the ensemble
Style meets substance in this declarative
fashion statement.
When my best bud Eagle asked me to be in his wedding recently, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Eagle knew I wouldn’t want to wear a dress and didn’t expect me to. His only instruction was... wear something lavender.
During the ceremony, under the autumn sun on the Saskatchewan prairie, I stood alongside Eagle and his sisters and his son in my finest — a white collared shirt, grey dress pants, leather suspenders, and a tailored men’s vest.
It was my first time wearing a “men’s” formal wear ensemble in public, and I’d never felt so good.
There was, however, one thing missing. I’d spent weeks trying to find a pair of dress shoes. I lusted after beautiful, shiny, leather men’s shoes on display, knowing they didn’t come in my size. I asked as many friends and store clerks as possible. Still, I couldn’t find a pair of sharp adolescent boys’ dress shoes anywhere in the city.
On the day of the wedding, I suited up in my dapper outfit, and slipped on a pair of lavender sneakers.