Challenging the Norm 4: Belts and Ties

Many of us are used to substitutions in our daily lives, especially when two things appear quite similar. Butter is swapped out for the equally yellow fat, margarine, a knife works just as well as a pair of scissors in opening a bag, and the generic acetaminophen tablets work just as well as Tylenol.

Substitutions in fashion are less common, since most pieces of clothing are markedly different in some way (otherwise, what would be the point of shopping). Occasionally, however, we can exploit some symmetries which allow us to utilize elements of our wardrobe in new ways. This brings us to today’s substitution items; belts and ties.

Ties and belts have a number of similarities:

• Thin, nearly rectangular shape
• Approximately the same length
• Fastened in some way (buckle or knot)

Thus, I am (as always), motivated to mess around with this and switch things up. The two obvious questions:

• Can we use a tie as a belt?
• Can we use a belt as a tie?

After some research, I’ve found that the answer to the first question is “almost always,” and the answer to the second question is “with the right type of belt, and some modifications.” Let’s start with the easy one:

Using a Tie as a Belt

My first inclination was to find someway to fold the tie along the long direction to make the wide end fit inside the belt loop, but this seemed more damaging than just sliding it through the loop. As you can see here, it only cinches the tie briefly, allowing the full width to return for the majority of the belt:

Instead, we just pull the tie around through the belt loops, tightening all the way through until both ends are secured near a loop. It must be mentioned that the tie doesn’t have nearly the same fastening power as an actual belt, and thus is best worn with pants that don’t need a belt to fit well. As you can see here, starting the tie in the standard first belt loop leads to having a lot of the wide part off to the side:

Thus, I recommend beginning at the second loop; for most standard ties this brings the wide part to the center (if you want it there). You could, of course, do other things with the loose end, but that’s up to you!

While this doesn’t seem to damage the ties in any way, I’d have to imagine wearing one in this fashion is more demanding than as a necktie. You may not want to use your most expensive ties for this purpose (then again, maybe you do, just a warning).

Using a Belt as a Tie

The more difficult endeavor approaches. The work, however, can be done, with some minor modifications.

To begin, the ends of most belts to not appear very tie-like, but more rectangular (or possibly slightly rounded), though they do have the approximate width of a skinny tie. It is an easy hack to make the belt more triangular (or some exotic shape), and I’d imagine this wouldn’t detract from its value as a belt, but the choice is yours.

Now, for the actual “tying,” we begin with a small loop around the collar, bringing the belt buckle to the point where the standard tie knot would rest, right in the indentation above the breastbone and between the collarbones:

The long end should then be fed through the buckle, keeping it as straight as possible down the center of the shirt.

This is where you have to decide whether to create another hole in the belt at this location (one won’t be there, unless your neck is waist-sized), or to leave the belt loose. Either works, since there isn’t nearly as much tension in the belt as when worn on pants.

The last hurdle is the likely excessive length of the long end. You probably don’t wish to cut off a few inches, as this could ruin the belt’s utility as… a belt. Other options are to fold it under and fasten it (not recommended since it will be quite bulky), or flip the long end through the loop created by the short end of the belt (almost like a real tie). This will prove difficult given the twisting required by the strip of the belt.

Or, you could use a buckle with two hoops, like this belt from Old Navy, which facilitates easy looping and tying to adjust length.

There you have it, a strange reversal which could potentially double your belt count, and maybe add a few to the tie count (I’d have to say the ties make better belts than the belts make ties), while adding a lot to your originality and creativity.

Always Another Way

…there’s always another way. Obscure references to the Matrix aside, the words ring true. We make so many choices in fashion (whether we realize them or not), that there is almost always another way to achieve a desired effect, to wear a particular piece of clothing, or to put an outfit together.

Often, the other ways are not particularly effective, or produce undesirable effects. For example, you could wear your shoes on the wrong feet, but it probably wouldn’t feel too comfortable. However, if we free our minds up a bit, we can find reversals, switches, and modifications which are new, interesting, and effective. It's a nice way to challenge the norm.

