The incredible book “WORN IN NEW YORK” shares ’68 sartorial memoirs’ of the City illustrating just how hard New Yorkers wear their clothes (literally goes with the territory – the City is one hard-wearing town).
One interview in the book stands out among the rest. Gerard Meade tells the epic tale of his ‘Beatle boots’ with the small built-in heel for added height worn when he headlined at CBGB back in the day. What Meade wore, nor his story, were what caught my attention though. At the end of each memoir, the author gives a wee bio of the person. Most were standard fare but after Meade’s story we got this gem of a job(s) title:
“Gerard Meade is a semi-retired chef/carpenter/musician-turned writer.”
I don’t know who this man is but it is clear that I need to know him. He is my multi-hyphenate-hero. It got me thinking that we define ourselves in such narrow, rigid and static ways. I love how this multi-hyphenate man speaks to the complex, ever-evolving nature of identity. He’s pretty much everything I want to be. Including semi-retired.
The picture above is not Meade (I did not stalk him and discover his latest hyphenate). Nor is this Justin Theroux cosplaying as a cobbler (I don’t think) but if you look closely, the shoemaker appears to be wearing the ‘Beatle boots’ (with a little heel for extra height) that Meade describes in the book. I took this shot at Brooklyn’s Industry City awhile back – a design and entrepreneurial Mecca where artists and creators go to work and play.