A number of factors recently came together to shift my attitude towards fashion and convince me to take a deeper look at it.

First, a number of friends and readers have been encouraging me to make some improvements in this area. This feedback ramped up last year when I began posting photos on my Facebook page. When you’re in the public eye, you get a lot of feedback on all aspects of your life, whether you want it or not.

Second, Erin and I separated in October, so I became a bachelor again, something I haven’t experienced since 1994. This change has encouraged me to give other aspects of my life a makeover, as a way of letting go of the past and opening the door to a new future.

Third, after the separation I started getting a lot more attention from women (just as Erin did from men). I began going out more. A few of my friends, male and female alike, have noticed the recent expansion in my social life, and they’ve been encouraging me to pay a bit more attention to my appearance. I imagine they’re simply trying to be helpful.

Fourth, some of my more fashionable friends have been gradually educating me about fashion in small doses, giving me little tips here and there. I’ve been slowly coming around to acknowledge there’s actually more substance to this than meets the eye and that fashion can be used as a means of creative self-expression, much like blogging or speaking or making raw food concoctions. I also realized that it’s a lot more complicated than I first imagined and that it’s not necessarily something I can master in a weekend. I started opening myself up to the possibility that this might actually be a worthwhile endeavor… instead of writing it off as stupid.

Fifth, as I made certain changes to my wardrobe, I started noticing that people would treat me differently based on what I was wearing. For example, if I went grocery shopping while dressed very nicely, the checker would almost always be a lot more flirtatious with me, and female customers would sometimes open conversations with me. This virtually never happened when I dressed like a game programmer.

I can probably drop the word virtually from that last sentence.

And I know I can drop the word probably from the sentence before this one.

Sixth, I lost about 10 pounds since the last workshop, and many of my clothes no longer fit. I need new clothes that fit me.

Seventh, I’ve been going through a purging cycle lately. I packed up two thirds of my clothes to donate, the remaining third being mostly the essentials like underwear, socks, and gym clothes. So my closet is looking a bit barren now.

Eighth, I’ve had some direct offers from people willing to help me one-on-one, take me shopping, and give me an education in this area for free. It’s hard to say no to that.

So with this convergence of factors, if I’m ever going to learn about fashion, the time is now.