JP’s Rustic Sartorial Splendor

JP Fancy Outfits

JP’s Rustic Sartorial Splendor

by Jeff Potter

I work at home in pajamas (with lapels) on phone and computer—in a creative way, I like to think. Publishing books. As a result, when I go out in public I often get revved up because of the combination of having been stuck in the house plus working on thrilling projects plus finally getting out! So it seems natural to me to kind of go for it in terms of fashion. Going public with the pics down below seems like a vain stunt—but maybe that’s fashion and I need to get used to it. : ) Or maybe the above explains my willingness to do such a thing.

Here’s something: I only have a couple hundred bucks invested in clothes. $100 in the first hat shown below. Most of my outfits are given to me, found or thrifted.

For the past few years I’ve been encouraging people to dress up and wear their own clothes (plus some of my own products, too) at OutYourBackdoor.com. I’m pushing hats. I’m pushing tweed. (Tweed for outdoor activity.)

I guess that’s a classic approach. I don’t want the stuffy, though. I want action-packed.

Also, I’m pushing for the hinterlands to step out in fashion. Everyone is used to NYC being where it’s at. But small towners can work it, too!

Where I live, and in the outdoor sports I do, fashion is locked into dull copycatting and corporate ad-pushing. So when I see cool outfits they really catch my eye, or when I find a cool new thing to wear I get pretty revved up.

For instance, no matter where you go in the XC ski scene these days, most of the outfits are black. The white snow and blue skies don’t like that! They’re begging for a return to classic color!

And bike riders look just terrible—their bikes, outfits and hats alike. Classic styling can help them, too.

I admit it, someday I want to see some folks in OYB Gear! I’m going to start silkscreening OYB logos onto seersucker shortsleeve shirts, for instance, as bikewear to sell. I already have various luggage items that I’ve sold quite a few of. And there’s an amazing variety of 5 OYB logos—classic, feedlot, hippy, heavy, and skate—that you can get printed on at my CafePress.com shop—to match any demographic or mood—on hats, shirts and things. Go to: OYB cafepress.com shop.

Anyway, I’m taking a stand. Maybe in my isolation and resistance, I’ve gone astray—you can let me know.

Here it is! –A collection of fashion, by season and activity, of a few of the outfits I’ve tossed together and some fairly humorous pics that folks have felt compelled to take of me in them…