When the Side Effect Isn't a Headache

When you think of a conversation starter, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For Matthias, it’s as simple as putting on a hat. In this episode, hear how he’s becoming dandy and the side effects of being the best-dressed man at the ball.

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TRENDHIM: Welcome to Trendhim’s Tell Your Story podcast. Today, we're talking to Matthias, a part-time dancer, future lawyer, and the guy in the hat. So, Matthias, I want to jump right in and ask you... what's up with the guy in the hat?

MATTHIAS: So first of all, thanks for having me. And the guy with the hat started around six years ago. It was at the time, my mother just bought me a hat and I didn't really know much about menswear at all. I was 12 years old at that point, but I really liked the hat and I thought it looked nice. And I noticed that no one else around me in my social group wore a hat. It was a light grey Trilby, as I recall. And I started wearing it a lot. And I have several hats of different types by now, and people know me when they see me at parties or don't know my name, they see me around just because they recognize the hat.

TRENDHIM: So this sort of became your calling card or the thing that people look for at a party, at school...

MATTHIAS: Definitely. It was definitely the thing that people recognized. And it's also a great conversation starter, which gave me introductions to a lot of people because they felt like, Hey, I like your hat. Or, Hey, you're the guy with the hat. I've seen you before. What's your name? Who are you?

TRENDHIM: What's it like to have something that makes you stand out like that?

MATTHIAS: It's really, it's really good. I like it a lot because of course, as you said, I like wearing the hat. It's what I like to wear and being noticed on, people complimenting you or people noticing that is what I would call a nice side effect. Like people like what I wear, like what they see, what I wear, and I like it. I like to wear it. So being noticed and being looked at like that, it's a nice side effect. I'd say.

TRENDHIM: Well, where did… You mentioned your fascination with menswear. Has that evolved beyond hats or are you just hats and flip flops every day or…?

MATTHIAS: So, no, definitely my, my sense in menswear and my appreciation for menswear definitely developed over the years, especially in the last two years. I'm interested in menswear. I adopted my wardrobe to this kind of feel. So apart from the hats, of course, I added multiple other stuff into my water, like accessories or shirts, suits, like something like this. So it definitely goes beyond the hat, but I feel like the hat was the first thing that ever interested me that ever put my interest in fashion.

TRENDHIM: You're part of a part-time dance group. How did that play a role in your story?

MATTHIAS: Because my dancing school hosts balls for the people who finished their first beginner’s dancing class. And everybody in the dancing story works towards these days because this is where we perform all our shows as well. A lot of people see us, and I remember going to that poll as I finished my first beginner class and I was just amazed by the ball, the lights, the glamour, the people, the suits, the nice outfits, the feeling you have when you start wearing your first suit because that's the time I got my first suit. The feeling a suit gives you all of this just caught my interest so much. And I really, really liked that. And this is when I started to really get an interest for menswear. So definitely the balls at my dancing school where the thing that really got me.

TRENDHIM: Is this something you do on a daily basis? I mean, because now what you've mentioned, you like menswear, suits and hats. I'm picturing you quite dressed up every day of the week.

MATTHIAS: Well, you could definitely say so. I think, yeah. I like being dressed up... wearing a button-down shirt and chinos and nice shoes every day when I go to school and a hat, of course, but even now during the quarantine, I try, when I go outside, when I go for a walk, I always just like to feel a little dressy… a little, not good dress if I have fun with combinations and stuff, but I, it's, it's just more fun to me than just, denim and t-shirt, even though of course, there's nothing wrong with that. I just enjoy a little more variety on a daily basis. So I try to be dressed up. I would consider that as my normal daily outfit based.

TRENDHIM: And then all this plays back into the same side effect mentality, that this is something that you like to do first.

MATTHIAS: Being proud of being just what did you like what do you see when you look in the mirror? So that's a nice way to put it, I think. And of course if other people like that as well, that's very good. So that's a really nice feeling and that's what I call the side effect. And of course, it plays into that as well.

