Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Leather Suit Goes To The Prom

It's interesting as well as somewhat amusing to me that my blog post yesterday about "smart leather" and the leather suit I assembled out of leather garments I had in my leather gear collection generated a flurry of visitors to my blog. (It is also amazing and somewhat scary to me how fast Google works, but then again, Blogger is owned by Google, so content on my blog is autoindexed or something like that... but I digress.)

Yesterday, over 500 unique visitors viewed one or more pages of my blog -- over 1,700 pages in all were viewed (perhaps even read?) -- by visitors from all over the world. That's a new record.

Someone who told me that he googled "full black leather dress suit" wrote an email to me that said this:

"I read your blog and looked at your website where you described a leather suit. I really want one of those. I think it's cool. I am going to my high school prom in a few weeks. I want to be the guy who shows up in a full leather suit or tux. Do you know where I can rent one?"

I exchanged several email messages with this guy. I described for him how and where to get the gear that would compose a full leather suit, from the garments to the boots to the gloves. However, I told him that he would probably have to buy all the leather gear because I didn't think he could rent dress leather pants, as well as a leather shirt, tie, and jacket. I suggested that he discuss his dream with his parents, because "going leather for the prom" would be much more expensive than just renting a tux and buying a corsage for his date. He seemed disappointed, but thanked me profusely for the information.

I thought that was the end of it, when lo and behold I received another email from him. He said that he talked with his father, who agreed to get him the gear if he really wanted it. He said that his father understood the practical and ongoing value of durable leather gear. (This kid has a really cool Dad!)

What caused me to have the biggest smile was the closing of his last email to me:

"Thanks for all those recommendations. My Dad said that I could get the leather clothes to make a full leather suit if I promised to wear it more than just to the prom. I really want to. I like it. I think it's cool. Like you."

Aw shucks. I'm just trying to help out an emerging leather dude. Hey, Straightjacketed: see what you started over on your blog? Great going! We've got more guys emerging in their leather in public from our mutual efforts. Who would have thought that would happen as a result of a few blog posts?

Life is short: wear your leather!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent! As you say, what a cool Dad! My folks would never have sprung for a leather jacket for me at that age, much less top-to-toe. What a role model you are! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm this kid's Dad, and first I want to thank you for how well you handled the email, and asking my son to talk to me about his interests. I had no idea.

You are a fine upstanding guy, and you provided excellent advice. Thank you. My son thanks you too.

Dad