Two Words That Best Sum Up Fashion: Be Yourself!

[Kenny]

Here is what started this conversation! 2018 is about to come to a close, yet, as much as winter is trying to take charge, I'm still wearing shorts. Why not! Someone wrote that his "policy" was that in order to have to remove his shorts and wear jeans, the daytime high temperature had to be below 5-degrees C for five days in a row. Lately, the temperature has been around the "Zero" mark (Celsius), or 32-degrees "F". It had been plus or minus maybe three or four degrees above or below that zero mark. It's gradually being more "below" than "above". It has also been quite damp! it has only snowed once, so far, but it has been raining almost daily since the beginning of November. Not heavy rain, just a lot of drizzle.

The thing about it all is this. Nothing feels sexier, well, almost nothing, than feeling that cool, wet air on a pair of bare, freshly shaved legs. Yes, I admit it, I shave my legs, and have done so since I was a teenager, and so do a lot of my friends shave their legs. And I am not the only guy I see still wearing shorts. A lot of guys are still venturing out with bare legs. All of my friends are still baring their legs. We've all vowed to make it at least until New Year's before finally caving to putting on jeans. Besides too, I wear tee shirts. As the weather cools, I layer the tee shirt with a short-sleeved tee over a long-sleeved tee. Why the short on over the long one? Pretty much all my tee shirts, except for a couple, have something printed on them, usually a statement of my beliefs. I'm not hesitant to wear a tee shirt proclaiming my sexuality. Then, as it really gets cool, I put on a sweatshirt over my layered tees. I'm warm enough and comfortable enough too!

Anyway, what happened was, a "very close and intimate friend" and I went to one of those 24-hour coffee shops the other morning at around 3:30. This is fairly normal, as I'm an early riser, and quite often go to this one particular coffee shop. Half the time, I'm by myself, while the other half, I'm accompanied by an acquaintance like I was the other morning. "Ashley" is almost 40-years my junior, but is one seriously attractive young man of24-years. It's quite something that a super attractive young guy like him likes to "get it on" with someone like me, that the age difference doesn't bother him, but I'm digressing. There are a lot of things about him that remind me of me at that age. One thing is his attire. Ashley, like me, wears shorts nearly all year, although he takes it a little further. I have a limit as to when the shorts come off and long jeans go on. Ashley and five other young guys I am acquainted with through him (including his "primary" lover), are 365-days-a-year shorts wearers. Why not! Ashley has exquisitely beautiful legs and he loves to show them off! Ashley, as well as his friends, is also a layered tee shirt and sweatshirt wearer too!

What happened the other morning was something that has happened quite often to me, and my friends at this time of year. The temperature was a few degrees below the Zero-C mark. Still, as far as I'm concerned, one can still bare his legs and wear shorts. And is a guy still wearing shorts any different than a woman wearing a skirt? I see lots of women, especially younger women, wearing short skirts! Not that I really notice a woman wearing a short skirt. A guy in shorts is another matter! Those I do notice! Too, anyone whose a regular at this particular coffee shop at that hour is used to seeing me there, and there are usually at least six or seven people there to take advantage of the free wi-fi. Unfortunately, once in a while, there is some loud-mouthed, ignorant clown who feels so empowered, he just has to make insulting comments to someone. The other morning, there was one of those jerks, and Ashley and I were victimized.

"Are you guys nuts? Its winter! What are you, Gay?"

Well, we are both Gay, but what does that have to do with how we were dressed? As for "nuts", well, I am a little quirky, and I was quite off-the-wall in my younger days, and I don't mind getting a little kinky where sexual activity is concerned. What's that saying, "What goes on behind closed doors...?" Besides, you don't seem to be able to control your mouth, so what are you, a bully? And this guy wasn't some belligerent, rude teenager either. He was, I am guessing here, maybe in his 50s. I know I shouldn't have acknowledged his rude comment, but I did. I asked, "Why does it matter to you how we dress?" In other words, mind your own business! There was no response! He got into his car and left!

But this brought up a subject, and as Ashley and I were getting our coffees and leaving, a thought came to my head, why does it matter to people how someone else dresses themselves?

I have never embraced what you would call "the latest fashion". When I was in my late teens and getting out on my own, I had already established my "style". I was into tee shirts and shortcut-off shorts and running shoes. Cooler weather brought out sweatshirts. Usually, the jeans went on in early January, when it gets really cold, more than five-degrees below zero-C, but the shorts would go back on by Easter, or the end of March, which ever comes first.

Years ago, I knew this one straight (unfortunately) guy who, like me, dressed as he wanted. He got very independent when he was out on his own and away from his domineering mother. When I knew him, he never had a shirt with buttons on it. Hated golf and polo shirts. He did wear turtlenecks a lot, as well as sweatshirts. He definitely was strictly a tee shirt guy, and his shirts usually had some message on it, even back then. And shorts? Like most guys then, he wore cut-off jean shorts. And by "shorts", I mean "shorts", shorts that were well above the knees, a style that drove feminists nuts. Even then, it would take seriously cold temperatures to get him into long jeans. It drove his mother nuts! After all, it was the 70s and 80s, as in 1970s and 1980s, but his mother was also a woman of the 70s and 80s. Only difference was, while he was in the 1970s and 1980s, his mother was in the 1870s and 1880s. Shorts were never to be worn before the beginning of June, and must come off at the beginning of September. Shorts must never be worn after Labour Day! How dark ages! It also drove her nuts that he never embraced "the latest fashions". She hated that he wouldn't adopt all the ugly styles that designers forced on people.

