"Dude, how many sweater vests do you own?"

The answer to that above question would be quite a few (8 or 9 i believe). You see in the past couple of years I've been on a personal crusade to try and make the sweater vest cool again. Here are some of the things I've heard over the years (besides the above question):




"Everytime I see you, you're wearing a sweater vest"
"Do you have one of these for every day"
"I only thought gay men wore those"
"Aren't you hot in that"
"Dude, sweater vests aren't cool"
"We used to have a lesbian who worked here who would wear sweater vests all the time"
...and so on and so on


My love affair (as an adult) with sweater vests started about 13 years ago. I entered the Gap looking for cargo pants after being on a shoot and seeing the photographer in his. I ended up leaving the store with khaki cargo pants as well as a dark brown sweater vest. No one liked the way the two looked together besides me. I didn't care, I loved it. It was official... I was in love with the sweater vest.

No article of clothing of mine has received as much flak as the sweater vest, but I soldiered on. Then it started to happen... slowly but surely the sweater vest started to show up everywhere. Runway collections for Tommy Hillfiger and Calvin Klein made them fashionable and mass retailers like the Gap continued to stock them and make them accessible. Although I think it was still niche clothing. Most people associated a sweater vest with one of two things being homesexual or a geek. I stood undeterred, I was going to continue as I say "rocking the sweater vest".

The sweater vest trend continue to grow... it started showing up regularly on Brandon Flowers from the Killers and on Kanye West. Which meant that fans who wanted to dress like their favorite hip-hop or rock artists would be looking for sweater vests everywhere. Then the Gap featured the above sweater vest in their fall campaign with John Mayer (yup, I own that one too). It finally happened... sweater vests are everywhere, and in fact selling quite well. The particular sweater vest I received for Christmas (I can't find a pic of it anywhere, will have to post when I get home and take one) was sold out in all sizes online as well as most Gap stores. I went to about 8 different Gaps in the hunt for it. It reminded me of the old days of toy collecting, the thrill of the hunt. I digress... I just wanted to state how happy I am that the sweater vest has finally been accepted... my work here is done.