Fifteen Minutes: Wearing It Way Out: Another Fashion Dialogue

THE OUTFIT

JEAN: He looks really good. Very clean cut. I like his colors. They're very straight and sharp. It's one of those outfits that makes you look more at him than his clothes--you look more at his face and aren't distracted by his clothes. I like the gray/black format. It's also really quality material. I don't imagine his wardrobe is huge. I think he probably has a few things of really good quality. He looks like that boy who would have a really nice aquarium.

Belt: The Calvin Klein belt is really funny. I think he can carry it off without looking really trendy in a gross way.

Underwear: Those Calvin Klein boxers--I saw them, they were really cute.

Shoes: The shoes were really nice too. They are simple and have that solar strip. General metal on shoes looks really rank, and on dress shoes like that it can look really stodgy. But on him, it looks fine. Generally, I think that weird, triangly short of shape doesn't look right, but it looks really good with his outfit.

Time getting dressed: I would think he spends a lot of time on his clothing.

But it looks like it comes naturally.

Brand Names: I think he wears a lot of brand names. Possibly he would go to the Gap, but the Gap is a little low quality. I bet he goes to nice department stores. I could see him going there when it comes to buying a suit.

RANDY: This isn't really how I dress all the time. Whenever I am trying to make a good impression, I'll dress in black. There are so many looks to aspire to...The athlete, sweatpants-hanging-off-the-ass look, the Abercrombie look and then there's more of a down to earth look. Honestly, my day-to-day look...There's this pair of J.Crew jeans that I wear all the time, I cut them and they're kind of tight up top. And then there's these sandals that I love, and found in some New York shop and I wear them everyday even when it is cold out. I hate heavy material, I hate layers. My best friend, Suzanne, gave me her old Harvard t-shirt, and it's my new favorite thing. I get yelled at for just walking around in a t-shirt and jacket.

Sweater: Banana Republic.

Pants: Are from the Gap. This is the thing--when I was in Saks a couple of months ago, I was going to buy these pants with my friend Sean. But I said that I would come back because they were Dolce & Gabanna, like $300 and then I found them at the Gap for like 80 bucks. I sometimes like the Gap because I am very much into color.

Shoes: The shoes are my favorite. I love Kenneth Cole. I bought them at Jasmine Sola Men.

Brand names: Calvin Klein, for me, is synonymous with sex. All my underwear is Calvin Klein. Not that I wear labels that much, but this underwear, I really like.

Hometown

JEAN: Somewhere around New York or New York influence. I would even say New Jersey.

RANDY: I live half an hour south of Boston in a town called Plymouth.

Social Life

JEAN: He looks like he would go clubbing and enjoys parties. I bet you he goes to Tommy's pretty randomly. He doesn't look like he drinks heavily. He might go to bars socially.

RANDY: When I first got here freshman year, I used to go to the Grille a lot. I mean, I've been to the Bow and Grafton, but last spring, I started hanging out with different people. And this year, I went to the Grille once, and there was just way too much testosterone. Grafton is fun to hang out with some of my friends, but it's not really my scene. Final clubs...I probably would do it again next year if I got punched, but this year, the whole thing really conflicted with acting. And, I have some ethical issues with what the clubs are founded on. But, I am about having as many social venues as possible.

Concentration

JEAN: He looks like he could possibly be doing Ec, but he might be into Hist and Sci.

RANDY: Gov, but I have been thinking lately of switching to Religion and minoring in Gov.

Friends

JEAN: He has that deadpan sense of humor. I bet he hangs out with pretty snazzy people like him. He looks pretty snazzy. I don't think necessarily his roommate is like him, but he seems a little like a loner. A little difficult to get under the surface of him.

RANDY: Well, I spend a lot of time in Winthrop House with my best friend, Suzanne, and my roommate, Hollin; we'll do dinner or something. I spend a lot of quality time with them. Then usually early in the evening, I'll head over to DeWolfe, and I hang out a lot in DeWolfe 38 with Thandi and Val, and I usually do that until 11, and then after that, I'll meet my friends from B.U. and then go clubbing. I usually go clubbing two or three times a week. I like Avalon and Axis. My favorite club is Buzz, downtown in the Theater District. Saturday night is a big night there--we usually don't get home until 7 in the morning.

Love Life

JEAN: Boyfriend or girlfriend. I think he might have either. I think, if he's gay, he doesn't have a boyfriend. But if he's straight...I don't know. I'm trying to imagine what she would be like. He looks like he would be a devoted person, but slightly difficult to get to know.

RANDY: Well, I definitely don't have a girlfriend right now, that's for sure. People often think that I am this big player, but more often than not, I am the one getting played. I am so ready to have the big long relationship. I have crushes and fall in love in five seconds. I have been planning my wedding since I was five. There is someone that I have a really big crush on right now, and they all want to be patient and take it slow and every five minutes I want to call. But, yeah. He doesn't go to this school.

Activities

JEAN: I can see him singing in Kuumba. I think he works out, is really active. He looks really healthy and fit.

RANDY: Last year I started a new community service group called BASIC. But this year, I wanted to explore more options and I got involved with HRDC and did one show last semester called Bacchanal. And, I got cast in two shows this semester--Troilus and Cressida and something called The Limp Dick Dialogues which is a creative effort in response to the Vagina Monologues. I am also a business assistant in the Hasty Pudding.

