There are humans and there are mannequins.
The mannequin is stiff and motionless. It doesn’t move. It has no face, no personality. It has no story, no will. It stands silently in the shop window. Its clothes are ironed and tagged. All night, in the darkness of an empty showroom, it is alone.
Don’t worry about wrinkles, they’re natural. Don’t worry about blemishes, they’ll go away. Bruises and scars are evidence of life. Rips and tears mean action.
He stands frozen all day as the world comes alive again. People pass by, stop and stare, then go away again. His clothes are perfect, wrinkle-free. There is no stain or blemish. His appearance is clean, his posture perfect.
People approach him but he is not afraid. You can hit him in the face and he doesn’t fight back. He is powerless. He is a mannequin.
Purple Noon
Humans are different. Humans act in the world. Humans exercise will. Humans move from place to place. Humans live and breathe. Humans work and play. Humans sail the oceans and write their own stories. Humans build the world around them.
Man is not here merely to be looked at. Man is not a puppet. Man does not wait behind glass. Man loves, fights, creates, destroys. Man is the embodiment of action.
Humans should never become mannequins, for the day they do so they are of no use.
For men who care about their style and personal aesthetic, avoiding the fate of a mannequin can be tough.
It’s easy to see how a man becomes a mannequin. One day, he wants to wear better clothes. He starts to care about how he dresses. He starts to develop his own eye. He starts to be opinionated about what he likes and dislikes.
He likes jeans in a certain shade. He likes chinos with a certain rise. He likes a certain kind of balanced stripes. He doesn’t like checks. He develops his tastes and becomes more picky. He pays more attention to his clothes. He spends more money on his clothes. And all of this means that he cares about his clothes more.
La Piscine
Is this a good thing? Yes and no. Men should care about how they dress. They should care about cultivating their own aesthetic. They should look powerful in their clothes. They should dress with intention. It’s good to care.
But this worry can turn into something harmful. It can turn into something unhealthy and inappropriate. It can make you less of a man and more of something else. It can make you more of a collector. It can make you hyper-clean and neurotic.
He may be so obsessed with keeping his clothes perfect that they become idols he worships, and he may end up withdrawing from the world because he is so attached to his favorite shirt or favorite pair of pants that he doesn’t want to risk them.
He can’t lie on the grass because he’s worried about it getting dirty. He’s a perfectionist. He can’t go outside in the rain because he’s worried about his jacket. He can’t take walks in the backyard because he doesn’t want to damage his nice shoes. He can’t relax because he cares too much about his clothes.
He can’t. He can’t. He can’t.
He withdraws from the world because he doesn’t want to damage his beautiful clothes. He doesn’t wear them anymore. The clothes wear him. He serves the clothes, not the clothes serve him.
His movements are becoming more and more stiff. He is wearing clothes that he loves but doesn’t feel comfortable in. They look great but they just don’t feel right.
You see him and you can tell right away. Something is not right. He is constantly adjusting his sleeves, his collar, his tie, his trousers. He is not there, he is not alive. He is always thinking about how he would look in his clothes. Secretly he wishes he was a mannequin. He wishes he could stay still. He wishes he didn’t have to move around like a living, breathing human being.
Le Samurai
Men should care about their aesthetic sense. They should know what looks good and what doesn’t. They should embody a natural and true aesthetic. They should recognize that clothing is part of culture and is very important.
He should dress himself in his best clothes in the morning, but then forget it all. He should never deter himself from doing anything for fear of damaging his precious clothes. Clothes should not hold him back. They should accompany him on his journey through life.
Don’t worry about wrinkles, they’re natural. Don’t worry about blemishes, they’ll go away. Bruises and scars are evidence of life. Rips and tears mean action. He should live naturally and beautifully.
Men should dress well, but not like mannequins. Men are not dolls. Men are there to act in the world. A man who dresses with purpose, who exerts his will on the world, is a living aesthetic. It is full of life.
It’s a human being, not a mannequin.
