From Man Buns to Geek Chic

I was at a diner with my parents not long ago. A soccer game was on the TV, and I noticed the hairstyle of one of the players. "Oh no," I said. "A man bun." That does seem to be a growing (no pun intended?) trend these days.

These are the kinds of observations I make while watching sports. The last time I watched a football (American football) game with one of my brothers, I made small talk about the team colors and their uniforms. My brother laughed at me.

I find myself paying attention to men's fashion trends now more than ever now that I have two fun fictional guys to dress in the "Action Men" series. All of the suspects in Action Men with Silly Putty: A Jack Donegal Mystery are male, and they all had to be distinguishable and unique. From a detective's point of view, a physical description of a suspect is vital information.

I sometimes think building a fictional world for a novel is a little like a more sophisticated form of our childhood play. Dressing characters is like playing with paper dolls. Designing a character's home is like playing with dollhouses. Who knew I'd have such fun with "paper dolls" that were so masculine?

In addition to noticing men's clothing styles, I'm taking note of various styles in facial hair from "Duck Dynasty" beards to goatees and various kinds of hairstyles.

I'm a fan of the 1920s humor writer, P.G. Wodehouse, and, in addition to the books, I have enjoyed some of the BBC Jeeves and Wooster programs starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Some of the humor in the stories stems from a difference in opinion over fashion. Well, I suppose you would expect a British valet like Jeeves to have opinions on what a gentleman should wear. A fan on Youtube put together a montage from the shows on the many ways Jeeves disapproves.

You can also read a couple of the fashion fiasco scenarios in these cartoons. As the images are small, I've spelled out the captions.

For the cartoon above ... Wooster --"This white mess jacket is brand new!" Jeeves -- "I assumed it had got into your wardrobe by mistake, sir." Jeeves, third frame -- "Or else it had been placed there by your enemies."

For the cartoon below ... First frame, Wooster -- "What on earth's the matter, Jeeves?" Second frame, Jeeves -- "I apologize, sir. It was unforgivable of me. I shall be better directly. It's just ... Mr. Little's tie, sir. It has little horseshoes on it." Third frame, Wooster -- "Oh, yes, yes, I had noticed that." Fourth frame, Jeeves -- "It's sometimes difficult just to shrug these things off, sir."

If Jeeves was made a little ill by a horseshoe pattern on a tie, some of the styles I put on Jack Donegal would give him a temperature and send him to bed, that is, if it were possible to pull him out of P.G. Wodehouse world and introduce him to my character. I have sometimes described Jack's style as geek chic.

Jack is a bit of an individualist who has his own unique way of expressing himself in style, much to the mortification of his more conservative best buddy, Andy Westin. The two buddies are more complementary than similar in a lot of ways, a bit like the Odd Couple.

Since Jack is in the toy industry, specifically an inventor of toys and the head of his own toy company, his wardrobe choices often reflect his whimsical side and a tribute to toys or games. I could see Jack wearing this Popeye watch ...

Or these Tetris socks ...

Or the Pac Man tie.

Andy Westin has had to roll his eyes at some of Jack's fashion choices. In Chapter 5, "We Become Spies at the Expense of My Dignity," Andy himself is coerced by Jack to wear a disguise that goes against the grain, something he describes as a hippie Indian chief outfit.

Without giving any plot spoilers, I will give you some humorous book excerpts relating to Jack's fashion choices.

"Jack was looking at me with the most bewildered look on his face, and it was then that I realized he was wearing Wallace and Gromit pajamas. As odd as that was, it somehow made sense, as this one ridiculous piece of clothing jointly expressed his love of things juvenile and playful, inventors, invention and dogs."

Later, Jack goes outside while still in his pajamas to take care of some task, and absentmindedly, almost goes to his female neighbor's condo while still in his Wallace and Gromit pajamas. Andy stops him. "We went back inside. I sat in the living room and read a little bit of his latest copy of TDMonthly, while he was in his room changing his clothes. A minute or two later, he reemerged fully-dressed, but it was barely an improvement. He came down the stairs in a bright blue dress shirt, a tie printed all over in Monopoly money, suspenders spotted in the colors of the game Twister and his swing dancing shoes. From his belt loop, a mostly useless but unique pocket watch dangled, sporting a Colonel Mustard figure from Clue. I say that the watch was mostly useless, not because it wasn't a working watch, but because it was useless if Jack didn't actually consult it once in a while. Basically, Jack had transformed himself into a walking billboard for Toys 'R Us."

"... Jack was apparently of the opinion that each individual piece in his wardrobe should be screaming with personality. Maybe it was time to call Clinton Kelly and arrange an intervention. I sighed or maybe I groaned. 'It's better than the pajamas.'"

There's a lot more of this sort of humor in the book. If you click on the Colonel Mustard link, you will see the pocket watch that inspired me.