PSA for Young Nerd Brigade

[mrissa]

Note to at least three young men I saw getting coffee (because the Thai place near us was closed):

Do you know why looking like Cory Doctorow works for Cory Doctorow? It's because of his full-on geeky enthusiasm. No, really. It is. If you get his haircut and his glasses but not his gadgets and passions and knowledge about both, it will not work for you. Get a different haircut and glasses. Seriously. They're not very universal. Something else will likely stand you in better stead. I would advise you to also get things like passionate interest in nerdly topics, but the haircut and glasses are bound to be an easier thing to start with.

The sad thing is, I doubt that those particular guys were attempting to look like Cory Doctorow specifically, and yet I can't see any other good reason why those sartorial choices should get made.

There are things I love about retro fashion (bell! sleeves!), but one thing I really miss is the attempt to look futuristic and not just look like what people used to think futuristic would look like.

Comments

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

Hmm... but retro-futuristic fashion makes the futuristic fashions to have been correct predictions.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No one predicted the irony.

[jamesgilmer.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing the nerd/sf community could use, it's a dose of style. I'd be honestly astonished to learn that the "Cory Doctorow" look is in, but then again I'm astonished so many people are still wearing trucker caps.

As a friend of mine once paraphrased; "Style is what you can pull off, fashion is marketing wank".

Sounds like the lads need to learn what style is.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't think the guys in question were likely fen or even very big nerds by my standards. (They're admittedly pretty rigorous standards.) But whatever it was they were trying for, they weren't getting there.

[jamesgilmer.livejournal.com]

"fen"

I'll cop to not knowing what the heck this is.

Since paying more attention to the industry and community of SF I've come to realize how little I really know about it in terms of community speak and breakdown of the different fan groups.

Should I turn my nerd card in at the door? *grin*

[timprov.livejournal.com]

"fen" is the plural of "fan."

[jamesgilmer.livejournal.com]

Ah, cheers for that. One less thing I'm ignorant about. Now onto the other six trillion things.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

If we cared about style, we wouldn't *be* the nerd/SF community. That'd spoil the whole point!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that isn't "if we cared about other people's notions of style."

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, there's probably actually a diversity of opinion within the community, as there usually is about nearly anything. But for me, "style" requires a fair amount of *paying attention* to stuff that's basically unimportant.

[jamesgilmer.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. I'm not sure what "style" is exactly, to be perfectly honest. I think it differs with every person. Lord knows I'd kill to be able to wear a fedora, but I look like daft in one and hats in general don't look good on me.

Now, my best friend, he can wear a fedora and make it look totally natural, which makes me green with envy.

The style I'm talking about is just wearing what looks good on you without notions of the fashion of the day and without trying to strike a pose.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

And that's exactly that kind of "paying attention to how you look" that is, to me, the antithesis of geekiness. I haven't actually ever thought about how I look in a hat. The hat I own keeps the sun off my head and face, and I try to remember to put it on when walking around outdoors in the sun.

[jamesgilmer.livejournal.com]

And that's exactly that kind of "paying attention to how you look" that is, to me, the antithesis of geekiness>>

Fair enough then, though I suppose everyone's definition would be different. I do think that in the minds of the public there's a definite "geek fashion" look similar to the one the lads were trying to emulate, I just can't imagine anyone picking that as the pose to strike (except for the age old reason of pulling young ladies, which tends to be the reason most young lads adopt any look).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Says the man who deliberately got a picture of me in the shirt I was wearing at the Falls?

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

This is amusing, because I agree with you. I wouldn't find Cory nearly as sexy if he weren't so passionate about so many things; the look just doesn't work without the passion.

[greatestofnates.livejournal.com]

I had only heard of Cory Doctorow and never seen him. After google imaging him it seems like he is aping Drew Carey. Anyway, many other dressing styles are worse than a buzzcut and sturdy glasses.

Would you complain about Cory if you saw him standing somewhere and didn't know who he was?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not complaining at all; people can look as awful as they please, and it won't offend me -- I'll just tend to notice it. But someone with Cory Doctorow's degree of physical energy is better able to pull off many looks than a randomly selected person would be. (I also think that the rest of the clothes he's generally wearing really do not go with the Drew Carey observation, but I can see how you'd get there from a head shot.)

I'm really, really not so keen on the buzzcut. I have a hard time coming up with a generically worse hairstyle. I can easily come up with hairstyles that are worse on specific people, but just in general--not the way to go.

[greatestofnates.livejournal.com]

mullet

buzzcut

[aet.livejournal.com]

I have not heard the word before, but according to picture of the man under consideration you are probably talking about the most convenient cut in the world. So I usually think that this particular way to deal with hair is chosen as the cheapest (done with a machine) and easiest to care for - no need to own a comb, no need to worry about bad hair days, no need to waste time to dry hair after washing or swimming - that is the reason why my sons like the cut and why I will probably soon use it myself, too. I have been hesitant because of people like you who do notice, but as middle aged women seem to become invisible to many people, so nobody will notice me with or without hair anyway.

Re: buzzcut

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Middle-aged women are much less likely to have lumpy backs-of-necks than men.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

The young (highschool/undergrad) guys I see at the reference desk & around town seem to think that the 70s 'mop of uncut hair' look is very cool. They aren't following it up with other 70s elements though.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I find mops of uncut hair about a million times more charming than buzzcuts.

Show of hands: who couldn't have predicted that?