Marvel Nikel

I, like the word "marvel", take many forms: thinker, originator, observer, explorer. Until recently, I have only been applying these forms to one of my interests at a time. Labeling myself Marvel Nikel marks the inauguration of melding my forms and my interests into one. Marvel can take the form of verb, noun, adverb, and adjective and can mean “to wonder,” which denotes curiosity and astonishment. The former, which I possess, and the latter, which I hope to impress upon others. Nikel is my middle name, with which many people who know me are unfamiliar. With the name Marvel Nikel, I hope to present a multifaceted self at which I have always wondered but to which many have not wholly been privy. var sc_project=6882773; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_security="65ac069c"; var sc_text=2;

[marvelnikelstyles]

Clothing has many identities, from the material it is made from, who made it (physically), where is was made, the label/brand it was made under, where you bought it, who has owned it, the size, how it fits on the wearers body, how it is incorporated into an outfit, and who the person is who is...

[marvelnikelstyles]

Nowadays, so many people, from different backgrounds receive higher education, and dress codes, youth culture and subcultures have become so pervasive that there is no real style of dress for a college kid. I mean at this point people wear their college sweatshirt and pajamas to class. However there is a look that still rests in out psyches of what it looks like to be a college student. As time has gone on, the terms collegiate, school (boy), and preppy looks have become enmeshed; though if we are talking about any look that has to do with school, it is usually characterized by the male trends, which is not surprising due to the large presence of males on college campuses,  as well as segregated school, and the spike of men enrolled in college in the late 1940s (thank you G.I. Bill), around the time when the ivy league look was defined. 

Ironically, the ivy league look is characterized by its “casualness.” In its nascent period is was characterized by a “natural shoulder” blazer and pleat-less pants. Brooks Brothers, who along with J. Press had stores on Ivy League campuses, created a shirt that is supposed to stay fresher and neater longer. I guess the idea is to look nice, but not have to worry about being constricted or changing too often while at school, going to classes all day, studying in the evening, and socializing at night. As time went on, 1960s and 70s things got even more casual, sweaters, cardigans, jackets and sweatshirts were worn over button down shirts, slacks were giving way to khakis, chinos, and jeans, shoes were giving way to penny loafers and sneakers, and maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t find a tie in the mix. However as times and styles changed, the college male was always more professional than perhaps his non-collegiate peers, and less professional than their professors. Oh yeah, and he was always white.

Which reminds me of a 1980s spread in a black magazine someone used in a presentation I saw at a conference about fashion at Yale. It was possibly Ebony magazine, but don’t quote me on that. By the 80s the percentage of men and women enrolled in college was evening out. At that point black enrollment in college was catching up too. Which ever magazine it was, took pictures of black students sporting collegiate fashion, on college campuses. Unfortunately, the only thing about their dress that said college student to me was that it was not street style inflicted and they were on a college campus. The collegiate/ivy league/ American “Trad” look (Trad is short for traditional) is never going to connote an image of a black body. Black bodies and education bring to mind thoughts of high dropout rates, lack of college education, metal detectors, large class sizes, etc. Black bodies never represent “traditional” America’s fashion sense or education. 

