mankato magazine « ann rosenquist fee

My style column in the March 2015 Mankato Magazine calls out Grant Pladsen and Rhett Waldock for wardrobe-related failure to lift us out of winter.

I’m so sorry but it was true. The boys looked perfectly stylish and put-together the day I took their photo, without permission and on moments’ notice, but stylish was not what I was after. I was after explosions of color to warm our eyeballs and lift our wintry spirits.

I haven’t known Rhett for very long but I’ve known Grant just about forever. Like, since he asked to be driven home from a sleepover due to stomach discomfort. Sweet kid. Explained the situation and apologized for the inconvenience with so much eloquence, it was kind of startling. Grant’s been a well-put-together gent of substance since middle school. So if you’re not into color but rather you’re into neutrals and naturalness and casual post-preppy ease, you can feel free to toss my column aside and embrace Grant Pladsen as your new style icon.

“My style paradigm? Stolen. Or actually borrowed. This is Rhett’s.”

The pants too. “Sometimes I accidentally dry his stuff and then it’s too small and it’s mine.”

Now here is color. Color! Possible that I missed this the day I shot the incriminating photo. Doesn’t matter. This street-level pop of green wouldn’t have made Grant a fashion icon for that particular piece. However, this 2% whimsy in an otherwise conservative ensemble is noted and admired, especially because it’s mostly only visible to Grant himself and even he has to work for it by looking down and making sure his pants are out of the way. But then: Green! Hello.

I also appreciate that Grant lets his hair be his hair and that is that.

Also, I enjoy his art. The knife. The knife is Grant’s. Much like the small slice of whimsy on the shoes, you gotta work for this. It requires a little bit of thought to delight in the sad-face knife.

Thought, pauses, quietude, a shrunken cotton shirt, neutrality — these are your alternatives. Alternatives to screamy showy color signaling a kind of panic that winter won’t end. It always ends. My Mankato Magazine piece kind of suggests otherwise, and I’m sorry, you guys, I didn’t mean to incite panic. Everybody just calm down. Everybody put on some borrowed pants and whimsyshoes and patience and grace and trust that the soft browns and greens of spring will follow.

When Tanner Kent asked if I would write about spring fashion for the March issue of Mankato Magazine, I think his agenda was truly more like, oh my God, Ann Fee, will you please tell me what to wear to work?

Tanner Kent in his premakeover habitat. Photo by Robb Murray.

Tanner sent me this photo with the following reflection: “Observant spectators will note my post-industrial, pre-pragmatist flannel-lined jeans (perfect for starting a car in winter, or starting a dance party at the disco!) as well as a tastefully chosen undershirt for my red plaid button-up.”

Ann’s Fashion Tarot readers will recognize this as smack in the grip of The Chariot, the card that says great power comes from yoking together forces outside yourself. Unlikely forces. Forces you maybe thought you were mocking, with your funny little graf, but actually, you know, it works. The notion of a signature style that’s combo car-starter/dance party suddenly seems basic, obvious and critical. It’s spring. We need these things. Tanner, it’s time to yoke.

Keep the flannel, but let’s go silky underneath. Silky! Travolta silky. And let’s get serious about the neckwear. If you’re wearing something up there, be bold. Be aggressively sparkly. Bury your puka beads in the snow like so much last season’s trash, and go with gold. Are you seeing how that works with the flannel, with the cap? It works.

Also, would it kill you to use some bronzer? Clinique makes some for men. Clinique Non-Streak Men’s Bronzer. It works well in a nonmakeupy way that wouldn’t threaten your flannel or the hat, Tanner, not at all. It can only make you stronger. And sunnier!

Your new glow will complement the lava lamp, which you’re going to steal from your neighbor’s cube, and the giant candle, which you can probably get from wherever you got your flannel-lined jeans. Mood lighting is the new focal point of your new simplified workspace, which is the dark spot under your desk. Kick the recycling bin or whatever out of the way, and take the candle and the lava lamp, as well as your phone so as not to miss important calls like people asking if the magazine could please have more fashion guidance. Grab those things plus some writing utensils and get down there. Get yourself some ambience.

I’m not saying the natural state of a Free Press cubicle isn’t charming, I’m just saying, Tanner, it’s spring. Or it will be, soon, once you take some risks. Once you yoke together a little silk, a little flannel. Once you just please do the newsroom and the town the favor of starting up the very post-industrial/pre-pragmatist dance party we need.

Mankato Magazine‘s March issue, featuring my fashion forecast “What’s Hot for Spring is Spring,” comes out later this week. Many thanks to Tanner for asking for it and for considering bronzer.

Next makeover: Stripmall mystic Cindra Kamphoff.