It has been a year now since I started using the hashtag #wheelchairgentleman and, I would like to tell you the reason of why I started using it. #wheelchairgentleman is a personal account of how a man in a wheelchair can be elegant, stylish and comfortable at the same time. Here is my story I hope you enjoy reading it. Share it with people if you feel like it so they can draw inspiration from it.
Clothing became a theme very early on in my life. My clothes had to be sturdy and practical at the same time because I crawled on hands and knees at home and in school, to go from point A to point B. My mother chose casual sportswear for me because she thought those were the easiest garments to get around in (and they were cheap and easy to maintain as well). I got my first wheelchair when I was eight and I remember my mother telling me:” Other men have to make sure that their paints hang strait, you have to check if your pockets sit nice and strait because otherwise you will look scruffy sitting down.” I didn’t feel well in sportwear at all and asked my mother for a pair of jeans so I could wear the same stuff other boys were wearing. Eventually I got a pair with an elastic waistband, because that was better for me according to my mother. She thought my pants would fall off more easily if they didn’t have an elastic waistband in them and I wouldn’t be able to put them back on. The first time I really felt good in clothes was when I got my first suit. I was about eleven and had to go to a Christmas party at my father’s place. It was great to get to wear what other people were wearing and blend in as much as possible.
When I was fifteen a few kids at school started wearing old leather jackets found at a local thrift store in the centre of Ghent. I bought a black leather jacket with money I got from my grandparents. With a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and that black leather jacket I felt on top of the world. I discovered my grandparents’ closet was a real treasure trove: I found old silk scarfs, brown leather jackets and even the coolest cardboard traveling trunks I used to go to school. I asked my grandmother to shorten the old brown leather jackets so I could wear them more easily sitting down. I discovered that the old silk scarfs, the pig leather gloves, and mother of pearl cufflinks were all my great grandfathers. Mixing and matching vintage clothes and new additions came natural to me.
When I was twenty, I made my first trip to Firenze with a friend. Seeing so many elegantly dressed people, experiencing art and exquisite food felt like a liberation. I remember staring at shirt fabrics in the window at the Brioni shop and working up the courage to go inside. After speaking to the shopkeeper about his wonderful fabrics he referred us to the Lorenzetti family shop in the via dei Neri. We went there and an elderly gentleman took the time to me explained to me what he thought my shirt should look like. I was overwhelmed, by the knowledge and attention to detail that went into making a shirt fit. When the shirt was delivered at my home it fit like a glove and I felt ecstatic. I cherished that blue shirt for many years.
In my line of work in the thinktank world it was normal to do a few internships before you were able to clinch a job. In January 2006 I started my internship at International Crisis Group and after a week we all received a memo with a dress code for men and women. Men had to wear a suit and tie and so began the search for suits on a shoestring budget. DOD in Brussels had a first floor full of excellent ready to wear suits and overcoats for very reasonable prices and I had the perfect excuse to wear a suit every day. As my understanding of menswear grew and I combined the scarfs, ties and cufflinks I had with the new additions to my wardrobe, I kept thinking about how it would feel to wear a suit that was really tailored but I knew I couldn’t afford it at that time.
In 2010 after working for a few years, I read about Café Costume opening a shop in Ghent and made an appointment. For the first time in my life I could go through sample bunches and learn about the way cloth is woven and what that does to the way a fabric feels and the strength it has. I was finally able to combine elegance and strength in a fabric I chose myself. For the first time my body shape was not a problem, but a given to which the suit had to adapt and not vice versa. This is where I met Koen Van Weverberg for the first time, we started talking fabrics, styles and the Sapeurs in Kinshasa. He introduced me to sartorialism as a concept: an interest in matters of or relating to the tailoring of clothing. Since than we have never stopped or sartorial talks expanding into food, wine and al good things in life. We have been friends ever since.
I followed Koen to his new company Schaap because I felt there was more room to grow as an experimenting sartorialist. I have been creating my personal wardrobe for ten years now. Selecting fabrics, combining colors and finding the most fitting shape for my very particular body.
If I wear a suit it is a sign of respect to myself and to others because I have taken the time to think about the people I meet and the image I want to put forward. But wearing a suit is much more for me, it is about the fabric and its origin: who made it? How is it made? What is the history behind the makers and the product? It is about the added value of craftsmanship in tailored menswear. My suits are the result of sharing knowledge, recognising quality and taking the road less travelled. The result is having less, combining more and repairing what is damaged instead of throwing things away.
Over the years people have asked me why I didn’t do something with the silhouettes and combo’s I created for myself, but I was very hesitant because I didn’t feel at ease putting myself in the picture. Every picture is a victory over my natural inclination to not draw attention to myself. It is the victory of a passionate sartorialist who is proud of the journey he has made and who wants to inspire others to do the same.
Sincerely Yours,
Jean-Christophe Hoste
Follow me on IG @jc_hoste or #wheelchairgentleman