(As a side note, I do bump into this guy once in a while. He's still "straight", but, after two absolutely disastrous marriages, I'm trying to convince him to experience the Gay lifestyle. After all, it's never too late to enjoy "The Good Life"!)

This brings me to a book I obtained lately that really explained things. The book is called, "This Book Is Gay" By Juno Dawson. It's about the Gay lifestyle, and it really is for anyone who is even slightly interested in the Gay life. This book should be recommended reading for all males when they reach 16-years of age! In this book, Ms. Dawson does an excellent job of explaining the good side, as well as the bad side, of our wonderful lifestyle. She also emphasises that you should be yourself. Well, we are all individuals in this world. No two people are alike. So, in essence, we are ourselves. The problem lies with individuals like the ignoramus I met the other day who feel that they are the ones who should decide who people present themselves. This is so wrong! What anyone does, or how anyone decides to attire themselves, is their business and only their business. This is why I don't let anyone influence me. And I'm not the only one like that.

Which brings me to the subject of this idea of "the latest fashions". Somehow, sometime, Gay men became the trendsetters for male fashion. What we wore became accepted fashion for even straight men within a year. What? Now, I have always looked at what was supposed to be "the hot look" for us. There has been very rare times when I've looked at what we're supposed to be wearing, and thought, who would wear such ugly clothing? The latest pants/slacks, the latest shirt style, the latest sweaters, all U-G-L-Y! And fir years, fashion designers have fought the tee shirt, always telling the world, "Tee shirts are out of style, especially tee shirts with some message on them!". Not for me! I have a number of tee shirts, and about half have a message. I'm not hesitant to wear a tee shirt with the word "QUEER" emblazed across the front of it. And lately, I've acquired some with anti-hate messages too.

Where shorts are concerned, I have always looked at shorts that were below the knees as so ugly, who in their right mind would wear them, but a lot of guys do. I loved the days of really short cut-offs and short gym-style shorts, shorts that were well above the knees. Unfortunately, the feminists screamed because some guys would wear them so short and wear loose fitting briefs that their "junk" was exposed. Yes, I used to see guys like that. Those guys were total idiots and did it just to get a reaction. I never had that issue, and neither did any of my friends, and the shorts we all wore were above half-way between the knees and thighs. Why didn't my "junk", or my friends' "junk" hang out? We wore proper briefs, tighty-whiteys, or whatever colour you chose. Too, someone had another thought as to why a lot of women complained about men wearing short shorts. Jealousy! I can understand this one as my friend Ashley has legs to die for! As I said earlier, his legs are exceptionally beautiful and shapely, and he loves to show them off! In fact, I can introduce you to several guys who have legs to die for! Even my legs aren't so bad for a guy my age! Could it be that women can't stand the fact that a lot of guys have better looking legs than they do?

I'm sorry to rant like this, but, all I'm saying is that we are all individuals. As such, how we look says only one thing, "This is me!" So be yourself and dress the way you want. I do! And ignore those who feel they must express their misguided opinion about who you should look. After all, they dress as they want!

One last side note, this will be the fifteenth year that we've been having a New Year's Eve party where there is a strict "dress code", if you want to call it that. Shorts and tee shirts only! And the shorts must be the short, cut-off jean type like guys wore in the 70s to the 90s, and cannot be any longer than 10-inches above the knee caps. Yes, somebody does measure them, and any that are longer are trimmed. While the party is all guys, there has been a welcomed change. For years, it was primarily guys who are now in their very late 50s to their mid-60s, but still have nice looking legs. The last four years, more young guys, like Ashley, his boyfriend, and a number of their friends, guys in their 20s and even as young as late teens have joined us. And these guys have exceptionally nice legs! Most of these young guys wear shorts three-hundred-and-sixty-five-days a year! They NEVER wear long jeans! I love it! Guys who love to show off their sexy legs all the time! And yes, we do vote on who has the best looking legs. Ashley's boyfriend was voted "Best Looking Legs" last year, and Ashley won the year before. This year should be fun!

Happy New Year everyone, and all the best in 2019!

[Queer_Kenny]

On Friday, December 28, 2018 at 6:19:41 PM UTC-5, Queer_Kenny wrote:
>
> This brings me to a book I obtained lately that really explained things. The book is called, "This Book Is Gay" By Juno Dawson. It's about the Gay lifestyle, and it really is for anyone who is even slightly interested in the Gay life. This book should be recommended reading for all males when they reach 16-years of age! In this book, Ms. Dawson does an excellent job of explaining the good side, as well as the bad side, of our wonderful lifestyle.

Today, April 6th, 2019, Queer_Kenny added:

Not to stir up too much trouble, but, back when I wrote this, I said the book, This Book is Gay" should be recommended reading for all males when they reach 16-years-of-age. Given that even boys are more mature at a younger age, a boy 14-years-old could read and understand this book! So, I say this book should be recommended reading for males when they reach 14-years-of-age! After all, I was engaging in sex with another boy when I was 13, and he was only four months older than I was!