Yours Truly at Inverary last summer

[Alan H]

Tell me Alan, is the bandana traditional pirate wear or historic? Whichever, I have to say the style is very "you".

Well, perhaps I do have a "personal style" after all.

**pausing**

No. No. I don't. Belay that thought.

[Jock Scot]

Well, perhaps I do have a "personal style" after all.

**pausing**

No. No. I don't. Belay that thought.

Yes! Yes! You do have a personal style! We all have. Although some seem to stick very rigidly to a particular look within a style, with personal flair somewhat stifled, come what may, and the end result is, sadly, a rather wooden look. That is not something anyone can accuse you of!

[Alan H]

All right, fine. I have a personal style.

But I don't think about it. It just happens by accident.

I don't stand in front of the mirror and consider as to whether the dirty t-shirt that I wore yesterday changing the oil in the truck matches the 6-year old, torn flashes of my hose if in fact I am wearing hose and I might not be. When I put on a kilt and then look at myself in the mirror it's to make sure that I didn't put it on backwards, or something. Color coordination is not a conscious effort. Neither is stylistic synchrony. If I happen to scrunch down my tie-dyed long socks with my button-down atop my Gryphon kilt which I forgot to iron after the last time I wore it, then that's what the world sees, today.

I don't spend any time whatsoever worrying over whether the color of my shoelaces complements the third stripe of my tartan.

95% of the time I am the antithesis of "natty" and the only time I put on an "ensemble" is for Burns Night.

I am of the opinion that sweat complements the kilt. At least a third of the time, my fingernails do not pass inspection, and my shoes are not shined (primarily because I wear trainers most of the time, or hiking boots).

I wear the bandana so I don't get sunburned and ultimately get melanoma on the top of my head, not because I think it looks good. It has come in handy, though, as all my local lads know that to find me at the Games, just look for the green bandana.

And finally, 90% of the time I wear a kilt how I happen to like to wear it, 5% of the time I wear it in a manner consistant with the rules in force on the Highland Games athletic field, and 5% of the time in an effort to "look nice", whatever that is, and usually it's relatively "traditional". After all, I've hung out here long enough and seen enough pictures to know how to do it when I have to. ZERO percent of the time do I wear a kilt in order to look like someone that I am not.

So if that sums up my personal style, I'm OK with the concept.

Sort of.

Until my next anti-style rant!

[CMcG]

All right, fine. I have a personal style.

But I don't think about it. It just happens by accident.

....

So if that sums up my personal style, I'm OK with the concept.

Sort of.

...

Ah, the style of no-style! Very Zen

[RSHAW]

Alan, is that a MacNaughton tartan you are wearing? Looking good.

[Macman]

All right, fine. I have a personal style.

But I don't think about it. It just happens by accident.

"snip"

So if that sums up my personal style, I'm OK with the concept.

Sort of.

Until my next anti-style rant!

And that's what makes your "personal style" and you unique, Alan.

[Alan H]

Alan, is that a MacNaughton tartan you are wearing? Looking good.

yes, it is. 11 ounce Polyester-viscose Macnaughton, muted.

===========

It's not really the notion of a personal style that bothers me. I generally speaking look like X. No problem with that.


What bothers me is the idea of worrying about what my personal style is, and spending mental and emotional energy in trying to define it, and worrying about whether it's handsome or not, or proper, or what-have-you. Having a general appearance which people know is what I usually look like is fine. Calling it "style" reeks to me of too much cologne, self-absorption, expensive and unnecessary automobiles, and foppery.

If I'm going to spend my time gazing adoringly at someone in clothes, or NOT in clothes, I'd rather it be a handsome lass, than myself in the mirror. The phrase "personal style" just reeks to me of the mirror-obsessed.