WHAT TO WEAR

I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy and besides a brief stint as the fry guy at McDonald’s when I was in high school, I’ve never had a job where I’ve had to dress up or wear a uniform. And fortunately for me I live in probably the most casual, non-beach city in the world. With the abundance of stars and celebutards having a license to wear whatever they want wherever they want, it opens the door for the rest of us Hollywood peons to dress however we want. And in “the business” they expect creatives like myself to dress like a bum. I remember my first real meeting when I moved out here. It was on the Universal lot and it was about 95 degrees outside and I was wearing an ill-fitting jacket and tie. The producer I met with could tell I was pretty green and said, “Let me give you a piece of advice: If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, next time dress like you don’t care.” And I haven’t cared since. I’ve gone to fancy restaurants, movie premieres and other Tinsel Town events dressed like a writer. Of course there are times when I do feel like I should go the extra mile so I have a button-down from Banana Republic at the ready (read: somewhere hidden in my closet.)


When I became a stay-at-home dad there wasn’t much of a wardrobe transition for me. In fact there was none. So lately I’ve started to feel like the lines between my worlds as a writer and a stay-at-home-parent are blurring. I’ll find myself wearing the same shirt my kid crapped on last week to a meeting this week. And since we no longer have a part-time nanny I’ve actually been taking the baby with me to some of my more casual lunch meetings. In fact I did that today. I figure while the baby’s still cute and quiet, it can’t hurt. And who knows, maybe they’ll think I can’t afford a nanny and give me a sympathy assignment. Either way, I see my baby-on-board lunches ending very soon. I have no idea how I’m going to keep attending these lunches, which are essential in this very social business, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.


If you’ve read my most recent posts you know Jen and I are addicted to dining out. So I often meet Jen for lunch during the week with Alex and/or Arden in tow. However, Jen is a professional and she dresses like one. So for the first time since I moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago I’ve started to feel like a slob. So Jen suggested I start wearing some collared shirts. So I went out and bought a few polos (yup, it had actually been so long I had to buy some) and I started wearing them during the week. And you know what? I kinda liked it. But not for the reason you think. I was digging it because I kinda felt like I was wearing a uniform. A stay-at-home dad uniform. So instead of lamenting that I can’t write during the day, I started to feel liberated from my doldrums because I was in stay-at-home dad mode, collared shirt and all. And now at the end of the day, when the kids are tucked in and I can write, I whip off my polo, slip on my faded Empire Strikes Back t-shirt and start hacking away on the keyboard. I dunno how long I’m gonna buy my own bullshit, but for now it seems to be working.