Host: Michelle Jalowski
Michelle: [00:00:03] Welcome to The Moth Podcast. I'm your host for this week, Michelle Jalowski.
While putting together this episode, I remembered one thing I've almost completely forgotten about during the pandemic. Fashion. I'm literally recording this in my closet right now, and I realize I haven't been in here in a while. As someone who's been mostly working from home, it's all I can do to put on pants most days, much less a full-on outfit. I remember getting dressed, but to be honest, it feels like a distant memory. Whether you've been rocking the pants’ look at home like me or getting all dressed up to brave the outside, pandemic fashion has certainly shed some light on our innermost style desires, which is why I love the stories in this episode, all about some interesting fashion choices and their consequences.
Our first story is all about the power of a statement piece. Jonathan Mannheim told this story at a SLAM in Chicago, where theme of the night was Endings. Here's Jonathan, live at The Moth.
[cheers and applause]
Jonathan: [00:01:03] So, in 2011, I had a sweater that was-- [chuckles] one sweater. It was an argyle sweater. It was a rainbow argyle sweater. Okay. So, it was pretty hideous and every diamond was a different color. It was bad enough [chuckles] that my girlfriend at the time asked me to stop wearing it out with her friends. [audience laughter] So, I should have retired this sweater, but I didn't retire this sweater. So, one day, I guess it was November. It was laundry day, I don't know. I wore it. I thought, I'm just going to run some errands. I took the train downtown. I'm getting off at Monroe, and an elderly woman gets punched in the face and they steal her phone and they run off the train.
And a week, literally a week before, I was on the train at Cermak Chinatown and another man got punched in the face and they took his phone and they ran off the train and I did nothing. So, a week later, it happens again and I sort of snapped. So, I run off the train. I have no plan. I'm wearing this terrible argyle sweater. [audience laughter] I had left the house thinking, luckily, no one will see me today. I go up the escalator and I scream at these two teenagers. I guess they were, “Please stop.” They literally laughed at me. [audience laughter] And then, they took off down State Street. And so, my plan at this point is, hey, I can outrun them. We're running south on State Street. I call the police. I'm like, “Hey, I'm following these two thieves. They've taken an iPhone. I'm on State, and now I'm on Wabash. Could you guys come?”
And so, we're having this conversation. I'm signaling people like, “Hey, could you trip them? Could you stop them? They've stolen a phone.” But I'm wearing this terrible sweater, and no one is taking me seriously. [audience laughter] So, I look ridiculous. We hit Wabash and Monroe. A guy with a star, I was like, “Thank God, it's a sheriff.” And I'm like, “Hey, they're thieves.” And he's like, “Dude, I'm a Marshall Field’s cop. I can't do anything.” [audience laughter] So, we keep running. They go into an H&M and then it's like a sitcom. They push down the clothes, and I fall over them, [audience laughter] and we run out of the H&M, and they run into the subway, and they hop the turnstile and I pay. [audience laughter]
[cheers and applause]
But I didn't want to get in trouble. Then they catch the train going south and they got away from me, because they were on the train going south. So, I was like, I go up the stairs. Actually, it's been like five minutes. The cops are there, and I'm like, “Oh, thank God I'm the guy who called.” And so, then they put me in the back of the cop car and they're like, “Are they on the train?” I'm like, “They are on the train.” So, we go like 100 miles an hour to Roosevelt. Seriously, for four blocks, we go 100 miles an hour or I don't know. [audience chuckle] They're like, “Just hang on. We're going to slow roll the train to the station.” And so, they slow roll it. And they're like, “Just hang in the back here. We're going to bring them up, and you can ID them.” And so, they bring them up and they like, “Is this them?” And I'm like, “Yeah, that's them.” He's like, “Oh, great job.” And then he's like, “One sec.” And he closes the cop door and he says, “Oh, shit.” And then, I'm locked in the back of the cop car, and he had left his keys in the ignition. [audience laughter] So, I am stayed in Roosevelt for an hour.
We're blocking every lane of traffic, [audience laughter]; and all these cops are knocking on the window like, “Good job, man. We'll get you out in a bit.” [audience laughter] So, later that night or that afternoon, they take me to the police station, which I think there's one in State and 18th. They had actually were taking photos of me as a witness. [audience laughter] And so, I had this terrible argyle sweater which were later used in a court case. [audience laughter] So, that was the last time I ever wore that sweater. Thank you.
[cheers and applause]
Michelle: [00:05:23] That was Jonathan Mannheim. Jonathan is a doctor in Chicago, specializing infectious disease. He likes biking, running animals and backyard grown vegetables. He lives with his partner, Lizzy, and their two cats. Jonathan tells us that he unfortunately got rid of the infamous sweater a while ago. However, he says if he hadn't, he thinks folks these days would appreciate it for all its technicolor glory. Jonathan may be down one memorable sweater, but he has amassed a pretty impressive collection of colorful patterned shirts. To see some photos of his favorites, head to our website, themoth.org/extras.
In fashion, trends come and trends go. Some return years later, but others stay firmly in the past. Our next story is about a divisive look which honestly might be due for a comeback. Evan Watts told this at a StorySLAM in Melbourne, where theme of the night was Disguises. Here's Evan, live at The Moth.