Therefore this outfit balks at the traditional. Please Keep in Mind: The body is black and female and the clothes are mostly gendered male, even if it isn’t its belies clothes that are traditionally masculine. The shirt is a French Toast boys button down. If anything denotes clothes to be worn at school it is the school uniform brand, French Toast, which makes clothes with sort of the same sensibility as Brooks Brother’s did with their Brookscloth shirts. They remain neat and are easy to care for. I have on a knit tie by Henry Grethel (Thrift Shop Find, TSF), collegiate affiliated because of its casual nature, having been knit, but still not an element of dressing down completely. The vest is corduroy (fem.). I don’t know who made it, the tag just says it was made in Korea. I found it in a Thrift shop in the boston area in the 1970s rack of their vest section. Corduroy as a material was first used for the royals, and the word itself actually means “body of the kings,” later because it is warm and rugged, it was used as work clothes, until denim came around, at which point manufacuters stopped using all cotton to make it and designers started using this softer version of the fabric to make more sophisticated clothing. Still it has some connotations of working clothes, though I have never seen anyone work in them. In vest form it implies yet another more casual take on traditional formal wear, aka the waistcoat. FYI my vest is 100% cotton with a polyester lining. This transitions nicely into the cardigan, which is from Express (masc.). Cardigans used to refer to a knit vest, a casual alternative to the woven military waistcoat. As time went on the word also referred to sleeved knit garments with button in the front. It provided a more casual alternative to a waistcoat which would keep the tie in place, and then an alternative to the blazer. Also commonly used in lower school uniform, it then became a item of clothing linked to physical education. My cardigan is linked to the school iterations of the cardigan because of the striped sleeve, which would hold the non-dominant of the school’s two colors. This clothing item is what brings the outfit from dressed up-casual to collegiate. It is the only thing that I am wearing that outright denotes school which then allows the mind to place an inference on the rest of the items, in combination, due to visual memory of what it looks like to be collegiate. Think about the movie Grease (1978). It was set in the 1950s, in the decade that the Ivy League Look became uniquely defined. I can remember when Danny started playing sports and was wearing his cardigan very similar to the one I’m wearing. It brings you back to an era and suggests your mind make a connection between the casual-ized formal/professional wear, the 1950s, and education. The rest of my outfit includes Levi skinny jeans, and a pair of exclusive Nike Dunk High sneakers, for which Nike paired up to with Eddie Cruz, who co-owns a sneaker boutique. Ironically the tongue of the sneakers have the word “West” written in varsity style block letters. On my black body the sneakers point out a very black sensibility: street style as well as trendsetting the sneaker wearing/collecting phenomenon. It marks my ability to channel the collegiate look, without that factor of assimilation (which my queerness and masculine look do as well). Skinny jeans were in style in the 50s (previously the style was worn by men in the 1800s) and have definitely remained an available style in different forms throughout the decades, but they have since come back around as the dominant cut of jeans. I don’t believe it is common place to see a stylish feminine dressing young woman wearing jeans that are not skinny.

To sum it up: Black, Queer, Ivy League Educated, Master’s Degree having Female tackling the Traditions of America, American Trad, Ivy League Collegiate Look. Oh yeah, and before anyone cries out against Affirmative Action, says something about quotas, or undeserving people taking the place of the deserving, I graduated cum laude with thesis honors from my undergraduate institution. 

#Ultimate #School #Boy #Realness

[marvelnikelstyles]

When Doves Cry, When Clothes Bely 

Clothes don’t make the man a man, but clothes may make the woman a man. Case in point me versus Prince. However effeminately dressed Prince can be, we all know Prince is a man and its not due to his name or general knowledge of his maleness. I write about the effect of the body on the clothes, however the inverse is also important when it comes to sartorial expression, performance, and curation. I am routinely mistaken for a male. Let’s take a look at the reasons why…

Traditional “men’s” clothing has virtually gone unchanged for centuries. Cravats=neckbands, nowadays ties are worn. The concept of a buttoned shirt also dates back centuries, with varying cuts, sleeves and collars. The suit, which incorporated trousers, waist coast, and blazer, has essentially remained the same with different styles of blazers ebbing and flowing, and waistcoats i.e. vests coming in and out of style. Long boring story short, if a male wants to get dressed up, he would wear a blazer, button-down shirt, tie, and trousers. But what about women?

Women have been wearing iterations of what one would call a suit since the 17th century, for practical reasons like horseback riding and what they called “walking suits,” generally consisting of a jacket and skirt made of the same fabric and a blouse. Getting dressed up for women then and now, as far as formal wear, consists mainly of wearing, well, a dress. As women joined the work force, women’s suits became more streamline and emulated the men’s cut of suit, for a long time with a skirt instead of pants.

