The king of the "make an impression while remaining comfortable" movement, however, was the Wearing of the Black. Having been exposed to beatnik imagery and The Lost Boys, we were under the impression that no matter how much of a social maladroit one was, no matter how much one resembled Barbapapa in shape and texture, wearing all-black made one inexpressibly cool. And, as an added bonus, unlike most other forms of looking cool, wearing all black required no effort or iron. Plus, it was easier than picking an actual outfit, because you didn't have to match hues, and the color helped disguise gravy stains. And, near as I can tell, it's since been growing in popularity among the techno-savvy and socially-clueless.
The problem is that when the stigmatized do something, that thing becomes stigmatized. It's the same thing that happened to the word "special." You can't just assign something cool to someone uncool and expect it to remain cool. When I see someone walking down the street wearing all black, even in Berkeley where all-black is considered picnic wear, I don't think "Poet with a tortured soul." I think "Doesn't like picking out shirts, doesn't like doing laundry, probably has a favorite Linux distribution." Two of which apply to me, you guess which ones.
I resemble that remark.
