Tuesday, 8th March 2005.

Power dressing for beginners

"Jim? I just had a musical epiphany."
Jim leaned back in his chair in that way he does when he wants to give me his attention. "What was that, then?"
"I was on my way back from Abingdon, listening to The Man In Black. And I was listening to Cash singing that he wears black for the convicts, the poor and beaten down, the dead soldiers, the ones who never learned about Christianity."
"And...?"
"Well - it's garbage, isn't it? I mean, social awareness and moral responsibility had nothing to do with it whatsoever. The bottom line is that he wore black because it looked cool, and he knew it."
"Oh, *exactly*," said Jim. "I mean, Johnny Cash was the original goth."
"Yeah, but the worst part is that he had me believing this! For years!"

From the opposite desk, Kate looked up from her work, looking horribly confused. "It's a Johnny Cash song, Kate."
"Oh, right! I thought you meant Men In Black. I had the 'Just bounce it with me, bounce it with me' lines running through my head. And I wondered what on earth you were talking about."
"No, sorry, I meant The Man In Black. Johnny Cash was - "
" - the archetype of cool," interrupted Michelle. "Big in country."
"I'd say so. One of the coolest men ever to walk the face of the earth, anyway," I went on. "And his use of an almost exclusively dark wardrobe, while it nonetheless hammered a point home, didn't have really have much to do with his moral stance - it was just because he looked good in black. And, of course, it goes with everything."
"Yes, you can pull off almost anything in black," agreed Kate.
"What's more, it doesn't get dirty easily. If you spill food down it, it usually doesn't stain much."
"Except chocolate."
"Right. And yoghurt."
"Or cream..."