I learned something shocking the other day. It was shocking because I learned that, in regard to the topic at hand, I had been doing it wrong for so many years. Of course, I am referring to wearing long-sleeved T-shirts. Apparently, there is a way to do it. As the poor slob that I am, I have been doing it wrong.
I’m a simple and easy-going guy. I will buy a long-sleeved anime T-shirt from Umai and wear it whenever the urge strikes me. I will not spend hours standing in front of the closet and trying to find something to go with it. It is an anime, for crying out loud. It stands on its own. But I guess there are some highly fashionable guys that have rules for their long-sleeved T-shirts.
Achieving a Certain Look
For the record, I was alerted to my incorrect wearing of long-sleeved T-shirts by an article on the Thread website. I have never seen Thread before. Apparently, it’s a source of authoritative information for men who follow a certain style ethos.
Thread would have us believe that we guys should wear long-sleeved T-shirts to achieve a certain look. But guess what? There isn’t just one look. The particular post I read offers five different looks. The strange thing was that they all looked the same to me.
According to Thread, pairing a white long-sleeved T-shirt with a pair of jeans and dark suede boots makes a guy look smart. I am all for looking smart. I’m just not sure that this look pulls it off. But what do I know? I wear an anime T-shirt with khaki shorts and flip-flops.
Feeling Your Fashion
I was struck by another interesting fact: we guys can apparently feel our fashion. How do I know? Because another recommendation the article offered was to pair a long-sleeved T-shirt with an oversized short-sleeved T-shirt. Short on top and long underneath.
What is this supposed to accomplish? Apparently, it’s supposed to make us guys feel experimental. I’m not quite sure what that means. I’m now in my late fifties. I was wearing layered T-shirts way back in the 1970s. It didn’t seem like an experiment back then. It was all about the hard science of staying warm.
Function, Fashion, or Both
I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon who doesn’t know how to have fun. Perhaps I am. The thing is that I see clothing as functional before anything else. That does not mean I don’t care what it looks like. I certainly do. But my first priority is to find clothing that does the job it’s designed to do. If I can enjoy fashion with function simultaneously, bonus. But you will never see me sacrificing function just for fashion.
I suppose I have hit the motherload if I can find both function and fashion in clothes that also feel comfortable. Again, maybe I’m just an old curmudgeon. Still, I find that comfort is very important to me as I get older.
When I was in my twenties, I didn’t care that a pair of jeans were a little bit too tight. I was just careful how and where I sat down. But now, I don’t wear tight shirts. It hurts too much. I look for clothes that I can move freely in.
So I guess there is a right way to wear a long-sleeved T-shirt. Trust me when I say I am not going to study it. If that makes me look like a guy who doesn’t know how to wear a T-shirt, I’m okay with that.