A resolution for the new year: Stop dressing like a bland tech bro

Alex Cochran, Deseret Information

When was the final time you sat in an airport and people-watched?

It was once an enchanting pastime. Relying on what they have been sporting and the gate at which they have been ready, you may create entire tales for the individuals passing by.

That man is a ranch hand out West; this one, a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. The girl over there have to be coming from northern Europe for a monthlong ski trip. That one is on her manner again to her artwork studio in Brooklyn.

You by no means knew should you have been proper or not, however that was half the enjoyable.

Now, should you handle to drag your head out of your cellphone lengthy sufficient to go searching, you understand that a lot of that story-creating info has disappeared.

Everybody appears vaguely the identical. And, should you’re in Utah, too many costume like a bland tech bro from Silicon Valley.

This can be a change from the current previous, when individuals from different nations, and even People from totally different areas, had their very own distinct and alluring methods of dressing and grooming. Consider the stereotypical Texan, Southern Californian or New Englander, and a glance instantly involves thoughts. There have been additionally particular appears inside subsets of tradition: Hip-hop on the East Coast not solely sounded totally different from hip-hop out West, however the artists dressed in a different way.

Once we spoke, we had totally different variations of an accent, relying on the place we got here from. Many people had aesthetic accents, too.

Sadly, it’s been a very long time since Utah and different states within the Mountain West had an accent. Barring the overt signaling that comes with a College of Utah or BYU T-shirt, do you suppose you’d acknowledge somebody from the Pioneer Hall should you have been sitting subsequent to one another on a bus in London?

If not, why not?

We've such a wealthy historical past from which to attract — from the Native American tribes who have been right here, to the explorers and miners who fell in love with the land and its riches, to the pioneers who have been peculiar individuals and wished to apply their religion freely.

There may be nonetheless a uniqueness to us right this moment. We joke in regards to the stereotypes of micro-cultures just like the bleached-blond Draper mothers or the Provo all-star with the flat brimmed hat and skinny gold chain. They’re straightforward sufficient targets for the remainder of us to select on, however at the very least they’re doing their very own factor.

We will poke enjoyable on the mommy bloggers with their extremely curated, Instagram lives however they’ve efficiently achieved one thing many people haven’t even had the braveness to attempt — create an aesthetic that not solely expresses who they're, however resonates with 1000's and 1000's of people that emulate it.

Now, simply because one thing is emulated doesn’t imply it’s admirable. Why aspire to greater than grey T-shirts and comfy sweaters when Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey don’t do a lot in a different way?

In reality, clothes is greater than merely consolation or safety from the weather. It’s communication. And what we put on can inform a narrative extra shortly — and infrequently extra successfully — than the phrases we are saying. We within the West haven't just one distinctive story, however many. And we must always inform them.

A lot of what’s occurring in Utah is progressive. Individuals transfer from all around the world to be a part of the distinctive tradition of recreation, enterprise, household and religion. We aren’t simply the little brother to the Bay Space, so why can we act that manner with our fashion? We're dwelling to a large number of wealthy aesthetics in sports activities and recreation. Moderately than copying different markets, we must always construct our personal distinctive appears that replicate each our previous and what we’re surrounded by right this moment.

Whether or not it’s a Boss of the Plains hat with work boots, an après-ski look that might solely come from considered one of our resorts or a completely new tech uniform that separates the Slopes from the Valley, it’s time to start out making some sartorial statements, taking part in with new types, forging a path.

The West is synonymous with braveness. It was once a wild, untamed land that was cruel to those that braved it. The braveness required to stay right here earlier than it was tamed was each admirable and enviable. Let’s begin to costume the best way the West is to be lived.

Tanner Guzy is a mode coach and creator in Utah.