Saturday, May 19, 2012

Black Hoodie

With all of the commentary regarding black hooded sweatshirts hitting the internet these days, I feel very contemporary and cutting edge.  Fashion Statement?  Political Statement?  How about "Expediency Statement".

I don't really care if Mark Zuckerberg wears a hoodie to exhibit his contempt for Wall Street, his independent Silicon Valley persona, or because he just is a slob with no fashion sense (as some would have it).  I do care very much about Trayvon Martin and his family, but I do not wear a black hoodie in symbolic support.

I have been wearing a black hoodie for about 15 years now.  It all started when my sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  "Something warm that I can wear in the lab," I answered.  What I got was a large black hoodie that fit nicely under an extra large lab coat, the lab that I worked in at the time having no heat source except for an autoclave...
The hoodie was comfortable and had the advantage of being supremely washable and non- ruinable...or if it got ruined, I wouldn't cry about it.

Stubble wore a black hoodie because they were only $20 apiece and if he lost one I wouldn't kill him - the jacket that went missing several times and was always (miraculously) recovered cost well over $100 new and that was a source of great stress for me (what WAS his father thinking???).  Each time a black hoodie got too faded for him or developed a broken zipper or a paint splash I took it for my "new" lab hoodie.

Except I only needed one sweatshirt for the lab.

Being thrifty, I took to wearing them as jackets for regular wear: Hoodie under jean jacket = winter coat.  Hoodie unzipped = early summer morning cover up.  Zipped = spring or fall "intermediate wear".   It is an all purpose garment.

I love my black hoodie.  I wear it all the time.  Just don't read anything into it.

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