TRENDHIM: At Trendhim, our goal is to help men tell their story through the accessories that they wear, right? If you're buying this watch, it's not just because of its functionality. Yeah, that's important. But there's something about this watch that helps you express something about you. Your whole sort of philosophy of dressing dandy. If we can say, what's the story that it's telling?

MATTHIAS: I think the story that it's telling comes all from me expressing my personality to the outer world through the accessories or through the clothes I wear. I like standing out. I like having something just a little more, that other people don't have… that I stand out of the crowd. If the people notice that, then I think that's perfect because I like it. They like it. If not, I know it that I stand out, and so this is all this plays into the role as the dandy as well.

I would say dandies are always trying a little more. I would say always trying a little more with their accessories, they put a lot of effort into their outer appearance. And through clothes and through how they behave, the behaviour, the manner, and I think that's kind of the way I want to put it. I want to see a lot of things. I want to dress for the occasion. I want to be seen.

TRENDHIM: It makes a lot of sense. Own it for yourself first and then worry what others think or don't. It has to come from within. You mentioned wanting to look good. Let me pull up your Instagram. There's a picture of you at the cinema. No, that's not usually a time where we dress dandy. I mean, personally, I mean big soda, popcorn. That's my jam right there. So what's up with that? You were killing it. I mean, the whole nine yards. You were... you were DANDY.

MATTHIAS: So, yeah. the picture you're talking about, I wore the camel coat, the blue sweater and a black bow tie. Yeah, so I was watching the movie Joker that came out last fall, just really, I was really looking forward to the film, to the movie, and during that time I watched a Netflix series, Gotham, where they wore these beautiful outfits, these beautiful suits. And so watching Joker just reminded me of this whole series and I just wanted to catch that little old fashioned feeling of dressing up for the cinema, because back in the days when cinema was still new, people dressed up for the cinema. And I don't do that every time I go to the cinema. But on this day, I remember standing in front of the mirror and be like, I want to do something special for that movie. I want to do something special tonight.

TRENDHIM: And speaking of special, isn't this the time that you wore a self-tied bow tie for the very first time?

MATTHIAS: Exactly. That's the time.

TRENDHIM: And how about that whole process? Is it as easy as… Is it as easy as all the guides make it say?

MATTHIAS: I needed to watch some tutorials multiple times over, but, and I think I practised it like the days they arrived. So I just practised the whole evening time to bow ties.

And, but even at that point, I still needed at least five tries to tie to bow tie for that evening because it's a diamond-shaped bow tie. So, and I think those are a little bit more difficult to tie because you really have to get the proportions right. It was difficult, but I think it's paying off every, every minute practising.

TRENDHIM: And some real-life advice there is buy it early. Be sure you get it in advance. Right? So is there anything about the diamond tip that then made it special? Is it because Joker has to do with Batmanman, it's similar to a bat...

MATTHIAS: I haven't thought about that comparison to Batman. That's interesting. No. In this case, it was more like what we talked about before, standing out. And so does this just another thing that I thought like they would add a little, little extra, a little different being just a little standing out like this kind of way.

TRENDHIM: Right. Being just one more way to be the guy in the hat.

MATTHIAS: The guy with the diamond-shaped bow tie. Exactly. The funny thing is, as soon as I bought the self typo ties, I made Instagram stories where I wanted to sell all my pre typo ties. to friends and colleagues because I’m not planning on varying those.

Again, if you notice the difference between a self-tied bow tie and a pre-tied bow tie for the first time, the look of it, you just can't see it. And I definitely will not go back to wearing pre-tied bow ties. So yeah, another collection incoming.

TRENDHIM: Well, there you go. And congratulations to all of your followers who hopefully got a nice deal. Thank you so much for talking to us today, and yeah, I hope we stay in touch and we look forward to following you and seeing more from you.

MATTHIAS: Thanks. Thanks for having me, Allen. It was a pleasure.

TRENDHIM: And thank you for listening. Here at Trendhim, we believe every man has a story worth telling. What's yours?