The blond roots, the black motorcycle jacket, the John Lennon-ish sunglasses ... yes, folks, Captain Dapper made some fashion mistakes.
By the time 1993 rolled around, I had had spent eighteen years as a blond haired, fair skinned lad ... and I was ready for a change. After a lifetime of being taunted for my delicate appearance, I was ready for a change. So one night after I finished my shift waiting tables I took a pocketful of tip money, marched into the local Meijer store and bought a box of jet black hair dye. With the assistance of my then-girlfriend, I darkened my golden locks to a deep, dark black. And with that, my transformation began.
I had always been a bit of a pretty boy. My taste in fashion and style leaned toward the preppy end of the spectrum. Possibly influenced by my love of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, 1993 found me shaking off that preppy persona and embracing an alternative version of myself. Even before dying my hair, I had started shopping in thrift stores and shirking the trends of the day. While others were pegging their pants, I was wearing bell bottoms. As the other boys were proudly wearing their sports themed attire, I was rocking my leather jacket and thrifted shirts.
In the small town where I went to high school, I was one of the few kids embracing this new "alternative" scene in 1993. My appearance garnered stares but, oddly enough, I also found a new sense of respect among my peers. While the blond haired preppy kid who tried desperately to fit in was teased for being girly, this new dark haired kid was respected for marching to the beat of his own drum. (In retrospect, it might have helped that I was dating a 22-year-old woman at the time. Free beer for everyone!)
In addition to embracing an alternative version of myself, I also became an outspoken AIDS advocate. Why? Well, it all started with The Real World, which, to a small town kid in the early 1990's, was an eye opening and groundbreaking show. I didn't identify as gay at the time (that would happen about a year later) but The Real World exposed me to a bigger world and a gay person (Norm) that I could identify with. At the time MTV was also urging youth to become involved in social causes. I didn't know anyone who was HIV+ but it seemed like a cause I could get behind. I remember buying that little metal AIDS ribbon at the same Meijer where I bought the black hair dye. I proudly pinned it to my motorcycle jacket and started urging everyone around to have safe sex and get tested. Hey, every rebel needs a cause.
The thing about a blond boy dying his hair black is that the blond will grow back in. As my hair grew, the blond roots expanded. I was desperate to grow my hair down to my shoulders so I didn't want to cut the black out and start over. Instead, I let the blond grow in ... and it grew and grew until the blond roots were almost as long as the black tips. I think it was when these photos came back from the developer (Ha! Remember when you had film developed?! Geesh, that makes me feel old.) that I finally realized how silly I looked. It was around that time that I implored my mom to help me find a way to make my hair look better without cutting it. We managed to strip out most of the black and then dyed it a shade of red. I did eventually get my shoulder length hair (as seen in this previous Throwback Thursday post) but by that time it was so damaged that it hardly mattered. I eventually cut it, dyed it brown and slipped back into my preppy persona, although I retained a bit of that alternative edge.
Captain Dapper would love to see readers' Throwback Thursday photos! Submit your photo and story to be published here on the blog.
Image: Jason Loper
weren't we all required to wear those granny glasses in 1993? According to my photo records we were.
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