Juice with Junior

I was out shopping with my bestie last week, well really window shopping as in these economic times I don't really have money to really go shopping, when we stopped by an Old Navy and I saw a plaid shirt that was just divine.

Oh, I'm addicted to plaid shirts. I swear the list of my crazy is just getting longer and longer. Okay, I'll explain this one. I told you guys in the country music post that I love all things Western and although plaid is actually a Scottish print, I love the rugged country feel it brings to a look.

Now you may think it's curious that I, a Bronx-born city boy, would like Western style shirts so much, and I've wondered that too. I think it has to do with the Lure of the Other, the fact that I grew up around buildings and pavement, that I now revere the country, the rolling hills, cowboy hats and boots, and tight plaid shirts.

Now what about the "reinvention" part. So not only do I love to wear plaid shirts, I have spent years, years I tell you, thinking that I was not only going to wear them... I was going to reinvent them! What this means, your guess is as good as mine, but I figured I would pair a Western plaid shirt with a blazer or black jeans and that would mean I would have "reinvented" the whole notion of how to wear plaid shirts. It's as close to insane as you can get without actually being in a psych ward. But I would go to a store and pick out a plaid shirt, hold it up to my chest and turn to whomever I was with and say things like "Ooh, the reinvention of plaid, I could totally make this hip!" And I would then ignore whomever I was with...

And buy the shirt no matter the fact that I barely wear them...


...Yes, I love plaid, but I almost never wear it. Above are three shirts I've purchased and I think I've worn a total of three times. The shirt on the far right is actually two sizes too small for me. There's a definite possibility that I will never be able to wear it comfortably but I keep it, because I'm gonna reinvent plaid with it. Does the crazy in my head make sense to you yet?

Now I like to think that I have a good handle on fashion, how to put things together and what looks best on who. But reinventing plaid is not the only time I've gotten an idea in my head about what I would wear and I wouldn't let go.

Case in point: the two years I spent thinking I would "bring back" bell bottoms. I searched tag sales and consignment shops far and wide looking for a good pair of bell bottoms.

Thankfully, I only have one pair that again, I didn't end up wearing that much anyway. And you notice when I have these ideas, I use the words like "reinvent" and "bring back" as if my wearing something will singlehandedly not only make people in New York wear it too, but also the country and even the whole world!

Oh there is so much. The autumn I just had to have a belted leather trench. My need to make cop sunglasses work. The Great Tunic Hunt of '05. Why I thought any of these fashion risks would work better than what I know works well with my style and my fashion sense, I have no clue. But every once in awhile they pop up in my head and damned if I won't be happy unless I'm wearing a fisherman's hat. Because I spent a year trying to make a fisherman's hat go. I still have it, if anyone wants it. I don't wear it. Do you get any fashion urges?

Have you ever decided that you're gonna "reinvent" something in fashion or "bring something back" only to realize that maybe you're barking up the wrong tree? And about the plaid, what about if I cut off the sleeves of the one that's too small and wear it over one of these like a vest? Ooh, IDEA!