See all of Alex's street style here.
Let me preface this by saying I was verbally attacked on multiple occasions for taking photos of dudes' asses, but I persevered for the cause.
Would I wear any of this stuff? No. Is it "cool"? According to most people, probably not. Stylish? Not particularly. "Hot"? "Fresh"? Some other adjective traditionally used to describe food? Nah. So why would I do it? And why do I plan to do more of it?
Something that I've been growing more and more passionate about over the past couple years is the idea of style—"What it is?", "Where it is?", "Who can define it?", etc. (It's indefinable. It's literally EVERYWHERE. And, no, nobody). Despite its intangibility, I think style is definitely something that can be recognized. It's something personal, something unique. It's what makes that dude, that dude and that other dude, that other dude. Everyone has it. You live, therefore you have style. Basically, I took a collection of photos of back pockets because they're fucking awesome.
These photos fit in nicely with many of the other photos I have taken and will take in the future. These kinds of things, which can be seen anywhere, but which I primarily see in New York, are great simply because they exist. The combination of someone, somewhere designing it + someone, somewhere stocking it + someone, somewhere buying it + that same someone, somewhere waking up in the morning and putting it on = possibly the most beautiful chain of events this world has to offer.
Back pockets are widely overlooked, yet widely visible. You have to think that the dude that bought those jeans at least flipped the pants over before he bought them (you don’t wear rabid wolves on your ass without realizing it). The entire thought process behind this amazes me. And while I can’t interview every guy whose photo I happen to take (although maybe I should), I can document the results of his internal pants dialogue.
A disclaimer: Please don't assume these photos were all taken in one day or in one week because they were not. These photos were carefully selected and curated (for lack of a better term) over the course of several weeks/months. Plus, this is something I try to do when I have the time, which isn’t as often as I’d like.
Some people (a lot of people?) don't understand what I'm trying to doing here. Some will never understand, but, then again, some will. Like I said, this is not how I dress. This is not how my friends dress. In fact, I don't anyone personally who dresses like this. But that doesn't mean I can't love and appreciate it for what it is—for the very fact that it exists and will continue to exist until the end of time. Maybe we'll all be living in space by then, but don't think for a minute that True Religion won’t be putting out embroidered moon suits to make that trip to space more fly (no pun intended). Style never ends. And neither will weird ass jeans (pun intended). You can either embrace it, as I do, or turn a blind eye. Just keep in mind that if you do choose to turn a blind eye, I'll still be there, taking photos of the back of your pants.
Alex Lee is a street style blogger and designer living in New York City. See more of his work here and his clothing collection, XXBC, here. Follow him on Instagram here.
