30 Day Challenge Day Twenty Nine: You’re an anime/cartoon character now! What outfit are you always wearing?

If you’re interested in participating in the Geek Out Challenge, read this post here! Each day I will be posting a question for that day for the next 30 days. Follow along each day with your own post or feel free to wait until the entire challenge has been released and take it on when you like! Be sure to link back to the master post at the end or link back to each post for each day.

Day Twenty Nine: You’re an anime/cartoon character now! What outfit are you always wearing?

Fashion, I’ll readily admit, a notion outside my usual repertoire of skills in life. Call it a gender impasse, I do very much embody the notion of a man who likes his clothes comfortable and practical above all else regardless of seasons and styles. If a T-shirt is cool, it’s cool for a year or a decade, fashion for me is very much timeless. I’ll concede in the last year I have embraced my appreciation of various fandoms to greater degrees, probably even further back than that. When I visited Nintendo World last year it was very much designed around the premise of acquiring my favourite Zelda themed T-Shirt, a cool exclusive design only available at the Manhattan store featuring Link in his more cartoonish style sitting in Central Park with the pigeons around him. It’s a great design, complimenting my slightly faded Mario on 5th avenue shirt and certainly embodies my love and appreciation for the Nintendo brand even if I’ve fallen out of love with them broadly as a console manufacturer. Since my first visit they have expanded the Mario lines somewhat but definitely pushed the non game specific Zelda themed shirts into merchandise, whatever you think about Nintendo, their Merchandising team knows how to create a memorable and attractive design appealing to their fan base. How easily those shirts are to acquire is another question, I guess it does make it a destination store. So in cartoon/manga form, a nerdy gaming themed t-shirt.

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I prefer my jeans to be stonewashed blue, its my colour that I like wearing and suits me I feel. Also. the shoes have to be Converse, I fell in love with this green and white pair from their Soho store in lower Manhattan when I was last there, they are so comfy with thicker soles and make it easier for walking around and exploring the world in. Rather shamefully I’ve realised all my recent nerdy pictures in the last twelve months have featured the same clothes or style of clothing on my lower half with my jeans and converse pairing. Inadvertently, I really am a living cartoon character in my style and design. I’m content, I can live with that. I do usually enjoy adding an accompanying hoody from a certain, West Coast American city clothing brand synonymous with comfortable generic safe clothing. My personal favourite is my maroon zip up hoodie I picked up a few years back from America as it tends to be a slightly larger fit than most European tops available. That said I usually wear them open anyway just as an added layer. I don’t need additional layers I just feel very self conscious when my arms are showing out and about, call it minor body confidence issues or body dysmorphia, whatever the issue is, I definitely see myself worse than perhaps I am so enjoy the comfort and security of the hooded top in conjunction with a cool nerdy t-shirt.

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So there we have the basics of my cartoon characters clothing ensemble, a video game or generally geek themed t-shirt, a dark hoodie, stonewash blue jeans and a matching pair of Converse. Admittedly, I’ve worn unmatching Converse in my lifetime, they are generally my sneaker of choice, I guess I’m fortunate to own enough pairs I can generally find a pair that suits my mood and more importantly, my top colour. Add a pair of sunglasses to the mix and you generally have the picture, well actually you have multiple pictures here but none in animated form. Despite my best efforts drawing isn’t my forte so I do look enviously at all the great designers and artists on these boards who design and create some great avatars and designs on their work. When you work in a profession that requires a certain, outward projection and appearance in what you do, the suited and booted look, it is nice to shed that layer of clothing and be comfortable in your appearance. I do find it incredibly awkward living close to where I work when I am out shopping for example at the local grocery store and get spotted by a customer, it’s very difficult to be anonymous in life when you are 6’4 and stand out like a blonde giant. I enjoy this comfy nerdy look as it is a world away from my work appearance and would suit my animated cartoon character form.

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