Today, we’re going to consider a very simple change to a very common outfit pattern. Consider a short-sleeved polo shirt, showing the undershirt underneath. This “look,” deservedly or undeservedly, carries the connotation of being “preppy” and “clean-cut.” Based on those connotations alone, the pair can easily be used to satisfy some simple fashion goals.

1. To look preppy or clean-cut (obviously).
2. To bring a slight amount of formality to a casual or athletic outfit.
3. To appear simultaneously youthful and mature (as the outfit is prevalent among college students).

Our work here will most directly affect the first goal, but it also explores some additional goals.

So how do we construct such an outfit? We’d probably find an undershirt which works well with the color of the polo, slip it on, then add the polo, unbuttoning enough to see some of the color contrast, right?

Not today.

This time, we put the polo on first (if you insist, you could wear an additional undershirt underneath, though you might start to look puffy), followed by the undershirt, making sure to fold the collar of the polo over the undershirt. Hmm, quite a striking effect. What have we accomplished here?

By using a darker colored undershirt (as we have here), we provide a strong contrast to the lighter colors of polo (pastel-ier is often equated with preppier). By being frugal with the area we provide to the “important” color, we intensify its presence. We also channel a secondary prep look, in which the dress shirt collar is folded over a sweater. In this way, we have multiple dimensions of the prep look, giving the final product a preppier impression overall.

Further, we bring a formal idea (collar over shirt), to a casual idea (short-sleeves), something which is not often seen, and is thus interesting. Consequently, one nice effect is the ability of the polo collar to make a very casual undershirt or tee shirt seem more formal.

This technique is also useful for purely practical means. Have a badly wrinkled polo, or one with a noticeable stain? Wear it underneath an undershirt, revealing only the collar. It can also help reign in strong colors or patterns, like this metallic silver polo.

Before, I'm not pleased.

After, it's much better.

One caveat is sleeve length. We should be careful to ensure that the polo’s sleeves to not extend too far beyond the undershirt sleeves (not much more than half an inch), otherwise we risk losing intentionality, as there will be an awkward mismatch in length. A slightly longer polo sleeve does, however, provide additional points of color contrast, which may be desirable.

So, before you go through the motions in your morning dress, stop to consider what could be done differently, because there is always another way.

Another Norm Challenger: LittleMissMatched

You never wear mismatched socks, right? Right. How could you? It'd be embarrasing! What if someone saw your fashion oversight?!

Sounds like norm-based thinking to me. Of course, I'm guilty of it as well, we all are (unless you don't match your socks, on purpose).

Well, the people behind LittleMissMatched got their collective minds beyond all that. The idea follows my four-step norm-busting process in straightforward splendor:

1. Almost everyone wears matched socks.
2. People don't have to wear matched socks.
3. It's easy to not wear matched socks, all I need are two different socks.
4. Hooray, I'm wearing mismatched socks.

That's all well and good on an individual level. I could have "shattered the fashion world" tomorrow morning by walking out in gloriously contrasting socks. Except nobody would have cared. The genius, the limiting step, is convincing other people to do it (thus leading to profit).

This happenened in two steps. First, they designed some killer socks. All of them are fun, interesting, and well designed with respect to color and pattern. Ok. I'll still take them in pairs please.

The big idea is understanding why people don't wear mismatched socks, and finding a way to circumvent that mindset. Mismatched socks, when occuring unintentionally, are bad because they reflect a lack of care, a lack of intentionality on the part of the wearer. Often, it's just a red stripe that betrays us; clearly we were so cavalier about our footwear that we didn't bother to notice.

How does LittleMissMatched take advantage of this? They remove "accidental" from our vocabulary. The socks (which come in mismatched sets of three) are so vibrantly different from one another, that you'd literally have to be blind to accidentally wear them. Nobody in their right mind, seeing someone come down the street with a blue and red striped sock and a yellow and purple polka dotten one, could think that it was an accident. LittleMissMatched has allowed people to increase their intentionality, to utilize an oft forgotten garment to make a statement. That is why people buy from them. Not only have they challenged the norm themselves, they make it easier for their consumers to do so to, and thus they sell.

