Dedicated Non-Follower of Fashion (Rick James Style)

I wrote this a number of weeks ago- wasnt sure where to put it- so putting it here. Just a little something about Darren and his style….

It’s been six weeks since Darren passed, and to be honest, every day feels like a year. Time has become abstract. It feels like his death happened ages ago and at the same time, a week ago. I have never understood the meaning of the phrase, “you take one day at a time”, until now.

I had thought, naively, that when Darren died, I would be able to write something about him, a eulogy of sorts, after about a week. It’s not that I’m not recording my thoughts. I have recorded myself, and I have kept a diary of sorts to try and get my head around everything, to kind of make sense of it and work out my own emotions (which is still ongoing).

Well, that eulogy isn’t happening at the moment. I don’t even know where to begin, but this is a photo I came across accidentally from about ten years ago, when I was actually looking for something else.

Those that knew him know what he was like (through his phases of curly hair, lemonheads tee shirt, cord trousers as some examples) and will appreciate this photo of him. It’s nothing profound or anything, just a photo that I think shows his love of following his own style (I used to joke he liked to stay ahead of the avant-garde).

First off, there had to be a paisley pattern. That was a given. The man loved a bit of it. If it wasn’t tie-dyed, it was paisley patterned. So I found a shirt that matched his stylings (I inadvertently became his style advisor over the years).

Then, because I saw someone wear it this way (for the life of me I can’t remember who, possibly Johnny Depp before he lost his coolness), I suggested the tie underneath the shirt look. And it wasn’t even just an ordinary tie. I’m not sure how we even had it, but I know that at one point in the 80s, my Aunt Vera bought either my grandfather or my father a Christian Dior tie out of Macy’s (I’m thinking this must have been when she was over in California). Maybe she saw it at an airport or something like that, but she picked this tie up, and it somehow ended up in my mother’s possession.

Now, I can understand why, upon seeing the tie, my Aunt Vera was impressed. It was out of Macy’s. It was designer. Unfortunately, I think its designer status was wasted on either my father or my granda, Fermanagh country men wouldn’t have been that impressed by logos or brands. However, when Darren heard I had it, it became a must-have.

So, for our wedding day, he made sure to wear the tie. And then he wore it again on special occasions, just like this one for his sister’s wedding.

Being his personal stylist, was one of my biggest joys.