairs to the trolley platform my head was turning. I’m gonna go ahead and say that you don’t really see all-black ensembles in Philly like this. The picture doesn’t show it too well, but Rhoda paired some wonderfully slouchy, chunky socks with slouch boots. Yeah, I don’t think you see that many textured all-black outfits, certainly not heading out to West. Anyway, Rhoda was definitely projecting a diva feel. When I talked to her she was all slow smiles and soothing attitude. And Eryin was, as you can see, cute as a button. I was reaaaally digging the striped tights with the sequin pattern denim skirt. The Uggs in this case are perfect, if you ask me.

About the title of this post… Usually I ride my bike in the city and refrain from riding SEPTA as much as possible. But I was coming back from the airport this time and had luggage and let me just ask … WHY does it take TWENTY minutes for a single 34 trolley to roll through on a Saturday evening? Tell me that.

Anyone in this town that’s ridden the subway on any given day can probably agree there’s a lot of beards in Philadelphia. A lot. This video is a year old. Where have I been?! (Japan…) Made by a Seattle native, it brings to light some finer details about what my friends and I have referred to as “Philly Beards,” which if you don’t know, is showcased below. Please enjoy.

Phillybeard.com presents: The Sunni Beard from Chikodi Chima on Vimeo.

From Chikodi Chima’s Vimeo page:
Philadelphia is known as “the city of brotherly love” and these brothas’ love their beards.

The Sunni Beard is the story of one such beard, which is worn by many of Philadelphia’s Muslim converts, and is a prominent feature of chins, cheeks, and jowls throughout town.

Thanks for making this, dude! It’s wonderful.

School’s been over for a hot minute and currently I’m in Osaka for two weeks over my winter break. No purpose in mind – I just managed to have enough money for a plane ticket to see friends who I won’t be able to meet for a while after. At any rate, I ran into this guy below and a whole chain of good idea-forming events followed after that. No, he’s not in Philly but well, it’s nice to meet people you admire who enjoy what you put out there. Also, that is me on the right …

(I suppose I should mention that many layers does not equal a chubby man. He is quite slender.)

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Nick Currie, aka Momus.”

“And where are you from originally — give us your hometown and how old you are.”

“I guess my hometown would have to have been Edinburgh, but not for years and years. But I’m forty-nine years old. I must be the oldest person you’ve ever interviewed.”

“That’s not true. What’s the favorite thing you’re wearing today?”

“Um, probably the glasses, which are like optha…malogical glasses from a market in Berlin, customized by Hisae, my girlfriend, with little beads that hold them on so I can just sneeze, and when they fall off…”

“No worries?”

“No worries. But they’re very very cheap. It wouldn’t matter if they got broken anyways.”

“Are they – wait – can you see through them?”

“Yeah, I’m short-sighted, so when I wear them I can see pretty well.”

“Okay, cool. What do you think of when you get dressed in the morning? What’s your goal?”

“Well I dress very quickly, but I do bring some ethics to bear. Usually I’m color coordinated, and well just now I’m living out of a suitcase, so I don’t have much choice, but you know, if I have a blue sweater I’ll pick a blue shirt to go with it… Um, but I think when I’m buying clothes I’m also exercising some kind of policy* as we were saying in the cafe. My policy is probably to evoke some kind of otherness and to refute the global monoculture in some way. Like the global monoculture represented by GAP and UNIQLO and the basic, supposedly supercultural, you know — which usually ends up meaning jeans and a black jacket or whatever, and white shoes, you know, running shoes — this global reductive norm is really my enemy. And I’m struggling against it by using other reductive norms like workwear — that’s a bit of a paradox… So workwear, or like, kabuki clothes or gardener’s clothes or peasant’s clothes, or sportswear like golfing wear. Weird kinds of nerdy sportswear, not advanced, high-tech sportswear. So, yeah, in a way I’m just using a weird kind of cut-and-paste, eclectic version of the same kind of reductive clothing that people are wearing. But hopefully with the effect of one of those children’s games where you sort of flip the card and you get a totally different chest and different legs and different hat.”

“Have you ever been yelled at on the street for anything you’ve worn?”

“Well because I wear an eyepatch I get an awful lot of people yelling ‘pirate’ at me. Or kids pointing and saying ‘look a pirate’.”

“Can you tell me your current obsession? Fashion or non-fashion related.”

“Mai buum wa sou-sou desu.” (Nick is using ‘my boom’ which was a phrase from the 90s used for one’s current obsession. Sou-Sou is an amazing clothing/footwear brand based in Kyoto, which actually can be purchased right in Philly at Omoi!)

“Why is that?”

“Because I just got into Sou-Sou in Tokyo and got excited by a store where you can buy tabi shoes and tabi socks (tabi = split-toe) in various colors and patterns. And we’ve just eaten in a cafe which has Sou-Sou decorations. I’m amazed that such a place exists.”

