The other day I was invited to a party where the
dress code was “Rock”. And this got me puzzled for a while.
Rock…
Should I paint stars or attach sideburns on my face…?
…no, that’s more like a cosplay than dress-up. And most of my favorite rock
bands are hardcore normcore, so I can’t use them as a reference. After all it’s
a party, so need to be a tad more formal…
Rock…
Black would be a safe bet… and leather pants and lock
bling…? …no, that sounds more like a punk, and to wear them after 20s, there’s
a risk to be seen as fetish clothes if they’re untrained… uh-uh, definitely not
for me.
But before anything else, what is “rock”...?
It seems like there’s a certain or fluid definition
in terms of music genre, but for clothes or fashion, there’s no particular
rules or uniform to manifest “rock”. Leather, studs, chain, long hair, Flying
V, gargling with vodka. These things remind us (or me) “rock ‘n’ roll” or “rock
musician” but they are not mandatory items to be one.
Personally I think “Rock” is an attitude. An attitude
of someone who has built his/her steadfast belief and act up to it. Fight and
resist if needed. And if I see “Rock” from that point of view, I can quite
easily name few people for the model. And among them, who reflect those
attitude in what she/he wear…? Mr. Quentin Crisp came up my mind first
(famously, he is The "Englishman" sung in Sting’s “Englishman in New York”).
So I opened my closet, and went through my clothes
imagining what Mr. Crisp would say if I wear this… and… my inner channeled
Quentin voice said “Without having a
style, anything you wear is just a piece of cloth, dear”
..........Right. So I gave up
and decided to go with a simple dress. “How boring”, Quentin would say. I know. But I have no
clue. And I don’t feel comfortable doing this… What a party pooper… I always am…
and maybe that’s my style… (this was my comeback/excuse to my inner Quentin) ...but at least I sort of consulted one of my rock icons...
Being at the party with observer mode, I saw most of
the guests there were wandering somewhere between standard semi-formal clothes
to “rock” evoking attires. Except few people who were clearly enjoying the
dress-up, I guess everyone had tough time figuring out what to wear.
But to sum up, by judging from the outfits of hosts, “this is what I’d wear if I became a rock musician and
be on stage” was the appropriate interpretation of this event’s dress code…
Ah…(sigh)…
Then what if I…?
Don’t know… but probably a gal band.. wearing dress...?
“He’s not A Boy” The Like