Mel : clothing :: technology : most people
November 5, 2009 – 4:59 amIt occurred to me on the bus from the mall last night – after the Mel Gets A Business Casual Wardrobe adventure – that perhaps clothes are to me what technology is to most people.
I want to be warm, at least marginally socially acceptable, and Not Spend Money. I don’t want to update my wardrobe for each new fashion season; I don’t even know when those seasons start or end or how that sausage gets made, and I certainly don’t want ruffles on my shirts now – or ever – regardless of whether they’re in fashion or not. I don’t know how to sew, nor do I have the time to make extensive modifications, so I need stuff that works for me straight off the racks. (This last sentence may change; I can’t stand having something I don’t know how to hack, so acquiring these sorts of skills may be in my future.)
And how is one brand of trousers different from another? And why doesn’t everyone use the same sizing system? Really, all I do is get up in the morning, find a clean pair of jeans, grab the t-shirt on the top of the stack, and I don’t care about anything else because I want to spend my time on other things. Open source, for instance.
So when I meet someone that’s into clothes, I try to listen and understand why they’re fascinated with it, while knowing full well that I probably never really will be. And sometimes I learn fascinating things, like how denim has a funny weave that I forget the name of (update: twill!) and it’s nice to encounter those little nuggets of interestingness… and that’s all.
And if it’s okay for me to feel that way about clothes – and I think it is, because I do – then it’s got to be okay for other people to feel that way about the stuff I love. And I should make sure that the world I help to build is a world where both these things work out just fine.
5 Responses to “Mel : clothing :: technology : most people”
I love your post. Comparing love of technology to love of clothes is eye opening and funny! I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about clothes – my main concern is that I’m wearing appropriate clothes for the occasion – but I never would have thought to compare it to how I feel about technology.
By Stormy on Nov 5, 2009
You can ask max, i told him my life’s goal is to measure success by the clothes i’m wearing. If i’m wearing a suit, i fail at life.
In all seriousness, there’s a bit of a difference in models here. Clothing, like alot of things are limited by the physical world and it’s properties. The digital stuff we deal with has a very different set and kind of limits on it because it’s abstract. This is why pants and shirts are fundamentally compatible rather than one guy making a two piece shirt-pants ensemble and someone else doing a three piece set. It encourages people to work together, whereas digital stuff needs more incentives in place.
By loupgaroublond on Nov 5, 2009
This is a great post. I compared computer talk with dog talk, which I avoid as hard as I can. I can’t avoid clothes (so far), and I can stand talk about them (for a short time). Thanks for sharing
By Neville A. Cross on Nov 5, 2009
loupgaroublond: I actually wear suits on the weekend to make up for the fact I do most of my work in a dressing gown =)
clothes are fun. I dunno, I don’t really follow fashion but I like to buy nice clothes sometimes. Jeans and a t-shirt can get boring after a while, sometimes it’s nice to just mix it up.
By Adam Williamson on Nov 5, 2009