A look at the fashion of the men of Boston

By Janine Elias • November 20th, 2010

I’m so excited to finally make it to Boston! I love this city and would move here in a heartbeat, but I’ve been hearing the locals complain about how cold it was this past winter! I just don’t think this California girl could survive the cold… but you never know!

When I first arrived in the city I was looking for the subway to take me to the Freedom Trail. I asked a nice looking young man for directions to the subway. Because I am a woman traveling alone I have been very aware of my environment and the people around me. The man I asked for directions was wearing a blue button down shirt and kaki pants. He was going in the opposite direction when I stopped him to ask for directions.

A few moments later I noticed out of the corner of my eye a man the same height wearing a blue shirt and kaki pants walking behind me. My initial thought was this man might be following me. I turned to look at him and realized it was a different man in the same clothes. Then I looked in the direction I was walking and there were two more men in the same clothes.

This is when I started looking around at what other men were wearing. In the two days that I was in Boston I counted over two hundred men wearing the same clothes with only slight variations of color either darker or lighter in the blue or kaki. There were even men with blue polo shirts with kaki shorts!

It was eerie, I felt like I landed in the land of Stepford husbands! I had never seen anything like this before! I’m an Army Brat and have traveled all around the country many times in my life and this was a trip! Not that the combination isn’t nice, but gentlemen can’t you be more creative then this?

When I asked a woman working in a clothing store about this bizarre phenomenon she got angry with me. She said she thinks the men in her city look very nice in the blue shirt with the kaki pants. She also said it had something to do with the cape and that it was considered fashionable. I wanted to assure her that I love the city and did not want to insult anyone it was just bizarre as an outsider coming in to see hundreds of men dressed almost exactly the same!

If it were a 10 years ago I would agree that men don’t have much choice with fashion especially compared to women but today that is not the case. I took dozens of photos of men dressed in the same clothes and also a short video for your viewing pleasure. I won’t post all of the photos and I got bored taking them after a while. It’s not my intention to offend anyone who lives in Boston I just thought I would point it out in case you hadn’t noticed.

The men in Boston are very handsome, charming, and more then pleasant to admire as they walk around the city!

Man in Blue and Kaki

Men in Blue and Kaki walking the freedom trail

Heres the difference between men and women. If our friend was dressed just like us we would go home and change. I’m not even sure the men notice they are dressed alike…

Here’s another gentlemen dressed in blue and kaki

Thinking in blue and kaki

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Comments

By Nicolaas Eichelsheim on November 20th, 2010 at 2:42 pm

Hi Janine

I laughed when I read this post.

I think the only thing men don’t like is to see another man in exactly the same tie – Unless it’s part of a uniform. And maybe that’s why uniforms were invented, so it was one thing less for men to worry about.

Of course, not wearing one at all removes a whole lot of hassle – Having to go out and buy some, choosing which one to wear etc.

Choice elimination and total obliviousness to one’s environment – The hallowed default utopia for which all men strive, it would appear…

Cheers

Nicolaas