Star Pants

I love when movies, set in the real world, look fantastical because of the visual design. The filmmakers replace the chaotic appearance of our world with one that is carefully curated. Every location, object, paint color, and piece of clothing is considered and selected depending upon how it affects the visual whole. This is usually achieved by placing specific aesthetic constraints upon the set design and costuming. A few colors, patterns and visual themes are repeated throughout the film and each character is dressed in a particular, usually eccentric, style. Amélie, Wes Anderson’s films, Pushing Daisies, and Mad Men are great examples of films and television series that succeed at being slightly too stylized to look realistic.

I often fantasize about having such an immaculately designed life. Unfortunately, restraints - time, money, my family’s freewill, and reality – have prevented me from fully achieving this dream, yet I still try.

My family is tolerant of this obsessive behavior. They overlook my occasionally absurd statements like, “this apple is too red for the color palette I’m using for tonight’s dinner,” and in general, are open-minded of my recommendations on what they should wear.

Lately, most of my recommendations have been for Ezra since he is more likely to be updating his wardrobe than Amanda or me. I like the idea of Ezra dressing in a very specific style 100% of the time, but of course that is much more difficult for a real person than a character. Ezra doesn’t wear a uniform, own a signature accessory (“bowties are cool,” 11th Doctor), or have a single outfit like Charlie Brown, but he does wear certain types of clothing enough to claim a look of his own. Ezra wears a lot of striped shirts; he likes knit hats; he prefers colorful leather shoes over sneakers; he likes his hair long; and purple, blue, orange, red and grey are more common in his wardrobe than earth tones. Some of the components of his look come from me, some from Amanda, and others are his own personal preferences – I’m not a tyrant – but together they have merged into the “Ezra look.”

The article of clothing I most associate with the “Ezra look” are Mini Boden’s corduroy pants with star patches on the knees. He has worn a pair of these pants, multiple times a week (unless it’s shorts weather) for the last 2 ½ years.

These pants have become so much a part of his identity that when Ezra was 2 his best friend refused to wear a pair that were handed down to her from a family friend. She insisted her parents pass them on to Ezra.

Ezra is now on his fourth pair of star pants. The knees in his current pair are threadbare, and with every wearing you see more of the ankles on his growing legs. Sadly, this is the largest size of star pants Boden makes. Though it seems silly, saying goodbye to these pants seems like a milestone. Everyday he is growing and changing. Will he still be the same character if he changes costumes?