How To Look Like an Eccentric

[Leonardo_UK]

I am a British inventor and I have been told (by my marketing team) that I need to look more like the classic English Eccentric. I have recently given up smoking, and switched to electronic cigarettes. I have just ordered a pipe style device. This is partly because I think it matches my hat which is a leather Australian walkabout hat. The next area to look at is...... everything else.... I am toying with the idea of a tweed jacket, shirt, bow tie (possibly garish, possibly masonic) cufflinks (templar or masonic) waistcoast, and jeans....... What shoes would go with this kind of look? do I need a coat? to be honest, I have never bothered with styling myself (partly because my ex-wives, before they became ex... had told me that they would leave if I did style myself.... haha, that would only have speeded up the inevitable). Since I stopped wearing uniform (am ex-navy) I have just gone with trainers, jeans and t-shirt.... but I think that my marketing guys are right, I need to look more like the character the customers are expecting to see. And to be honest, I am quite looking forward to the make-over.... I am just unsure as to how to achieve this.... I guess the other part of the question is; do I create a look which is typical of a mad inventor (British Style) or go completely off the wall? any help would be much appreciated. The other thing to consider I guess is that I am also a bit of a teccy nerd type.... so I carry an IPAD and Iphone.... so what kind of case would I use to carry the IPAD in... it must match the image, but at the same time say Teccy!

By the way, I am 5'8" in height, and I think the word is rotund

Help please.

 

[Tangfastic]

Welcome to the forum! I wouldn't suggest wearing a bow tie, tweed and cufflinks for the sake of a perceived image if you are not comfortable with them, you'll just feel and act awkward which won't help any promotional activity (still photographs would be the exception to this). To pre-empt the usual cry of 'go bespoke', if you are an inventor you might like to design your own 'inventor's jacket'. A tweed Norfolk jacket with modifications (perhaps pen holders like on utility waist coats / body warmers) might work. In fact a Norfolk jacket with its big pockets for notebooks would be great for an inventor, especially in a thick heavy tweed which may afford some blast protection! Man-of-Mystery's post number 313 in this thread http://www.styleforum.net/showthread...=214373&page=8 (worth reading itself) shows a Norfolk jacket, I was thinking something like that with a breast pocket and pen holders, and there are as many colours and patterns of tweed as you can think of.

 

[Nicola]

 

[George]

Just do a google search for pictures of Magnus Pike. The archtypal mad professor.

 

[Sanguis Mortuum]

Being eccentric is part of who you are, you're either eccentric or you're not. If you try to dress eccentric, then you'll look like you're trying to dress eccentric, which means you'll look like an idiot.

Just try on a load of stuff and wear whatever you feel looks good and expresses your personality, whether the result looks 'eccentric' or not.

 

[Leonardo_UK]

Just to point out, I am definitely am eccentric. The post was maybe not written as clearly as it should have been. The thing is, I have wanted to look as I am for some time, but my sense of style is not as good as it should be. The essential elements of the look, the tweed, ties etc are already in my head, but I think it needs to be refined. But at the same time, it needs to be done in such a way that it is comfortable for me to wear, styled so that it meets the marketing departments ideas. I trust them with marketing my products, but not so sure about their fashion advice.... they want me to wear yellow trousers for crying out loud.....

One thing someone may be able to help with.... Every tweed jacket I try on seems to be a bit..... 'Snug' around the middle. Is there a clothing reference that would indicate I want something a little looser fitting? Also it is a case of getting some ideas. I was very grateful for the suggestion of a Norfolk Jacket, but to be honest, having looked at some now, I am not so keen on that style. I am really looking for ideas.... Thank you for your help....

