Some Hint of Transfiguration

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to Art on 8 March 2015.

The Transfiguration by Raphael

Arthur is really hard. Will is really easy, since he's such a metro-Detroit cliche, not to mention a cliché of most anti-social 60-year-old rock 'n' roller businessmen. I'm drawing from Frank Tagliano of the show Lillyhammer a lot lately (played by Little Steven from the E Street Band).

So, I can see the Wes Anderson arrested development polo/khaki combination. That also works nicely for the yacht rock look.

I also see sort of a working man/Thomas Merton look. A denim jacket makes sense. In my head, at least, Arthur and Will are both aspects of the everyman. Arthur is the saint we're all supposed to be that we all repress. Will is the reflection Americans as self-made men. So an everyman look makes sense to me.

Realistically, I think Will would just pick out Arthur's comeback clothes. Will's not the kind of guy who would let Arthur wear whatever he normally wears on stage, even if he has turned a corner in his desire to support Arthur on Arthur's terms instead of his own.

Will, of course, has douchey fashion taste and would pick out the same sort of stuff for Arthur that any over-the-hill rocker or former teen idol would wear. I guess the ideal balance for me would be the following:

• The clothes are white.  Long ago, Will just decided that the band wears black and Arthur wears white.

• They should look a little unnatural on Arthur, since he didn't pick them out.  Perhaps a tag is left on, or a sticker, or press marks from how they were folded in the store, or maybe they are just too stiffly ironed, as if they haven't been laundered for the first time yet or worn ever.

• There should be some hint of transfiguration. Arthur hits a higher level of being while wearing them--something between his old glory and his soul glow.

I just bought a pair of white jeans...they aren't that hard to come by, and a v-neck or deep-v t-shirt is easy enough to come by. A white polo would work fine, too, for a country club reference. You are tall and skinny, so it all would look good on you. And from there, you just add a light colored-jacket, probably obtainable at H+M for cheap. Jeans and a t-shirt hit the Thomas Merton thing in the sense that they are everyman clothes, the white thing would hit Will's attempts at branding, and a jacket would evoke the old days of Arthur in suits.