I’m not a fashionable guy. It’s not like I am a complete mess and wear bizarre combinations of mismatched garments out of sheer ignorance, but neither do I spend hours preparing an ensemble to wow the fashion world with. I am just a normal guy who likes to wear normal clothes. If they can reflect who I am in some minute way all the better, but if they are of no affinity to me plain bloc colours will suffice. However this is not an easy task.
When I go into a New Look or H&M or far more likely Penneys, it is not as easy as you would imagine to purchase ‘normal’ clothes. To qualify that statement, it is partially my fault. You see, in my years of being a pretty measured guy I have entirely exhausted each stores respective catalogue of unremarkable clothing. Sure, I could just buy the same old clothes again and again in the same plain colours, but, honestly, I am a little sick of essentially dressing in palette swapped outfits for years, so I have decided to branch out.
Sometime between 2009 and the present day, clothing stockists have apparently eliminated the middle ground of check shirts and quirky t-shirts – instead creating a bizarre world of binary garments which force me into either perpetually wearing the exact same clothing and wearing something that a Geordie Shore reject wouldn’t be caught dead in.
When I last attempted to purchase a t-shirt from New Look, I was faced with only three options. These options were an ill fitting YOLO top, an expression I neither subscribe to nor care to propagate, a bizarre Aztec design shirt which seemed to have been reduced after the failed Mayan apocalypse and a black t-shirt with a half naked woman on it. Now, I am as big a fan of objectifying women as the next man, but there is a time and place for it, and across my stomach is not a place for it.
I was ready to resign myself to a life of the most mediocre of clothing – but then I discovered Qwertee. For those of you who don’t know, Qwertee is a t-shirt website which specialises in supporting user submitted designs. Each design is only available for one day at the dangerously impulsive price of €10. Not only are the designs really unique and original, but they also usually appeal to my nerdy sensibilities.
As happy as I am with the discovery of my new form of fashion salvation, it is not all sunshine. You see the weight that has been lifted from my mind regarding my wardrobe has been promptly placed upon my wallet. Weekly now I treat myself to a lovely new shirt with which to impress the world with, and with talks of Qwertee branching out into hoodies my bank balance does not seem likely to experience a respite anytime soon.