(Wearing layered, unraveling old sweaters of Hisae’s)

And here, my magnificent Japanese phone ran out of recording space for the interview, so we stopped. Just as well. Nick said volumes in his brief commentary on the ‘global reductive norm.’ Additionally, he keeps an outstanding blog (which he says he’s going to stop come February this year) with all sorts of (head-nodding/mind-blowing) commentary and insight on myriad cultural topics. For me, his observations on fashion are so on point, articulating things I have not yet begun to pound out into solid thoughts (read: awesome). He also makes music and writes for various publications. Ask Wikipedia about “Momus” if you are interested.

* the Japanese use of the English word “policy” (ポリシー or porishii) seems to refer more to an individual’s personal statement or life policy. For example a vegetarian could say that their policy is not to eat meat and to respect animals.

“My name is Andre. Hometown, that’s a bit of a tricky one, but I claim the two-one-fifth. I’m twenty-five, actually. Yes, I’m still a baby.”

“What is the favorite thing you have on right now?”

“My favorite thing? Actually? It’s my underwear. I just got new underwear, and they’re like, if you take tights and just cut em above the legs?”

“Whoa, sounds good. So they’re comfortable?”

“They’re the most comfortable things. Absolutely.”

“Where’d you get them?”

“American Eagle Outfitters! Yes. They are dirt cheap and they’re comfy as fuck.”

“Wow. What about your current obsession right now?”

“Boots.”

“I was gonna say! I was like, this dude has nice boots…”

“Yeah, I started wearing boots again for the first time since I dunno, since high school? And I can’t help it. I gotta get mock-toe ones, I gotta get some suede ones, I just picked up some new desert boots, you know? Something with a good toe, with a good style of heel, hammered heel, so…you know. I am obsessed.”

“Lovely. What do you think when you get dressed in the morning? What’s your goal?”

“My goal is to feel good. Plain and simple. You can look great, but if you don’t feel comfortable, your whole day is shot.”

“It’s true! Do you have anything you wish or need to say about Philadelphians and their style?”

“Try harder. Just try harder. Effort. Be honest, even if you’re not successful – effort. That’s all it takes. Just a little bit of thought and a little bit of tryin.”

“Word. I think that’s all the questions I have. Plus your train’s coming.”

“Yeah my train’s coming.”

Man, so this was one of those situations where you’re checking someone out like they look interesting or cute, and then it turns out to be someone you know but haven’t seen in a while. Nuts, right! Anyway, I’m a chump for not getting a close shot of Andre’s boots. They were tight, and I was really feeling his look, considering Andre dressed a little more street back when I saw him last. Not to say dressing street is bad at all (in fact, I’m on a mission to get more of it), but this American Casual/Workwear thing is my favorite vibe as of late. I think if he didn’t have his glasses or piercings, or the beanie slight off-kilter, it wouldn’t have been as good.

(Loved how this girl looked, but the helmet on is what made it for me. I felt funny asking for her picture, to leave the helmet on and hold the bike … So, covert-opped it this time. Sorry. :/)

This rant was spurred by a comment Lady Peppertooth made about being tired of “bike messenger style.”

★ “Bike messenger style” in this case, I feel, is as interesting comment on one section of Philadelphian style. I ride a bike to school every day. I know that it is very easy and very comfortable to wear jeans (tight/cutoffs), sneakers (Vans/Converse/etc), and some variation of flannel/hoodie overlay with a messenger bag. The “bike messenger look” in Philadelphia always seemed to me loosely tied to Philly’s punk fashion, when I first moved back in 2005, I mean (born and raised tho!).

I made a post back in 2006 about skinny jeans and how they were becoming popular lately with the general public. In other words, you could buy skintight jeans in The Gallery now and didn’t have to make them. I don’t have the time to really flesh out how the proliferation of skinny jeans, the general rising popularity of commuting by bike in Philly, and the current thing that is commonly perceived as “bike messenger style” all go together, but maybe just my stringing along of those terms can get your mind juices flowing.

I get it, what Kim’s getting at. Now what generally could be perceived as bike messenger style is well known as “bike messenger fashion.” Meaning, it’s some funny (possibly Internet-driven) subculture where, for some people, the look overrides the function … Although the main point of bike messenger style is usually function!

But think about this… Recently, since around the spring of 2008 maybe, I noticed a lot of people switching out their bicycle’s drop/road handlebars for cruiser bars that allowed for a more comfortable, upright position. Then I went away to Osaka for 9 months. I got a bike frame in Osaka, and when my friends and I were putting it together I insisted on having cruiser bars. Over in Osaka, the fixed/messenger look was just burgeoning (already going in Tokyo), and my friends didn’t think it was cool to have granny bike (the mama-chari/チャリンコ）handlebars on my red KHS frame. I told them that handlebars like the ones I wanted were in vogue right now, and set about looking for pictures of Philly cyclists. Sure enough, I found plenty of pictures to convince my fixed buddies near Kyobashi.

