The Relationship Between Nerds and Fashion

I wanted to go more in detail with a subject I talked about briefly in a previous article. Geekdom and fashion. Two things that people usually don't put together. It's understandable because a lot of geek media still has a stigma to it. Anime seemed to get a little more acceptable, but I still feel it has not crossed the threshold of mainstream as many people like to claim. This stigma plays a lot into it. As Holly Neilson stated in her Guardian article most gamers seem to dress exactly the same; plaid shirts and jeans or replace the plaid with a graphic shirt. Buy why is that?

I couldn't find any statistical data on this so everything I'm saying comes from personal experience, other people who have share their personal experience, and from observation so take that in mind. I think why there is a stereotype that nerds can't dress comes from how nerds were bullied in school growing up. I've heard many times from people on various places on the internet on how they hate how popular comics are now when they used to get beat up for it back in the day. I even had an old friend tell me the same thing and share his experience. Now, I personally don't believe comics are popular or mainstream myself. It's just that superhero movies and television shows are, but I'll leave that whole discussion for another article.

What's important here is that many people engrossed in the nerd culture have openly shared their experience of getting bullied for enjoying something. I experienced this as well, though with my case it was more of me looking different than the things I enjoyed. Most of the people who bullied me didn't even know I was into nerdy shit, but I could empathize with others who were bullied because of it. A lot of the people who did bully me were into fashion and picked on my clothes and particularly my shoes so I could see why people would reject things that the people who bullied them were into.

I heard many times on gaming forums from people who said they would rather spend money on video games than clothes when they were asked about why they didn't want to buy new clothes. I was also one of those people. I also said before that I'm going to school not a fashion show to someone before. While I am into fashion now I definitely wasn't before. Many people think that the bullying or stigma goes away after high school, but that is not true. It just changes form. I remember when I first started college I had classmates fall asleep or pretend to fall asleep in a presentation I did that involved Final Fantasy and in a Spanish class my instructor asked us to share with the class a hobby we like and I said "video juegos" which is video games in Spanish and as soon as I said a classmate snickered.

Just back in 2019 I had coworkers who would seem disinterested the minute I mentioned something about comics or conventions I went to and I even had a coworker walk up to me and another coworker and call us "some nerds" when we were talking about anime. Depictions of nerds in modern media doesn't help either like The recent YouTube video going around of a radio show I think it was with a woman saying she would never date a guy who plays video games.

It seems like the vast majority of nerds are introverts. I see posts on my timeline from practically every geek I follow talking about how they're an introvert or how they prefer to just stay in and watch anime or play games all day and dealing with these stigmas and bullying I think is the major reason for this. Fashion is also a way of socializing with other people. Commenting on outfits and asking where they got their pieces from so that doesn't really go with a group that's known to be socially awkward and don't leave the house.

Going back to my experiences in college the geeks still weren't among the popular crowds. They were usually in a room somewhere playing magic or Yugioh or most just were in their rooms playing video games, reading, or watching anime. It was for me to get my own circle of friends to leave their rooms. I wasn't like most. I wanted to experience things to the fullest and I couldn't do that by only coming out of my room for classes and food. At this time I started to enjoy graphic gaming t-shirts I could find on the internet. I did pick decent ones mostly, but I didn't really style them. I had family members tell me about the way I dress, from my mother, brother, and aunt. I think my aunt hit me the most since she is so sweet, but after she asked me one year (I think it might've been like 2010) if I had a girlfriend and said no, she said something like "You might want try dressing different".

It wasn't until 2018 that I decided to change the way I dress. It had nothing to do with what my family said I just always hated being put into a stereotype, and I had just realized that I was one myself. For years I couldn't quite put it into words, but I could tell when someone around me was a nerd. I would get a sudden chill in my body. At first I thought it was just a sixth sense I had, but at that time I could see what the actual things I were picking up that were giving me that feeling: white guys with ponytails, ill fitting clothes, plaid shirts over a graphic tee, and accents. Something like a gaming or anime shirt is a dead giveaway (most of the time), but I don't include those in my nerd spider-sense instances. Although I did get one of those shivers when I met my little cousin for the first time in years, but it had nothing to do with how she looked, but just a couple seconds after I felt it she started talking about anime. I realized that I looked like most of these people when I was watching a gaming video on YouTube one day. Oh, and I was specifically talking about the men. For the women it's a little harder for me to put into words, but once when I visiting a college campus I met a girl sitting on a bench and she mentioned something about being a nerd and I said "Oh, you are?" and she replied "Why cause I'm wearing a bra. I know I don't look like the typical nerd.," and then the conversation proceeded onto the aesthetics of nerd women with us both pointing out a particular kind of cat ears.

Many people across the internet talk about nerds, or more particularly male nerds lack of a sense of fashion. On many gaming forums I attend when there's a topic on dating and someone mentions how they're in they're late 20s or early 30's and never had a girlfriend and what the problem was most of the responses were dress better or wash your ass. I think almost all of the nerd stereotypes come from the community itself as people who aren't into it usually don't pay us much attention, but it is most definitely found in truth. I'm not the only one who notices this either Yedoye from Beyond the Bot mentions how black guys used to dress at Yugioh gatherings. Also, as a sidenote you should definitely check out Beyond the Bot. They make some great videos pertaining to Anime and I don't even fuck with anime heavy like that. Also check out their old page Get in the Robot.

A group of people dressed in American goth apparel

Also there are fashion subcultures that are rooted in nerdom. I haven't met a single goth that wasn't into  at least one of these things: anime, video games, comics, or Yugioh. We also have lolitas, gothic lolitas, dollcore, and kawaii fashion. Actually, I would say pretty much any Japanese fashion style is popular with nerds. I would also say that the indie rock look in the Scott Pilgrim vs The World movie is basically the gamer look too.

But going back to my journey in 2018 I said I wanted to stop looking like a stereotype and decided to change how I dressed. I wanted to start out as goth, but really at the time didn't have all the resources to go about and get everything I needed at that point, but I got a hat and a pair of circular framed sunglasses and just with those two things they drastically changed the way I looked. After that when I was introduced to Insert Coin I was able to gracefully integrate gaming clothing into a fashionable style. I became heavily invested in fashion YouTube channels and discovered ways to make simple sweatpant outfits look more interesting. I was exploring my options and looks ranging from comfy, to streetwear, to sheek, and goth.

While this post is definitely pro-fashion I am by no means shaming people who are not into it. I am not telling you that you need to dress better. If that is what you're comfortable in you should not feel pressured in doing so. People should accept you for who you are and shouldn't have to change yourself for someone who doesn't know you. I also find it weird that men tell other men that they need to change the way they dress, but they never tell a woman they need to do that in order to find a date. As I've seen referenced in media a lot women will get hit on no matter what they look like so why are men holding themselves to a different standard?