Charming Friends,

The Darlings are both very into subcultures. We actually qualify for a number ourselves: Mod, Goth and Geek among them. However we generally love them all and particularly enjoy working with them as Darlings. People who are attracted by a subcultural lifestyle are usually creative, questioning and humorous types and very nice to be around.

We occasionally become obsessed with a particular subculture, and like to play with them as much as possible. Let us tell you about one of our all-time favourites.

We adore geeks. In fact, we both qualify somewhat as geeks. Darla is (very) obsessed with more than one SF series, and Blossom has the same affliction, and takes it a step further by regularly playing certain types of extremely geeky games, and regularly attending geek gatherings (also known as Cons). The Captain is, of course, an alpha-Geek, as are many of our best friends. (We urge those who are not In The Know to stick with the word 'geek' and not use the word 'nerd' interchangeably, as, in fact, these are rather different things - although not excluding the possibility that somebody might be both).

(How do you know you're a geek? Well, it helps when somebody points directly and accusingly at you and says 'Geek!' However, Geek is like Goth - you may not be recognisably so to the untrained eye, but if you are, you know it - and frankly, that's good enough.)

What is it about geeks that we love so much? Well, the average geek is more than averagely intelligent, more than averagely eccentric and way more than averagely funny. Geeks have big, fabulous imaginations and the capacity to act on them. They can be extremely warm, very good company and really polite and charming. Even if they do choose to be rude about somebody else, they usually manage to express themselves so cleverly and subtly that it can be difficult for the uninitiated to work out that they have just been soundly teased. Geeks have excellent taste and are very knowledgeable about their chosen fields of interest and tend to care deeply about important things.

Geeks, we'd like to think, have been around forever: but it seems that after many years of being sidelined, they are finally having their day. Back when Blossom was little and picked up her first funny-shaped dice, it was Not Done to admit to having the geek tendencies (not that it stopped any of us particularly), but nowadays most geeks are out and proud, walking about in their witty tshirts and openly holding cons in crazy places like gymnasiums and luxury hotels. It certainly doesn't hurt that many geeks nowadays have emerged from the wilderness of youth to have solid social lives, substantial careers, homes and responsibility and disposable income (and in many cases, grandkids who can be gently trained up in the Way of the Geek). Geek is now Chic - and we adore that!

In a strictly fashion sense, what is Geek Chic? Many things to many people, of course, but generally speaking we recognise two distinct flavours of geek: peacocks and the Witty Shirt Brigade.

Peacocks are those fabulous people with extremely well-developed imaginations and senses of romance, who like to dress on the outside the way they feel on the inside. We know the most gorgeous geek who regularly wears a brocade frock coat: at Cons, in the street, grocery shopping ... he always wears it beautifully with high quality clothing and looks good enough to eat. We know another wonderful peacock who, a number of years ago, distinguished himself by turning up to a Con pushing a wheeled clothes rack hung with silk shirts, each a more delicious colour than the last, and explained that he brought them along because he couldn't decide which colour he wanted to be that day. It is not unknown for lady geek peahens to show up to Cons and other public events wearing medieval gowns, corsets, feathers, leather armour and the like. The peacock/peahen geek is stunning and we should consider ourselves lucky to have them around. They remind us all that our imagination does not have to be limited to the inside of our own heads, and that all one needs to stand out is a little confidence - and a very good tailor.

The Witty Shirt Brigade wears its imagination on the outside as well ... in the form of the ever-popular tshirt design. The standard uniform of this marvellous geek is a pair of (generally rather good quality) jeans, sneakers and a tshirt emblazoned with something tremendously funny, geeky or clever. It is not uncommon for the humour to be specific to the Geek Set; so if you see somebody wearing a shirt that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, it is most likely something that would have the wearer's fellow geeks crying with laughter. Another defining characteristic of the Witty Shirt geek is the Utility Belt: some lovely geeks we know walk around carrying the most astonishing collections of small, clever and incredibly useful gadgets. We are both friends with a gloriously lovely man who is constantly beeping, and who is the best possible person to have around in an emergency because he is ready for pretty much any eventuality.

Of course, not all is witty shirt styling or pastel silk in the geek world. Anybody who has walked, on a hot summer day, into a gymnasium full of large bearded men hunched around tables covered in little plastic figures and oddly-shaped dice, will have experienced being punched in the face by the ghastly miasma of doom known popularly as 'Gamer Funk'. Blossom has actually come close to passing out at times, and only been saved by a handy cedarwood fan, which she enthusiastically waves around in front of her face or, in extreme cases, breathes through. Certainly some of the more dedicated geeks have an unfortunate tendency to live so much inside their heads that they forget to consider some of the verities of social engagement. Like using deodorant. Or (shudder) soap. Happily, this is relatively rare!

Fortunately help is only a Darling away, and we are busily developing special Salons aimed especially at the geek culture, which investigates geek-specific topics such as Geek Flirting101, Developing Your Geek Style (including a few ideas that may surprise you), Banishing Gamer Funk Forever and How To Survive Cons ... In Style.

More excitingly, we are busy uncovering some of the finest suppliers of delicious vintagey geeky goodness in the world, and buying up stocks of geeky delights such as tshirts (yes, witty ones), accessories, geeky travel goods and so forth, and making them available via our shop. Watch this space (and feel free to contact us if you would like to organise a Geek Salon in your area).

In the meantime let us celebrate Geek Chic: how lucky we are to live in a world where people wear 'Expendable' Star Trek shirts, carry cedarwood fans and embroidered Japanese dice bags, actually know how to kiss somebody's hand without coming across as rude or creepy, tell the best jokes by far, look after each other, have a repertoire of songs with incredibly funny alternate words, and always, always ALWAYS have access to the internet.

Yours charmingly,
Blossom Darling