Makeover Project: Marb$ Brother.

Stefanie and I proposed an idea to my little brother: A makeover. My brother, Joel (remember, the "J" sounds like an "H" because we're brown), is not unfortunate looking. However, he seems a little clueless when it comes to clothes and putting himself together. Not only are his choices a reflection on him and how he feels about himself, they also affect me. I can't be related/associated with schlubby people. It's just how it goes. I told him during the holidays "I'd rather you be one of those Jersey Shore idiots, at least they care about themselves." I was kind of serious and kind of joking...you catch my drift.

In the past, he has trusted my fashion choices for him. I've even went as far as buying him fly sneakers, because I'm a great sister and human being. That is why he has agreed to this makeover challenge. Our motto is: If you look good, you feel good. We hope good things come from this project. He is like our own personal paper doll from now on.

Below is a list of items that are on heavy rotation in his everyday wardrobe: 

The button-up short-sleeved shirt. This shirt is a fucking nightmare. I've had epic battles with Joel over these shirts. I invited him to a boat dance on the Willamette River after he turned 21 as a gift this year. Everyone gets dolled up for this once-a-year event and everyone buys tickets to this dance. What does he do? He doesn't cut his curly hair, doesn't shave, and wears THIS thing below with jeans and some dirty sneakers. I almost cried.  

Below is his daily shoe gear. Not only does he wear these DIRTY shoes with hella dirty laces to work, school, and play...he wears them for special occasions. Yes, he wore these to the same dance I was previously talking about. I have no idea what happened to the fierce pair of hi-top dunks I bought him. They are probably super busted at this point, just like these. The weird part of this story is that when Joel was about 11-15 he cared so much about his shoes that he used a toothbrush to clean them. A toothbrush. I want to get him back to that. He used to be such a sneaker fiend, now I don't know who he is anymore.

Then there is of course the cargo shorts. These beasts went out of style in 1997, yet he still manages to try to make them work. This looks all sorts of wrong. WRONG. We need to break him out of this rut immediately.

I told my brother that we are doing this as a favor to him for his birthday. He always said he liked the "Banana Republic" look so we're going to try and incorporate various looks with that. We're going to try to make him sophisticated, playful, and dapper. During this project, we will document various looks and post them on the blog. Stefanie mentioned that it was like a "From G's to Gents" situation we were dealing with. In honor of this, we have dubbed this: "From Joel  to Handsome" --because the "J" sounds like an "H" and alliteration is awesome.