Today, non-casual attire does not necessarily consist of a suit, however the elements of the suit are still in place. Jacket/Blazer, tie (or not) for the men (somewhat depends on whether the man is wearing a blazer or not), button-down shirt/blouse (men or women), trousers/skirt (men or women). Etiquette  has changed greatly, where dressy-casual might consist of jeans, non-athletic shoes (though in certain spaces interesting, elite, and/or fashionable athletic shoes are acceptable, button down shirt/blouse, jacket/blazer, and maybe a tie (same tie rules apply). 

It seems like the waist up is what really counts as far as donning non-casual wear. The question is: where is the line for distinguishing men from women? Generally, women’s blazers are cut shorter to accentuate a womanly figure in females, same goes for the pant and the shirt, and of course the blouse and skirt are seen as female fashion fixtures.

If a man were to wear female clothes it would accentuate his physical masculine characteristics: lack of breasts and hips. If a woman were to wear male clothes it would diminish her feminine physical characteristics: longer, improperly cut jacket hides the breasts and hips. Other tells would simply be the generally accepted cut of men’s clothes versus women’s.

I will go through my outfit and explain ways in which I could’ve chosen to denote my femaleness. I am wearing a Brooks Brother’s knit tie (TSF),m , Hugo Valentino plaid shirt (TSF),m , Gap Cardigan,m , Tweed Wool Blazer (friend gave it to me, there is no label),m , Acknowledge Jeans (purchased),m , Vael Boots (purchased),m. If I had just wanted to let those who paid attention to me for more than 5 seconds know I am a woman, I could have simply substituted the cardigan for a “female” vest which would have provided the accentuation of the bust generally accepted as proving my femaleness. If I weren’t “hippy” as they say, I could have donned some skinny, fitted jeans, however, that would’ve lead me to change my shoes to keep the proportions in balance, as I was wearing men’s footwear, which is cut wider and higher most times and I have large feet for a woman of my size (5’5.5”, size 10), plus these boots are especially big an blocky. Since I am hippy, a tight pair of jeans, and maybe some sneakers would have sufficed to have people acknowledge my female gender. 

If I had done something to make my gender more apparent, what would my body be doing to the clothes? Well queering it of course! If I wanted to achieve the same affect of male styled dress, I would’ve just put on the women’s vest instead of the men’s cardigan and kept it moving, traversing what the western world has gendered male and female. As gendered style becomes more lax (American Apparel has sections in its store for women, and a unisex section. Technically, the only dedicated menswear is the men’s underwear), women need to know their body, and clothing cuts very well to be able to mix and match men’s and women’s clothes and still look feminine or gendered female. 

Today I chose to say up yours to the business of gendered fashion, despite that leaking over into my gendered persona. I say fashion is fashion. I am allowed in the men’s section of clothing store and allowed to purchase the clothes and try it on in-store. No one can stop me (going into the women’s fitting room performing maleness with men’s clothes is a HOOT). I say style is style. I can piece together an ensemble that men like and would wear, so who’s going to stop me!? My gender certainly isn’t. If I can create an outfit mentally that I like, I want to show the world. These clothes are in my closet, they fit my body, so why the hell not???

#girlheredontcare

P.S. I will continue to address this outfit/topic in a later post.

[marvelnikel]

This is where I might do a film analysis or review. I definitely watch enough of them to post everyday, but I don't have time for that.

[marvelnikel]

My Blogs

Below (in the previous posts) you will find links to and descriptions of my different blogs: Music, Thoughts, Fashion, and Food respectively. Don't be afraid to click!

[marvelnikel]

I am very opinionated. That's all I have to say. For more, visit this blog.

[marvelnikel]

I loveeee clothes. In a world where we lack much control over our lives, putting on clothes is the best way to say "Eff You imma do what I want." Here you'll see me get fly, get down right weird, and switch up my style. Its a surprise every time.

[marvelnikel]

How can one live in and around NYC and NOT love to eat!? I personally feel entitled to go to whatever restaurant I want, in what ever area I want, and eat their damned food if i can pay for it! For some reason it's not always that simple because i'm being ignored, which might have something to do with my young black lesbian hood. Then I have to miss out because I am too proud to give them my money... blah blah blah. Anyway, this is a blog about my food journey throughout the city.