[applause]
Evan: [00:06:26] In the bottom of a drawer somewhere, I have two silver medals, actually for ballroom dancing. One for Latin and one English old time. I went to a single sex boy school. And if you wanted to meet girls, the only way you could do that was to enroll in dance classes. [audience laughter] And so, I dutifully enrolled. We would dance with each other, but the culmination of the dance classes was when we would go to a social with a sister school. I remember one particular social rocked up and I met the love of my life, Faye. I remember hanging around at the bus at the end very, very proudly displaying numerals that had been etched in the back of my hand. “Yeah, yeah, I got a number, mate. Yeah, I got a number.”
I was very excited by this. We then embarked on what I consider a long-distance relationship. It was because the phone, it had a very long-distance cord and I could stretch it all the way from its place in the hall all the way into the bathroom, plonk it next to the bath and then dutifully go through the entire water supply, hot water, as I had these interminably long conversations. But eventually, of course, I had to pluck up the courage to ask her on a date.
This is 1978. Even though we danced the cha, cha, cha-- That's not a euphemism. [audience laughter] We really had danced the cha, cha, cha. We'd waltzed and we'd done all that, actually, what ruled the dance floors was disco. John Travolta as Tony Manero, and the Bee Gees singing the high notes. That was what was really exciting. I'd actually even convinced my mother to go out and buy me a John Travolta suit. [audience laughter] Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I don't know, it was brown and not white, but it actually had bell bottoms that arrived on the dance floor way before I did [audience laughter] and had huge lapels and I was just itching to wear this suit.
So, I asked Faye out. She lived in the hills and we were only 15. I didn't drive. I had to convince my mother to pick her up. But her father was going to take us down to the station and we were going to go to see a film. It was actually the opening weekend of Saturday Night Fever. [audience aww] I was really excited, and I was checking myself out in the mirror, and I'm looking at the suit and it's lunchtime on a Saturday but-- [audience laughter] I'm thinking, no, no, no, this looks pretty good. It looks pretty good. [audience laughter] I'm going to make an impression and I think, well, actually, what do you do on this sort of dates? Well, you buy flowers. Of course, you buy flowers.
So, I broke the bank, and bought these flowers, and then I rock up at her door in my suit, with the blue body suit and the hush puppies that have got heels like this. I'm standing there with my flowers, and the door opens, and she's excited and then her face drops. She's standing there in jeans and a T-shirt and she's just going to the film. There's this guy standing there [audience laughter] and then her father appears and he takes one look at me and he goes, “Are we off?” [audience laughter] And in the confusion-- We've still got the flowers, and we're on the train and everyone's looking at us and she very self-consciously has the flowers and I say, “I'll hold them.” And she goes--
So I've got the flowers. But that wasn't the worst bit actually [audience aww] because we get to the-- It's the opening weekend. There's a queue a mile long outside the cinema. We're standing there and it's a Saturday, it's 2 o' clock, it's blistering hot and there's all these people in their casual clothes, except one schmuck in a three-piece suit with the pals and the hushpuppies and the bodysuit. I can't figure out is all that sweat just the embarrassment or the fact that it's 30 degrees. And then, I look around and I realize that the flowers I'm holding are not holding up at all well.
In fact, Faye actually is standing just far enough away that she's not really with this guy. I don't even really remember the film. I don't think I've ever watched it since. I think it would just bring too many traumatic memories back. But anyway, we end up. I do remember though that John Travolta's character doesn't end up with a girl in the end. I think that was something that I do remember. Anyway, we get the train back home, and her father picks her up and I'm just going to walk home from the station. I do remember her dad's pitying look, actually. As they drove away, I looked down and I realized I'm still holding the goddamn flowers. [audience aww] Thank you very much.
[cheers and applause]
Michelle [00:12:04] That was Evan Watts. Evan works as an English teacher at an independent secondary school in outer suburban Melbourne, Australia. But he says, in an alternate universe, he's touring the world with the love of his life, telling stories and busking with his ukulele for loose change and a bite to eat. Like Jonathan's sweater, Evan's Saturday Night Fever suit is long gone. But you can see some photos of his other groovy fashion choices on our website, themoth.org/extras.
That's all for this week. We hope you take joy in your style. Rainbow sweater, three-piece suits and all, no matter what the peanut gallery has to say about it. As Harry Winston said, “People are going to stare. Make it worth their while.” From all of us here at The Moth, have a story worthy week.
Julia: [00:12:52] Michelle Jalowski is a producer and director at The Moth, where she helps people craft and shape their stories for stages all over the world. This episode of The Moth Podcast was produced by me, Julia Purcell with Sarah Austin Jenness and Sarah Jane Johnson.
The rest of The Moth’s leadership team includes Catherine Burns, Sarah Haberman, Jenifer Hixson, Meg Bowles, Kate Tellers, Jennifer Birmingham, Marina Klutse, Suzanne Rust, Brandon Grant, Inga Glodowski and Aldi Kaza.
Moth stories are true as remembered and affirmed by storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org. The Moth Podcast is presented by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at prx.org.