Friday, June 27, 2008

docks are optional

What's brown and white and douchey all over? (Wow...that certainly could go in several gnarly directions...)

Let's try this again: What's the opposite of low-centers?

Anyone?

OK. Fine. I see you're all stumped because, I mean, it's not like I'd buy Topsiders or anything!


Except I totally would! That's my dang foot! Yes, e-friends and newly encountered e-foes (I'm looking at you, "The Internet"), I am the proud owner of 100 percent authentic Sperry Topsiders, the original sailing shoe.

"Oh, Anti DC, I didn't know you were into sailing! Cool!"

Ha! Not cool. I'm totally not into sailing. Actually, I wouldn't be against it, but as of right now, I've never engaged in that activity.

"Well, you at least own a boat, right?"

Um, about that. No. No I don't.

"OK, then certainly you've stepped foot on one."

Booze cruises count, right?

"All right, then why the f*ck did you buy Topsiders?!"

Excellent question. And I'll gladly answer it. See, it all kind of started off as a bit of a joke, which, of course, I took to the next level. Having been in DC for over a year, I've noticed there is a fairly distinct style of doucheosity that persists around certain areas of town -- *cough* Georgetown *cough*. This style usually looks just so, so wrong. And not to beat the proverbial pair of pleated khaki pants to death when I reiterate that a fair share of DC's population never learned how to dress themselves, but it's true. Look around.

Now, DC's overall sad state of fashion can range from the blatantly dishabille on the Hill to the "I put thought into my outfit, just not good thought" trust-fund kids gone wrong in Georgetown. While the former group is usually just lazy, the latter group is just plain retardulous. See, they get so overexcited at the site of madras, polos, man capris (a.k.a., the manpri, if you will) and yes, Topsiders, that they just go nuts and put it all on at once. Where the former group puts in no thought, the latter puts in too much. In other words, they put all of their douche eggs in one J. Crew bag, as it were, and they end up looking like assholes. Take, for example, this poor male model who probably ruined his career on the Today show last August.

Oh, that is truly horrendous. I'm sorry I made you look at that, but, well, it had to be done for me to illustratively illustrate my illustrative point -- too many repetitive words single-genre trends do not a good sentence outfit make. But the preppy look isn't inherently vomit-inducing (except in Georgetown or on the Today show). See, any one of the pieces pictured above, well, save for those ludicrous manpris, has the potential to look good under certain conditions. But combine all items together and you have...well, outfit vomit. It just ain't right.

Let's take just the Topsiders, for example. Now, if the stylist sadist who invented the above-pictured outfit would've simply taken the Topsiders and paired them, say, with a nice pair of flatfront slim ("pardon the expression") trousers and maybe a cardigan, then we'd have a look I could work with (see Band of Outsiders, for example).

But lest you think Topsiders are only for the boys, you'd be wrong. I'm of the opinion that ladies can also rock 'em. And I'm not alone (for once!) with my thoughts (see the lovely and incredibly eloquent Dreamecho please). Yes, the classic Sperry Topsider is a bonafide dorktastic friend of fashion (it's too bad my ass right thigh/general hippage isn't -- I'll see you in hell delicious cupcakes!):

Come hither, Topsiders!

Seriously, that badonkadonk those sausage-y thighs look kind of, um, not tight? And also, why is my T-shirt laying so weird?! Now, ignoring all that and the fact that I'm kind of grabbing ma'butt here as well as (while we're at it) my humongous humidity hair and the fact that I snapped this on self-timer in my office bathroom roughly three seconds before someone else came in to use it (now that would've made for an awkward moment), I think what I've done with the Topsider here not half bad. I think I managed to make it look, well, not so much like a Topsider, or at least like a Topsider as you'd expect to see it. That is, I've managed to cop a bit of Georgetown steez (hold the skeez) and make it kinda tight. Take it.

And also, for the record, Topsiders are effing comfortable! Lesson be learned, Crocs-wearers! You have another, equally nerdy, but less ugly option -- Topsiders for everyone! Yay! Even (or, perhaps, especially) for men in hot pants! Thank you, Go Fug Yourself for this whimsical image!


Pictured (on me, not young Chuck Bass): Sperry Topsiders, Kova&T jeans, vintage T-shirt, H&M cami, Target wayfarer sunglasses.

17 comments:

I-66 said...

Ok, we can't see your ass here. And standing front-facing, if I were you I'd be a little worried if we could.

Marissa said...

Ahh, indeed. What I meant was my right thigh/general hippage then. Ass, thigh. Potay-to, potaw-to.

nllm nlln

I-66 said...

It appears as though you lost a finger there, Goose.

nllm mlln

Anonymous said...

Some things from the 80s are best left in the 80s. Not sure if the docksiders are among them, but rock on.

Anonymous said...

Some things from the 80s are best left in the 80s. Not sure if the docksiders are among them, but rock on.

Marissa said...

DOCKSIDERS?! We're talking original TOPSIDERS here!

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you are still looking like an asshole.

Marissa said...

Dear Internet,

Glad you're still looking!

01011000 01001111,

Marissa

Jon said...

"If you can't say something nice....!"

Matrioshka said...

Went to New York this past weekend and what was everyone in Williamsburg wearing...Topsiders! Whether or not that is a bad or good thing, I'm not sure...

Marissa said...

tvd--

Glad to know you would defend my Topsiders.

proustian--

Hmmm...well, I think it's good. The more Topsiders the better? I better watch what I say...

Anonymous said...

If anyone can pull those off, it's you. I'm not sure I like them, but I wouldn't necessarily mock you for wearing them.

Chuck Bass looks like even more of a tool in those kicks. He could be a very nice person and we would never know it, for the shoes are the window to the soul, and those are the shoes of a tosser.

Anonymous said...

If anyone can pull those off, it's you. I'm not sure I like them, but I wouldn't necessarily mock you for wearing them.

Chuck Bass looks like even more of a tool in those kicks. He could be a very nice person and we would never know it, for the shoes are the window to the soul, and those are the shoes of a tosser.

Marissa said...

freckled--

Ha! That is the best questionable compliment ever: "I wouldn't necessarily mock you for wearing them." Nice!

Adam said...

Brooklyn based band, Vampire Weekend, now huge hit on MTV type programs. Four Columbia graduates who more or less (re)started this whole preppy-as-cool trend. Front man Ezra Koenig used to teach high school in Brooklyn before becoming famous, sort of. His students remember him as, "That guy who always wore those boat shoes."

Marissa said...

adam--

Ahh yes, I heart Vampire Weekend (although I admit I hate that band name). They are a good example of boat shoes revival. Although I think it was Fonzworth Bentley who really got the proverbial bocce ball rolling.

Anonymous said...

It's good to know the non-douchebags of the world can wear Topsiders too. They generally send me into convulsions of memories about my short time living in Annapolis, a place that would give any douchebag a run for his money. It's where they go to retire.