For at least one day a week, Syracuse University student body is getting a little more stylish. 

The Well Dressed Movement attempts to empower men of color and combat negative stereotypes of men of color by the way they dress, according to the movement’s blog. The most recognizable part of the movement has been “Well Dressed Wednesday,” where the members dress in business casual clothing.

To Kavell Brown, a junior systems and information science major and one of the founders of the Well Dressed Movement, young black men are stereotyped differently according to how they dress. Brown said people see them as “raggedy, intimidating and dangerous.”

The founders of the Well Dressed Movement felt that these stereotypes did not reflect who they were as men of color. The way that people dress not only relays an image to others, but also affects how people are treated, Brown said.

“People are better received when well dressed,” Brown said. “(Our movement) is about promoting that mindset.”

The founders, who met their freshman year, became friends and quickly bonded. Bryan Ogletree, a junior economics major, described the group as having a family atmosphere. But it wasn’t until sophomore year that they came up with the idea of “Well Dressed Wednesdays.”

When Elijah Biggins’ sophomore year roommates started dressing up to go to class, he followed suit. Biggins, a junior sports management major and another founder of the movement, became a source of inspiration for “Well Dressed Wednesdays” because of his new style, DaeShawn Parker said.

“I really felt like this could catch on,” Parker, a junior systems and information science major and founder, said.

It was Parker who came up with the idea that the founders could dress up to help change the image of young men of color. Now every Wednesday, the founders and many other students on campus wear business casual clothing.

The Well Dressed Movement was also inspired by civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and by how those leaders presented themselves.

“That’s what they went to war with: a suit and tie,” Brown said.

Although “Well Dressed Wednesdays” was successful in spreading empowerment, there were some roadblocks to overcome. Parker said that while girls were receptive to the Well Dressed Movement and the way it was executed, some boys were harder to reach.

“(It was) difficult to break into a boy’s ego,” Parker said.

Some students felt that the founders and their followers dressing up on Wednesdays were trying to separate themselves from others as an elite clique.

“That wasn’t the way we wanted to be perceived,” Parker said. “This is why we came up with the T-shirts.”

The brothers of the Well Dressed Movement understood that making T-shirts to support the movement would act as an equalizer for all their supporters. Not every student has the ability or the funds to buy and wear a full suit, but many can buy a T-shirt for $15.

But students were not the only ones who reacted positively to the creation of the T-shirts and the movement itself.

Ogletree talked specifically about meeting a father and son, who approached him asking about the meaning of the Well Dressed logo on his shirt. When Ogletree told the pair about the movement, the father asked for two shirts — one for him and one for his son. When Ogletree gave the man the shirts personally, he told Ogletree that the Well Dressed Movement has the ability to “touch people’s lives.”

The movement has the potential to grow from the support of not just one group of people, but from every group founded on SU’s campus. The goal of the movement is to spread among all genders and races. The Well Dressed Movement doesn’t just end with minority men, according to the movement’s blog.

Looking good and feeling good are concepts that are synonymous for the founders of the Well Dressed Movement, and young people in general are the key to its success.

“A movement doesn’t start with the people who are 30, 40, 50 years old. A movement starts with people who have fresh minds and can form their own ideas,” Brown said.

The founders said that in the future they will use the proceeds from T-shirt sales to raffle off a free suit once a month. They are passionate about this goal because a suit is more than just a nice outfit. A suit means making a first impression into a lasting impression.

Parker said he and the other founders know that a free suit can change a person’s life in a subtle but important way, whether it’s a suit that someone will wear for a job interview or for a wedding proposal.

“All we want to do is give people the opportunity to get their foot in the door,” Parker said. “If we’re doing that once a month, we’re doing something.”

Published on September 10, 2014 at 12:01 am

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