Writer's Style Guide 007: Tim Cummings
Tim Cummings is the author of the novels Alice the Cat and the forthcoming The Lightning People Play. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and a BFA from NYU/Tisch. As a performer, he has appeared in over 200 projects. Tim is an octopus and spider enthusiast who possesses enviable collections of stickers, labradorite, night-sky projector lights, vintage vinyl, and first-edition hardcover copies of his favorite novels. He teaches writing for UCLA Extension Writers' Program, runs private workshops, and coaches actors and authors. timcummings.ink for more.
1. What three words would you use to describe your personal style?
Bodreamian, Unadherent, Prismagoth.
2. Who/what/where/when is/are your style inspiration(s)?
I've always loved goth and goth-ish icons like Siouxie Sioux, Robert Smith, Martin Gore, Bjork, Grace Jones, Peter Murphy, Hope Sandoval, Nick Cave. I've always paid close attention to music (rock n roll and alternative, esp) for fashion, poetry, emotion, and identity.
I have an affinity for Victorian-era clothing and style. Gary Oldman as Prince Vlad in Coppola's "Dracula" makes me orgasmic: that gray outfit w/ the long coat, the vest, the tophat. The outfits Rupert Friend wears in "The Young Victoria" make me melt, good lord.
I'm always going to pay attention to what Timothee Chalamet wears on the red carpet. He always slays. The same goes for Andrew Scott--the way he bares his beautiful arms and sports vivid, monochromatic creations. But, I can't wear what those boys wear unless they tailor it for a guy built like a football player.
I'm also really connected to West Coast skate and surf culture. The look is so sexy, cozy, and masculine without being toxic or gross. You will always find me in a pair of checkerboard Vans or Volcom jeans, hoodies, and trucker hats.
Lastly, I love darkly-colored autumnal-feeling vests, scarves, and sweaters.
My friend Kourtney once coined me the "Eddie Bauer Goth Boy" and I've always found that hilarious and quite accurate.
3. What colors or prints do you consider an essential part of your signature looks?
I love wild prints and contrasting colors. I have a neon salmon short-sleeved button down shirt that has a dino print on it. I also found this incredible print of skulls and flowers I am obsessed with. Oh, and the one with the goat heads. Amazing. I'm all over the map with colors: some days I go 100% black, down to the underwear and socks. Makes me feel young again, when I was a teenage goth. I love layers. I love a hoodie under a classic leather jacket. I love hats: Irish caps, skullcaps, trucker hats, bowlers, cowboy hats.
4. What’s an early memory of how you used clothing to express who you are?
When I was young, the bullying was bad. I was incessantly beaten up, assaulted sexually, and daily called a faggot and fruitcake and a sissy-girl and a freak. I came from a broken home; my brother had severe epilepsy, my parents had addiction issues, and later my mother passed from cancer when I was 16. That emboldened me to stop enduring the nefarious treatment: I started to wear the kinds of clothes I'd see the musicians wearing on "120 Minutes" on MTV. It was dark, expressive, theatrical, and ominous. Armor, really, and it made people start to be afraid of me, and thereafter leave me alone. My original style was born of an emotional response to the world: of being bullied, of losing my mom, of dealing with my brother's seizures, and trying to find external manifestations of what I was feeling inside. But also to call forth others who were like me. Clothes were the best way to find my people! Anyone else in a Cure or Siouxsie T-shirt was like the batman signal.
5. What’s your favorite season of the year to dress for?
Autumn. That's when layers begin.
6. What fabric or texture do you especially love to wear?
I'm always trying to find stuff that fits and shows off my physique but is loose and comfy at the same time. So, I'm always experimenting with modern fabrics and whatever science is doing to make them more palatable to bigger bodies. I'm 6'2" and 240lbs with shoulders the size of Texas. This does not bode well for my gothic sensibilities; goths tend to be waifish (though that's a stereotype and I don't want to perpetuate any of those). Prismagoths, however, are bigger.
7. What’s a favorite piece in your wardrobe, and how did you get it?
An authentic 1970s mint-green three-piece suit with a "Johnny Carson tailored for Hamricks" label on the inside of the jacket. It is extraordinary. I bought it the year I arrived in LA at a thrift store in West Hollywood. I needed an outfit to attend the LA Weekly Theatre Awards, for which I was nominated that year for playing Larry in "Burn This." I can't fit into it anymore, but I still have it. That and my many Victorian-era long coats.
8. What’s your favorite bit of style advice you’d like to share with others?
You don't need to be into fashion to have a great sense of style. You are your own fashion.
Thank you, Tim, for sharing your insight with the Writer’s Style Guide! Stay tuned for the next installment.