Less is More

If my mom heard me say that I've never liked wearing clothes with labels, she'd clear her throat.  In high school my loafers had to be Weejuns, my polos had to be Izod and my pants had to be Dickies.  Not long after, my boat shoes had to be Topsiders (not Docksiders), my polos had to be Ralph Lauren and my jeans had to be Guess.  And then for some reason I changed my mind.  I decided it was cooler to have bermudas with daisies and a long, wool MSU band coat that could only be found at the Salvation Army, Goodwill and garage sales.

I'll admit, I like knowing that my Clark's are Clark's.  It's kind of hard to distinguish real from fake, but I know they're originals (no pun intended, for those of you that know what real Clark's are) and that's all that matters.  I do it for myself, not for everyone else.  And I especially like knowing that my Ray-Bans are Ray-Bans, because I'm sure I'm the only one that knows.  

I noticed the other day that in addition to Ray-Ban being written on the lens of one of my student's sunglasses, it was also written on the right stem.  And if I'm not mistaken, it was on the left stem, too.  After his lesson, I went to check my Ray-Ban drawer.   I haven't bought a pair for more than 15 years, but in my small collection (of  9) none of them boldly display the logo more than once.  And the Wayfarers don't show it at all.  "Wayfarer" is stamped on the inside of the stem.  If I were to wear them with my student he'd think they were fakes.  And that would be okay with me.

Contrary to my high school phase of flaunting designer labels I find it rather embarrassing now.  And if I don't want to be seen with a little pony on my breast you can bet I don't want to be seeing from a pair of sunglasses seemingly dipped in Ray-Ban.

Who decided one insignia wasn't enough?  Was there a Ray-Ban executive talking to someone on his left that remembered the logo was on the right and thought, "Wait a minute!  This guy isn't going to know these are Ray-Bans if I don't get him to come to my other side."  Is that when they started the triple dipping?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines insignia as "an object or mark that shows that a person belongs to a particular organization or group, or has a particular rank."  I want to be a member of a group so exclusive that only those of us who are in it know that we're in it.  We can recognize each other without an insignia.  A group where we're all so embarrassed by our 300 dollar logo-less shoes that we only want to be recognized by the other people crazy enough to spend that much on a pair of shoes that doesn't scream their name.  We can call ourselves The Hidden Label Club.  And the best part is, I can be a member without renouncing my membership to the Daisy Bermuda Club.