Activities

RANDY: She looks like she belongs to possibly a cultural society--a South East Asian dance and arts society. She also looks like she is involved in some type of community service. A PBH thing--helping English as a Second Language type deal.

JEAN: I am in Collegium Musicum; I am an art teacher with Fresh Pond enrichment program; my favorite things to do are to go hiking, backpacking. I like to dance around the room and be silly with my roommates. And climb trees. I like to think about monkeys. A lot. I like to think a lot...I tend to speak in strange accents, uncontrollably.

Hometown

RANDY: It's hard because she has that whole mystery ethnicity thing going on. Looking at her, I can't tell whether there's some Eskimo in her, Native American, Korean...As far as the United States, she's very Cleveland, midwest city, she has a very urban feel, but it's not Upper West Side-ish or L.A. She looks very wholesome.

JEAN: Los Angeles, California

Love Life

RANDY: She doesn't have a boyfriend here, but I think she'd have somebody back home. Or somebody that she visits who she sees a few times a year. Maybe they are boyfriend and girlfriend, but they're not very committed because they can't be in the same place at the same time. I could see her with an older guy--26ish, maybe even a TF.

JEAN: I don't really like the term boyfriend, and it's kind of weird defining it. We could just call him, "The boy that I spend a lot of time with and have the biggest crush on ever." He's awesome, he's my favorite person.

Social Life

RANDY: I think she is like a Herrell's girl. I think she'd be happy with going out to dinner, getting a movie, staying at Herrell's until midnight, come in at 12 on a weekend night and maybe do a little work before she goes to bed. If it wasn't a Herrells' type thing, it would be taking a fun trip to Hubba Hubba--you know that leather store out in Central Square to see if she could find a new thing to incorporate into her wardrobe. She also seems like she attends a lot of performances, like she would go and see a lot of shows with the HRDC or the Loeb; definitely going to Cultural Rhythms or seeing an HRO concert.

JEAN: I like going on long walks late at night with my friends. And chilling with blockmates and, um, "boyperson," a person I have a huge crush on. I like to hang out a lot with my sister--she lives in Boston. I love to see movies and eat. I have a friend who works at Herrell's, so I go there.

Concentration

RANDY: VES. Definitely, VES. Just her use of color in her wardrobe-she has the pink and blue and the green--she's a very visual person. And her shoes kind of look like they have paint splattered on them.

JEAN: Joint VES and Biological Anthropology

THE OUTFIT

RANDY: She doesn't take herself too seriously.

Coat: The first thing I noticed was the baby-blue coat. She's definitely not afraid to stand out. It's the kind of blue that definitely stands out in a crowd, especially in the dead of winter when everyone is wearing black. Especially the baby-blue with the plaid lining. That's to say she's very confident in herself and doesn't depend on the reinforcement of others.

Shirt: She has this pink-and-green or black-over-the-white, tight long sleeved shirt. I almost wanted to touch it and feel it because it was silky--it is colorful and made of a lot of materials. It shows her ability to grasp a large amount of things and put it all together.

Pants: Her black pants were very much in line with traditional brand jeans or pants that kind of bring it down a little, so she's not totally Litttle Miss Combination-of-everything. She has some ties to traditional aspects to let you she's not well-rounded in only one activity, but many.

Shoes: Her shoes were fun. They're the kind of shoes I'd be afraid of someone wearing because they'd kick me. It's a very strong shoe; she wouldn't be afraid of walking through stuff. Like stepping on things...She's very into running through the snow and getting them wet. She's very impulsive. Those shoes were tried and tested.

Hair: She probably does it herself. It didn't seem very professional, yet it was very fun and funky. Her look is an expression of herself and she does not adhere to a label or to a set standard of dress.

Store of Choice: I'd say it's not brand name, but not necessarily cheap. I think she likes the fact that she doesn't adhere to specific standards. She might go to the Salvation Army or Mass Army Navy or The Garment District and find some very nice thing there. She's still looking for a bargain, but I think she's going there to look for nice things.

JEAN: I am not into spending a lot of money on my clothes. I like to buy things second-hand. I don't really think there is any specific brand name that I depend on except when it comes to bras and underwear. In terms of dressing myself in the morning, I have been aiming for lots of color lately. Color, color!

Coat: It's my mother's. During winter break, I was rummaging through her closet and found this among all these old wool pants and I thought it was so funny that my arms were too long for it. She's five-foot tall, she's tiny. But, I love the color and it functions well as a raincoat.

Shirt: This I acquired at some random mall sale, in one of those places that only smell like plastic and Mrs. Field's cookies. I was looking at all these funny clothes in Bloomingdales, and I was like, "Oh my God, what is this?" and I thought it was really fun.

Pants: They're just used. They're Wranglers. Which I think is funny because I usually think of Wranglers as jeans.

Shoes: I bought them in eighth grade, they're really old. And I have been rock climbing in them and hiking in them and they have just gone through a lot of wear-and-tear. One summer, I was hanging out and a friend of mine from ex-Yugoslavia was there, and we decided to sneak out of our dorms past curfew and go to the art room. And we started painting. We painted my shoe. And the wall. And the couches. And I painted the left shoe a year later.

Hair: My hair used to be down to my waist, and one summer I cut it short to my chin, and one day I decided I wanted to cut it really short--pixie short. But I had a braid in and I left it there. Ever since then, it's kind of been impossible to cut and every time I try to cut it, it has this force field around it that refuses to let it be cut. It's staying there forever until someone has the magical powers to cut it.