Standing on the subway platform today I looked around into a world of darkness. Each person was wearing dark clothes, most of the clothing black. Can we be a little more creative, please?
Sure, I might have been somewhat of a participant in this -- my fleece thingy was light grey, which is a shade of black, and my gloves were black, but I searched that subway platform and the only other non-dark clothing I discoverd was the blue jeans a man was wearing under his black jacket.
Most t-shirts available today are black. I have an entire drawer of black t-shirts, most of which I don't wear. Most free t-shirts are black. The clothing companies of the world are trying to force their dark colours upon us. Show your anti-corproate-whore rebeliousness and wear something not black!
The real reason this annoys me is not so much that people are not creative (although that is annoying), but that black is the colour of wanna-be depressed people; each angsty teen I know (and I know many) wears mostly black to call attention to the depression it puts itself through. I have yet to find someone whom wears black because she likes the colour or think black clothes look good on him.
(Note that the few clinically depressed people that I know do not wear dark clothing at all.)
So, the reason I hate dark clothes is because people need to smile more.
Note than one somewhat valid excuse for wearing clothes that are all the same colour (black, red, blue, etc.) is that they all match. This is mostly valid, except that blue jeans match anything.
Long pants being worn in the summer annoy me for reasons beyond my reach. My ex-girlfriend did this, some of my friends do this (most of them the same that wear dark clothes), and it just bothers me.
Often times, people wear pants in the summer because they are hiding something -- fat or funny-looking legs, a knife, some weird scar, an elephant, etc. I object to this because I object to any sort of hiding and self-consciousness. So enjoy the summer and wear something comfortable!
Mike Burns <mike@mike-burns.com>This was copied to the new site.