Business Casual Superstar
Dude fashion is cool because there is nothing named Juicy Couture.
I so rarely do outfits inspired by dudes. I apologize for that. It's just that there's so much more to do with fashion for the ladies. For dudes, it's just like, wear pants. Society wants you wearing pants. The end. I mean, come on. Pants + shirt + shoes of some sort = you're set. No one's going to talk about your shoes not working with your outfit and the only accessories you have to worry about are your watches and possibly your LiveStrong bracelet.
But today, I thought I'd mix things up. Fellas? The Hoomster's got your back. So I'm pulling out the big guns: Ryan Atwood from The O.C., played by Ben McKenzie. Or, as he is referred to around my house, Mama Hoomster's Future Ex Son-In-Law.
You see, I love Ben McKenzie, you guys. I have only watched 1 full episode of The O.C. ever (didn't like it; wasn't my speed; didn't find the characters or plot at all compelling), and I've only seen a handful of SouthLand episodes, but, god damn, am I in love with Ben McKenzie. The boy's amazing. He's a TV and stage actor, lays low and doesn't participate in Hollyweirdness, and he's got a degree in Economics. Mama Hoomster's ears perked up at that (she has an ABD in Econ and has been teaching it for decades), but she's still not sold on him being her future ex-son-in-law.
Whatever, she'll come around.
So let's delve into the Ryan Atwood fandom, shall we? Do we dare? Oh, but we do!
Even though I didn't watch The O.C., I was familiar enough with it to know that Ryan and Marissa, played by Mischa Barton, was the main pairing. And Seth and Summer, too, but mostly Ryan and Marissa, right? They were canon for years, even though they broke up often, from what I gather.
So for all the Ryan/Marissa fans reading this, here. Have a fanmix.
This one's got some pretty interesting fanart, and some interesting song choices, too. Click on the link above to see why the following images and songs were made and chosen, respectively, as well as for all download information, which is all violative of the Copyright Act. Just in case you were wondering.
Here are two of my favorite mini images.
This was the image created for the song "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down. Great picture; bad song.
I mean, really, let's run through this list of things that Huma approves of.
Hot Irish boy? Check.
Shirtless? Check.
Bruised or bloodied? Check.
Fighting? CHECK PLEASE.
:-|
What? Stop judging me.
Here's one that was made for "Tears in Heaven."
Again with the cuts and the shiner. Seriously. Awesome. I know it's barbaric, and ridiculous, and it probably means I'm a horrible person, but I love it when guys are a little bashed up. I mean, if a guy can throw down, it's somewhat really hot.
God, I'm just a mess, aren't I?!
Whatever. Check out the fanmix if you're so inclined, and into this pairing. I bet a lot of you are.
As for the rest of you, you might be into Ryan and Taylor. I do not know who Taylor is. She is a blonde chick. That is all I know. If you're interested in them, you'll like this community that has a lot of fic and fanart and stuff for them.
And you know what the weirdest Ryan pairing I found was? Ryan from the O.C. and Brooke from One Tree Hill, played by Sophia Bush. THEY'RE NOT EVEN FROM THE SAME SHOW. WHAT.
Here's a banner image I found of them.
It's a manipulation, which is what you call an image in which one person's head has been superimposed over another person's body, or a person has been superimposed over another background, like cutting around a picture of Abraham Lincoln and making him stand next to TuPac and make it look like they're rapping together or something. I bet that picture exists.
The problem is, this isn't a great manipulation. Look at the neck. it's all messed up. The thing is, the picture that forms "Brooke's" body is actually one of Alexis Bledel, who played Rory Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. I know these things, you guys. I have done much research for these fandom posts and have seen lots of promotional pictures.
Here's the original:
So, yeah.
The thing is, if you're doing manips, you've got to pick two pictures (one of the full body or however much of the body you're using as the base, and one of the head that you want superimposed) where the bodies are similarly oriented. Like, for this one, you'd want a picture of Sophia Bush in which she's looking forward, preferably, and you want to keep the neck out of it. You'd keep Alexis's neck and put Sophia's head, down to the chin only, so it wouldn't look too 'shopped. No guarantees, but you definitely wouldn't mess with the neck and then try to blend it like the banner pic. Just sayin.
If you're interested, I also found a Ryan/Brooke fanmix that makes VERY LITTLE SENSE to me. I have NO idea what's going on. I often feel that way in fandom.
Finally, let's get to the outfit, shall we?
Ryan Atwood dresses up when he has to, and the boy really knows how to fill out a suit. But he's often found in his hoodies and a pair of jeans, or a soft crewneck tee and his jeans.
I wanted to create a happy medium between his ultra casual look and his fancy pants look, and one that you could wear to work and still look normal and casual, but with what Mindy Kaling (who plays Kelly on the Office) would call an "unrequired bit of fanciness."
Here's what I came up with. I'm trying to convince my little brother to dress like this. (He's at that age where he's ready to move out of his graphic tees and medium-wash blue jeans into something a little more adult.) His response? "I'm not a model. I'm not striking a pose. Go away."
Mossimo Boot Cut Jeans .......... $15 Hanes Undershirt in White .......... $2.99 Urban Pipeline V-Neck in Cairo Red .......... $4.99 Twill Blazer .......... $45 Converse Sneakers .......... $22
Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to come up with a guy's outfit for under $100? Shoes are so fricking expensive! I almost didn't find any that worked.
But let's talk about this.
I went with dark wash boot cut jeans because dark jeans are a business casual staple. You can get away with dark jeans whereas you might not be able to get away with medium wash. They just look better. Sharper.
I threw a v-neck red tee over a crewneck undershirt, just so the white would peek out, and added a black blazer on top of that. Unrequired fanciness, dontchaknow.
I would have preferred black leather shoes with more of a boot look, possibly a silver buckle, like motorcycle boots without actually being boots, but whatever. These Converses work just fine. Yes, they're sneakers, but they're not gym shoes. And you're wearing a blazer. Things balance out.
And there we have a Ryan Atwood-inspired, layered look. You go back to your lives now, and I'll go back to ogling him. And...go!
Posted by Huma Rashid on Sep 03, 2010 @ 10:10 am