Goal: Challenging the Norm

The fashion perspective of the everyday person is often normative, in that what is worn by the masses, or some large subset thereof, becomes the model upon which fashion judgments are based. The evidence is found all around us:

• Specific garments go dormant for years, decades at a time, such as bell-bottomed jeans. There’s something very Tipping Point about this phenomenon.


• Countries, even states, and even regions within states have distinctive fashion cultures, and these fashion cultures are rarely breached. Ask a US high school student if they’ve seen someone wear traditional Indian clothing. Not just at school. Ever.


• The modern business workplace is a “hotbed” of fashion homogeny. Whatever the norm found, be it formal businesswear, business casual, or completely casual, you’ll see a remarkable lack of variation in most corporate environments.

The reasons, too, are abundant:

• We’re often limited in what we can purchase by the stores around us, though this is starting to change. Until online shopping becomes commonplace, the majority of people in a region will be buying from the same subset of stores, and thus, the same subset of clothes. This means you are inundated with images of a specific subset of the fashion world, making it difficult to judge against other images.


• We really don’t have any control over what gets put in stores. This is important, as it makes our judgment selective rather than constructive. While the fashion designers get to make judgments via creation of garments, thus in theory judging based upon all fashions they can imagine, we only have the ability to judge among their offerings.


• We’re naturally attuned to “follow the crowd” for evolutionary reasons. To say that we eat because we see others eat would be a misinterpretation of biology, but to say we follow the herd because they know how to get food would be more reasonable. When we see others wear clothing and receive positive attention (or avoid negative attention), we naturally make note of this, influencing our own thoughts and judgments. Then, when a large group of people wears similar clothing, all to safe effect, it becomes easy to follow suit. After all, deviation is inherently risky.

Sure, deviation from the norm is inherently risky, but it’s a lot riskier for the fashion designers, isn’t it? That’s why they get paid to move fashion norms, to create deviations, because if they’re not accepted, it’s more than a minor embarrassment, it’s millions of dollars on the line.

Fortunately, our risks are much less frightening. When we make a fashion deviation (unless you’re a super-celebrity or something), the worst that can happen is that a stranger or a friend makes a snarky comment about it. Maybe they’ll make fun of you about it the next day. Aw. Thus, I often set about achieving the following goal:

Goal: Challenging the Norm

Utilize my clothing and fashion to deliberately go against the current norm or to defy expectations, while remaining within what I personally perceive as aesthetic.

In less rigor, do something unusual and unexpected, but that you still think looks good! The process probably isn’t as hard as you think. As a starting point, here’s a step-by-step method which I’ll illustrate using my first example in this series:

1. Come up with a simple fact about the majority of clothes. Often, the more general, the better.


2. Determine the logical opposite of this statement.


3. See if it is practically feasible to execute this opposite. This will likely require you pick a specific implementation of (2). If possible, proceed to (4). If not, return to (1).


4. Execute said opposite.

Use your common sense to find examples which you can actually implement. For example, the following would not be a good choice:

1. Most jeans are not diamond-encrusted.


2. Jeans could be diamond-encrusted. (Proof)


3. I do not have thousands of dollars to encrust a pair of jeans. I also lack the equipment to securely fasten diamonds to denim. I should try again.
   

How about an example that I came up with and executed in less than twenty minutes?

1. Most shirts with words are in English. Generalize: most shirts with words are written in a spoken language.


2. A shirt could have content written in Braille.


3. Yes, this is feasible. All I need is knowledge of the Braille alphabet, a blank shirt, and a silver sharpie.


4. Done (for those who can’t be bothered to translate, it says DUKE):

Again, less than twenty minutes from conception to completion (if you don’t count drying time). I notice that you can see the results of a previous design faintly underneath. I didn't feel like washing the shirt again before putting this together. Anyway, the effect isn’t earth-shattering, but it’s certainly interesting. I’ve got a few more ideas for this goal on deck, as I complete them, I’ll post links to the associated posts here as well:

LittleMissMatched
Always Another Way
Belts and Ties

Challenge the norm yourself, and unleash your inner designer (we all have one).