The Geek Trend: A Comprehensive Guide

Being Geeky is totally in style nowadays, but this writer would argue that the individual trying to emulate the Geek is either not living up to its definition, or has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a Geek is. A simple Google search will tell you that a Geek, as a noun is: “an unfashionable or socially inept person,” or as a verb: “engage in or discuss computer-related tasks obsessively or with great attention to technical detail.”

The macroculture of acceptance of what seem to be futuristic technologies provides a misunderstanding of what a Geek is, and a Geek’s culture.

The origin of the acceptance of Geek culture is sometimes muddled. Back in the day guys like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates exemplified what it meant to be a Geek. They were dedicated to their professions, operating at the cutting edge of tech, and constructing what would become the future of literally all mankind, however, it is clear they may have been a little socially inept stylistically. These guys are cool now, they have been cool for a quite a while but in no way does their coolness (which is arguably very difficult to measure) get attributed to their sense of style. If anything, the cultural expression of Geek is trying to mimic the intangible aspects of their creative minds. In the material sense then and now these fellas were not materially attractive.

It is clear that these men are not particularly fashionable, and whatever the cultural expression of Geek is in the fashion world is most certainly not in the empirical display above. The same goes for Bill Gates. He if anything exemplified what a geek was, not just ideologically, but in his dress as well.

Whatever one refers to as ‘Geek fashion’ has nothing to do with the institutional explanation of what Geek looks like. This writer would argue that what was considered to fall under the description of Geek back in the day be it Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Game of Thrones, and comic book heroes has transcended the exclusivity it involuntarily exercised. All of these shows, books, and overall styles have become mainstream, thus stripping them of Geekery.

As we delve further and further into a trend as it evolves and becomes its own. Consider for instance 3D printing, it is a Nerd’s domain, and with it it can create something like the next stick on nails.

These nails and their print data were compiled from ‘Geek Sugar,’ a retailer that specializes in Geek fashion. Some of their other products are an attempt at Geek culture, but the models and target market are not socially inept people, but beautiful models who are not in any way visually Geekish:

The role of Geek within the fashion world remains the same. It is just what we call Geeky is not the traditional expression of Geekdom. It is not just in the fashion world.

The Geek trend is only trendy in so far as it embraces things that were yet to be cool from back in the day. Playing N64 while drinking Capri Sun is not a geeky thing, it is cool NOW. Whatever we consider not cool today, will certainly be cool tomorrow.

By: ParadigmNext https://paradigmnext.com.com

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ParadigmNEXT, Inc. is a digital agency headquartered in Chicagoland. We provide branding, identity, integrated marketing, social media strategy, art direction, web-design & development, startup incubation, commercial video production, product development, and commercial storefront development services to a wide array of clients ranging from bootstrapped startups to successful longstanding companies.