Help, I’m Turning into My Dad! The Importance of Fashion Role Models and Hand-me-downs

By Ethan Forbes

Like many students, I took time away from the bubble over Independent Learning Week to spend some time with my parents... and to use their washing machine and dryer. This time around, my visit happened to coincide with my dad clearing out his wardrobe- good timing if you ask me. After going through his clothes together, he cleared some space, and I left with a few new things.  

Credit: @alessandrosquarzi on Instagram

Helping my dad go through his stuff reminded me of how much of his wardrobe I would happily integrate into my own, and it got me thinking… am I turning into my dad? There are many similarities in the way we dress. On more than one occasion we have been about to head out the door only to realise that we are wearing almost identical outfits, and one of us needs to go and change.  

The role models that you have throughout adolescence have a huge influence in all areas of your life. They give you something to emulate as you grow up and are left to fend for yourself. For me, having a dad who cares about the clothes he wears has had an extremely positive influence. It has shown me that being interested in fashion and caring about the way you look doesn’t make you any less masculine.  

Interest in fashion is often perceived as a feminine trait (Exhibit A, me being the only man writing for the fashion section of The Stand), with men themselves playing a large role in perpetuating this perception. While I strongly believe that men should embrace feminine traits, I also think it is important for men to be able to engage with fashion in a way that affirms positive masculinity. 

My dad’s interest in clothes provided an in-road for me to develop my own interest in how I dressed. The trips we have taken to scrounge the rails in Tkmaxx and chats about the latest cool thing we have spotted on the designer second hand site Marktt bring us together and create a space where interest in fashion doesn’t call into question our masculinity.  

My Dad’s influence on my interest in fashion has led to some similarities in the way we dress. We both prefer brown leather shoes, like selvedge denim jeans, and we are constantly having to hide jackets from the other person to avoid them being ‘borrowed’.  However, there are also places where we differ; he doesn’t like my loafers, or understand my desire to find a calf-length overcoat, and he has worn camo… So, I think it is safe to say I’m not quite turning into him yet. 

As well as promoting a positive masculine interest in fashion, my dad’s interest in clothes also means I have prime pickings for hand-me-downs! Getting a hand-me-down that you want comes with that same dose of endorphins from buying something new and being excited to wear it. But hand-me-downs come with the student-budget friendly benefit of being free! In some ways, hand-me-downs are better than buying new because of the stories that come with them. Why do people love buying vintage? Aside from being more sustainable, oftentimes better made, and fun to style - it is the stories that vintage clothes hold that make them so much more desirable and effortlessly cool.

Vintage clothes tell the story of the person that owned them; you can tell something about how someone lived their life through the fades in their jeans, or the marks on their jackets. All these imperfections give vintage clothes character and hand-me-downs have the same quality. They are a material representation of your connection to someone, and they allow you to wear that connection and bring it with you wherever you go.  

Credit: @abouammz on instagram

So, next time you go back to visit your parents, take a look at their wardrobe, most people rotate through the same selection of clothes week in, week out…there might just be something in there that surprises you. Everyone loves clearing some space, and I’m sure all parents will take it as a compliment that you think their clothes are cool enough for you to wear. Maybe just keep it quiet that the vintage band tee you stole is being worn to bed…