Underneath Your Clothes

Underneath your clothes

There’s an endless story

There’s the man I chose

Shakira¹

The writer Joanna Novins in her essay Do Clothes Make the Man? draws attention to the costumes of the male characters from TV shows that reinforce their bad boy characters, and therefore his sex appeal with the female audience. After all, who can resist the off-white hat of Raylan in Justified or black leather of Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood TV series?

In the contemporary Western world, the clothes are not just garbs that protect the body. They are parts of our existence, translate moods and personal identities. Fill the world of meaning and help us build several narratives about who we are and how we want to be seen (Lage, 2011). So, Lars Svendsen (2006), in his book Fashion – A Philosophy, argues that an understanding of fashion ought to contribute to an understanding of ourselves and the way we act.

So, if the clothes make the man as J. Novins asks, an understanding of our attraction to clothes these characters should contribute to our understanding of what we seek in our partners. In general, these characters wear dark colors, a black leather jacket combined with jeans that are the uniform of the bad boys. The jeans have emerged as clothes of the working class, but were soon incorporated by the artists, then by political activists and biker gangs, something that gave him a character expression of opposition to the status quo (Svendsen, 2006).

The bad boys, Damon Salvatore, played by Ian Somerhalder and Jim Stark, played by James Dean.

But who made the combination of jeans and leather jacket a symbol of a tragic romantic figure was James Dean, in the famous film  ’Rebel Without a Cause’ wearing a Levi’s and represented a symbol character on the outskirts of large cities, who led a life desperately monotonous in the midst of material comfort and social and emotional emptiness. Since then, the words jeans, youth and contestation never parted (Veríssimo, 1998).

You’re a song written by the hands of God

Don’t get me wrong

But you own the place¹

Another point is that these guys have a style. The style is an expression of life that the individual constructs. One manifestation of their individuality. In both cases, the personal perception selects from the interaction with the outside world, the elements – symbols, facts, objects, emotions, etc. -, which best allow the production of a cognitive repertoire. Giving thus meaning to experiences and structuring them in the inner world (Scardua, 2009).

Although the bad boy style may have to refer to the rock world, it is linked to a much older male archetype, the warrior. One of the characteristics of this archetype is aggressiveness, which is a stance toward life that rouses, energizes and motivates. It pushes us to take the offensive and to move out of a defensive or “holding” position about life’s tasks and problems. The samurai advice was always “leap” into the battle with all its “vital energy”. The warrior knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. He is a strategic and a tactician. He can evaluate his circumstances accurately and then adapt himself to the ‘situation on the ground’, as we say (Moore & Gillette, 1993).

On the left, James Hetfield, frontman of the thrash metal band Metallica, and his style Seek & Destroy. On the right, Guy of Gisborne, played by Richard Armitage and his samurai warrior.

The warrior has aware of the imminence of death. He knows the shortness of life and how fragile it is. Rather than depressing him, this awareness leads him to an outpouring of life-force and to an intense experience of his life that is unknown to others. Every act counts. Each deed is done as if it were the last. There is no time for hesitation. He doesn’t “think too much”, because thinking too much can lead to doubt, and doubt to hesitation, and hesitation to inaction. Inaction can lead the losing the battle (Moore & Gillette, 1993).

The Warrior energy also shows what we call a transpersonal commitment. His loyalty is to something – a cause, a god, a people, a task, a nation – larger than individuals. However, this devotion to the transpersonal ideal or goal even to the point personal annihilation, leads a man to another Warrior’ characteristics. He is emotionally distant as long is in the Warrior. This does not mean that man accessing the Warrior his fullness is cruel, just that he does not make his decisions implement them out of emotional relatedness to anyone or anything except this ideal (Moore & Gillette, 1993).

So perhaps the influence this archetype, the bad boy style is one that most emphasizes masculinity as it is known in our society. Although originally the warrior costume aimed at protecting the body, in so doing it also emphasizes the aspect of seduction, because it shows some parts judged to be particularly attractive to the opposite sex, such as the chest.

The Devil Wears Prada – James Hetfield, Metallica frontman, with his Prada glasses and Lucas North, Richard Armitage’s character with his Belstaff jacket.

Although the style is apparently composed of basic parts, the egalitarian character, he won a differentiation with more clean designs and brands. Thus, it can be an indicator of class and social status, professional area, a lifestyle more urban or rural. But above all he gets older, bringing the informality of youth; but the man no seems to have a Peter Pan complex.

Thus, at first glance, this bad boy can be rude and ill-tempered. Someone who seems unable to keep a regular job. At best, he was a drunk, and drunks could be mean and destructive. At worst, he was involved in illegal stuff, which added dangerous to the list (Novins, 2012). But a closer look beyond appearances may reveal that underneath his clothing there is the man who is our perfect match. And that our first impression was surprisingly wrong.

Underneath your clothes
There’s an endless story
There’s the man I chose
There’s my territory
And all the things I deserve
For being such a good girl, honey¹

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 ^{1. Underneath Your Clothe – Shakira}