When I got back to Philly this summer, I noticed that one, commuter-style bars were ever more popular, and, there were LOADS of beautiful single speed and fixed-gear bikes everywhere. Lovely colors and clean. Temple’s campus used to have well-used, dark-colored beaters locked all over the place, and in my absence they were replaced by beautiful machines. I had to wonder who was riding them…

What’s funny is that in Osaka the bike messenger look is a little more hip-hop “street”. Dudes wear baggier pants and vests, not skintight jeans and tight hoodies. But it’s still the fixed “look” to some degree. So, I have to wonder where the “bike messenger style” in Philly really comes from. Hipsters perpetuating a look? Punks that ride bikes? Laziness? Comfort issues and not caring about what one looks like while riding? More than being connected to cycling, I think the loathing of “bike messenger style” has more to do with some hipster/punk kids ish. That’s just what they choose to look like, I guess. And there’s a lot of punks and hipsters in the center of our city. The thought of wearing heels, or voluminous pants or any long jacket is stifled by the fact that Center City streets are far too narrow to risk getting clipped by a SEPTA bus.

(Osaka bike kids at GiraGira Chariya, courtesy of Kentaro)

I get that our cyclist style has a place, but I do agree with Kim … There are other functional, comfortable clothes in the world besides tight jeans and hoodies. It’s okay to wear something crazy when you’re riding.

“What’s your name? And where’s your hometown and how old are you?”

“My name is Kim. I’m twenty-six. I’m from Vernon, New Jersey. If you know where Ashton Park is then you know where I’m from. I’ll let everybody know, but I really feel like Philadelphia is my city.”

“How long have you been living here?”

“Three years.”

“Really, that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Okay, what’s the favorite thing that you’re wearing right now? Is there a story behind anything?”

“Probably… Is there a story behind …? Not really. This sweater I found outside of A-Space, and it looked way too small for me, but I put it on and it fit and I got really excited about it. But I thought it might be a little weird…”

“No, I think the Girl Scouts logo is taking it back to, what, the good ole days? What’s your current obsession? About clothes or anything. You can have a clothes one and a non-clothes one.”

“Okay, my current clothing obsession is real simple pieces that go with a lot of things. Like black cardigans. And also, very colorful patterned tights. My two current obsessions.”

“And then, is there anything that you have to say or wanna say to Philadelphians and the way they dress, what they do, or the city in general?”

“Stop wearing Ugg boots.”

“That is so old though!”

“I know, but people still do it! I think boys need to step it up lately. Also, I really don’t care for bike messenger style.” ★

“What’s the last good thing you saw?”

“Like clothing-wise?”

“Like, man that person looks good!”

“Man, I dunno. I have to think about it…”

“Okay, I guess we’ll end it there then.”

★ “Bike messenger style” The Rant got kinda long, so I made a post for it.

Name: Meredith, from New Jersey, 21 years old

Favorite thing on: Scarf because it’s from my great aunt. The bag is from my mom, and my sweater and shoes used to be my roommate’s. The shoes are filthy though, they’re covered in clay. We used to swap clothes a lot and it was really fun. These pants are actually from Swap-o-rama-rama that happened a few weeks ago. It was awesome! I actually did a sweater unraveling workshop there too.

Current obsession: onesies and rompers, jumpsuits and clay.

A word: Flip-flops when it’s cold out is my major pet peeve. There are a lot of good boots walking around in Philadelphia.

Meredith’s entire ensemble is absolutely killing me. Now, we all know I have a thing for Japan (having lived there and what with studying Japanese), but Meredith’s style here reminds me of so many amazing outfits you would see over there – where the emphasis is on color play and silhouette, fabric texture and pattern, more than being aesthetically appealing to some desired partner. Style for fun, for you. Because you can.

What’s your (first) name, age, and hometown?
Didi, 22, Philadelphia & New Orleans

What’s your favorite thing on currently?
The black boots. They’re comfy and I feel like I can do anything in them:
burst through a door on a combat mission, rock a stage, or just pound the pavements of NorthPhil

Is there a story about anything you’re wearing?
I’ve had these pants for soooo long. They fit so nicely it doesn’t matter that half of the dye has been washed away. Gotta keep pants that fit perfectly no matter what, right?

What is your current obsession?
Deciding what place to live in the world, traveling, learning new languages, cooking new foods. Pretty much obsessed with truly being a global citizen and the future

What do you think about Philadelphia’s style?
There are many people here with different styles, but everyone seems to infuse a level of ‘urban’. You know cute but comfy , with a reference to street wear or sportswear. Of course there are a lot of “main-streamers”. But I appreciate those who dress as individuals. In Philly, even the bravest of souls tend to play it safe (unless your driving). I wish there was more openness to “out-there styles” that can be pulled off in LA and NY, without so much overt shock.

Is there anything you want to say to Philadelphia or other Philadelphians?
Do you! Find your own unique twist on whatever you do. Keep your mind open when you see others express their own unique style. I love yall.