| And the continuation of Seth’s Fashions through the years brings us to 6th grade: Moving to Florida, I was in for a rude awakening. Life at Cypress Lake Middle School was nothing like James Feinemore Cooper Elementary. My first fashion mentor, a richy rich kid named Tom Gillagan informed me that I had to “roll” my jeans up – you know what im talking about – the tight roll up with those freakin’ Sperry top-sider shoes – uh, yeah, “where’s the flood, Captain?” If you see ANYONE wearing those docker shoes, just pimp slap them now. I also learned that my poseur cattle and buffalo Jamz were already like so 1987. Ocean Pacific became my new gear – 10 bucks a shirt at good ole J-Byrons (now out of business, bankrupt for selling such stuff). Momma Fish didn’t wanna buy me the real super cool skater shirts. You know, like Billabong and Maui and Sons. (I got my first Billabong shirt on the floor of a laundry room at FAU in 1993) and my first Maui and Son’s shirt in Spring of 1998. I still have that, but it’s a second rate shirt in my wardrobe collection. Now Local Motion – that’s quality gear! Ditto Jimmy-Z’s. Oh and another thing – these freakin shirts had puffy paint on some them. Ok – firstly – theres no waves in Ft Myers, Florida. We were all wanna-be’s. I was at the bottom of the fashion poll with the marginal cool clothes. J-Byrons is like JC Penny’s. There was this “what’s hot – what’s not” in our student paper, Paw Prints. I let that stupid column written by the little Quicksilver wearin’ punks to be my guide. I still looked at that damn thing in high school. Come to think about it – I was still wearing OP shirts at FAU. Cypress High continued my quest to be a what was known as a “Social” – a cross between the Preps and the Surfers. I was sporting the Genera shirts (I still wear one of these and most of you have seen me in it and said you liked the shirt – its freakin 10 years old!) and Quicksilver stone washed denim (ok, I admit, back in Tampa – I still have 2 pairs). I had all these cheapo surf bracelets I bought from a store that went under (fancy that!). When I had that real nasty accident with my hand, the surgeons had to cut one of them off since I broke the clamp and there was no way to get it off otherwise. I was still rolling my jeans up until about 11th grade then it kinda faded out. Z-Caverichi’s were in as was MC Hammer pants. I was sporting all black Reebox high tops – I swore by Reebox’s all through high school – I refused to by the Air Jordans since every white boy can’t jump kid had them. I will also admit that I tried growing out my hair long – there is one surviving picture of me and you can see that it almost made it my shoulders however I was quick to realize that the Mullet would not be fashionable and jettisoned cargo quickly. Some of my friends sadly fell victim to the mullet. You know who you are! My high school days were the era of the hip hop dress and Kriss Kross. There was this guy who wore his clothes backward. “The mack dad will make ya jump, jump!” He also shaved his eyebrows like Vanilla Ice. Word to your mother. Not me – my mom would have thrown me through my Ford Escort GT’s windows. And yes, I had a stupid “NO Fear” sticker plastered on my back window like every wanna be tough guy. Ok – another thing, I wasn’t cool enough to get one of those heat sensitive shirts by Genera or the Public Image shirts that glowed in the dark (I did get one like 2 years later when they really weren’t cool anymore). I still had the “Seth rebel without causes” when it came to clothes. I refused to buy anything Polo, Guess? (I later caved in on a shirt that my brother now has – but it was a damn good shirt!) and Nike. Of course, I later sold out to the Man. “Damn the Man!” – Empire Records. My college days at FAU will be the next edition out. Stay tuned to such tales as “Seth stops wearing sneakers and shorts” and other sorted displays of senseless acts in the name of fashion! http://www.oocities.org/sethmatthew |