It's makeover time!

Nadine Kam video still
Gary Chun in one of his vast T-shirt collection.

I spent yesterday on a mini fashion makeover of colleague, music writer Gary Chun. It all started with the opening of Forever21 and is the debut of the company's 21Men collection, the first time the brand's men's line flying has been available in Hawaii

I had been sending out tweets from the grand opening, and Gary responded that "My T-shirt years might be ending. Gotta work on the wardrobe. Wanna help?"

Maybe he wouldn't have asked if he knew my kind of help ends up being very public. Lol! As a reporter, he should have known better. Everything we do and see is fair game for a story. Plus, it's not every day a man volunteers to be a fashion guinea pig! It's always best when people are willing to make a change, and in Gary's case, he's been dressing in the same uniform of graphic tee and slacks or denim since he was in his 20s. But along the way, he entered his 50s and said he was starting to feel dated when interviewing young musicians, who, even in surface shabby, are obviously styled and ever more sophisticated in dress.

He figured it was time to grow up, as befitting the times. Not that it means dressing old. It just means being contemporary, and adapting to the 00's, instead of looking like someone whose mindset reads 1980s or earlier.

There's nothing wrong with graphic tees, which are more popular than ever due to such websites as Cafe Press and Threadless, which expand individuals access to artists' creations around the globe, but there are ways to add a little more polish to his basic look.

The T-shirts worked for him for a long time because they are a way of communicating with kindred souls. In the beginning, he started with shirts that showed solidarity with his favorite bands, and he connected with fellow music lovers that way. Over the years, the various messages on his shirts would often serve as a sort of social experiment to gauge individuals response to opinions he would otherwise not voice. They would often spark conversations with strangers.

It's really a more literal process than what fashion people do all the time, which is read others as expressed through clothing. That goes back to naming of this blog, because, whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all members of various fashion tribes whose members find each other based on small details of personal expression.

When you see someone, you kind of know whether you'll relate or not, because their clothing is a shorthand that communicates education, income, attitude and more.

You can read the whole story in next Thursday's Style section.