 

[leftover_salmon]

Originally Posted by Leonardo_UK

Just to point out, I am definitely am eccentric. The post was maybe not written as clearly as it should have been. The thing is, I have wanted to look as I am for some time, but my sense of style is not as good as it should be. The essential elements of the look, the tweed, ties etc are already in my head, but I think it needs to be refined. But at the same time, it needs to be done in such a way that it is comfortable for me to wear, styled so that it meets the marketing departments ideas.
For some reason, I feel like truly eccentric people don't say things like "Just to point out, I am definitely am [sic] eccentric," or critique their own style as trying yet failing to play into a stereotype. My impression of an eccentric scientist/inventor is someone so wrapped up in their own world that they don't really care about their clothes, and thus their ill-fitting sack suits, rather than unstylish, suit them well. Your post makes me uncomfortable in some way...But that's just me. It's sort of like someone saying "I know I'm sociopathic; how can I dress more suitably?"

 

[Leonardo_UK]

This is kind of true, and to be honest, I would probably have just continued in my way, possibly developing the appearance over time, but I now am the face of my company, and that means I have to improve my appearance somewhat, and also I both want and have to conform to the marketeers!

I am just looking for ideas, where to look for clothes, how to size them..... what to look for?

Just ideas.......

People have their own skills. If someone wants to commission a design engineer for an electro mechanical system, robotic system, petrochem system, then they could do a lot worse than ask me to design it for them.... That is where I am happiest.

As far as clothes shopping goes, I have not got a clue. As an example, it was only a couple of weeks ago that I found out that shoes come in different widths! I have had trouble finding shoes that fit, now I know why, because I was only sizing using half the parameters... Length, not width

The problem is, I have a lot of travelling to do over the next few months, and so I have a limited amount of time..... Having said that, I have found (online) a clothing company fairly close to where I live that may be able to help..... I will let you know how it goes on....

 

[GBR]

Sack your marketing team - it is an entirely silly notion that may attract the wrong sort of attention and will certainly not add one jot to your credibility.

 

[texas_jack]

Get yourself some tweed jackets and and flannel shirts. Combine those with the hat and you'll look intellectual/confused. If you want the full on look, maybe get yourself a tweed 3 piece suit.

Be sure to look at some second hand clothing stores. What you need can easily be found used and that will add to the eccentric look plus it will save you money. Just walk into some and start trying some jackets on. Ask the ladies there if they fit.

 

[bellyhungry]

- Grow a ponytail and Fu Manchu moustache
- Get a pair of eccentric glasses
- Wear a slouchy beanie or a beret
- Get some tweed and corduroy sports jacket
- Smoke from a pipe
- Carry an antique leather briefcase
- Wear a light weigth scarf
- A great pair of brogue

That's all I can think of at this moment...

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Originally Posted by Sanguis Mortuum

Being eccentric is part of who you are, you're either eccentric or you're not. If you try to dress eccentric, then you'll look like you're trying to dress eccentric, which means you'll look like an idiot.

Just try on a load of stuff and wear whatever you feel looks good and expresses your personality, whether the result looks 'eccentric' or not.

+1

Also, you're not allowed to call yourself eccentric unless you have over $300 million dollars in your checking account.

 

[anginaprinzmetal]

This is a weird question from your marketing department. I have no idea what industry could possibly require for someone to look eccentric as a desirable trait. Why don't you send your boys from marketing to "talk" with some of us at SF.

 

[anginaprinzmetal]

Here at SF we can be a very receptive bunch

 

[Sazerac]

I was a senior writer on Madison Avenue until 2008 and branded everything from airplanes to gin to pick up trucks to democracy.

Here's my two cents.

The kind of eccentricity you're trying to convey comes off as flighty and unreliable, like the kind of scientist who smells of body odor and formaldehyde and is wrong more often than he's right.

What you need to shoot for is Dyson-eccentric. That is: fussy intellectual perfectionist who operates on a plane so much higher than we mere mortals that he literally cannot live in a world with ****** vacuum cleaners.

Myself, I would go for a clean, minimalist look. Simple, well-tailored suits and shirts which, depending on your coloring, may be slate grays and blues, perhaps even black.

One of my current clients has a trademark look that has worked for him: dark pinstriped suit over black or navy tee. His is a creative yet technical profession and the look conveys both artistry and professionalism.

Again, just my .02