Man Repeller

Graphic by Meher Yeda

The digital magazine that inspired me to join STITCH as a writer has officially stopped producing new content. Repeller, formerly known as Man Repeller, now exists as a time capsule, its website and Instagram frozen in time.

Known for bringing fashion with humor, self-deprecation and clothes that perhaps “repelled” men by being utterly fun, Repeller has transformed today’s fashion. But Repeller was more than fashion. It brought its readers memes, investigations of relationships, money diaries, guilty pleasures and more. It epitomized authenticity. Unabashed self-expression. Repeller taught readers how to channel childlike excitement and passion as adults with real-world responsibilities, goals and struggles.

What do we make of its end, though? Is it that fashion no longer needs the urge to be fun and fabulous? Has the industry internalized and fully consumed the aesthetic and message of Repeller, and so the magazine has served its purpose? The modern fashion industry is focusing on inclusivity, sustainability, political action and identity, not just breaking mainstream rules of what matches and which pieces we consider fashionable. Did Repeller exist to lead the way to where we are now? Here are the most important lessons Repeller taught me over the years.

Lesson 1: The more patterns and colors the better. 

If you think it clashes, think again. Why did we box ourselves into thinking fuschia and orange or floral and stripes didn’t match? Repeller fought against those constructions and brought whatever it wanted together in an outfit.

This lesson also extends to mixing and matching types of clothes and fabrics. Why not wear gym shorts with your favorite blouse? Or pair your pajama top with your jeans?

Lesson 2: Arm Party

The concept of arm party preceded my time as a reader of the magazine, but it focused on wearing a stack of bracelets up your arm from beads to bangles and string designs made in summer camp. The key idea: have fun with your accessories and don’t limit yourself to just one or two.

Lesson 3: Don’t be afraid to look like a stick of butter aka wear monochromatic outfits.

Writer Harling Ross started this trend, which involved combining white, ivory, yellow and taupe clothes to resemble, yes, a stick of butter. The idea was revolutionary in that it used food as fashion inspiration, a “melt-in-your-mouth formula,” as Ross once wrote. In celebrating the butter outfit, Ross unlocked the potential of groutfits and bloutfits, otherwise known as all-gray and all-blue outfits, just in time for color-blocking matching sets to gain traction again.

Lesson 4: Grandma’s are trendy.

Yes, think sweater vests, oversized pearls, loafers, head scarfs and oversized sunglasses. Articles of clothing and accessories once associated with grandmothers had a Cinderella makeover, suddenly turning into trendy and chic from old and outdated. 

Lesson 5: Layers, and more layers.

Yes, you should wear that tank top over the sweater or put that jeans skirt on over your slip dress. 

The layer liberation the Repeller brought harks back to a quote from shrek:

Donkey: Oh, you leave 'em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin' little white hairs... 

Shrek : [peels an onion] NO! Layers. Onions have layers.

Shrek has a point: your outfits will never mold if you layer it up. With layering you transform pieces in your closet to more than their intended function and stay fresh. 

Lesson 7: Being weird is kewl.

Embrace your quirks and what makes you you. From unibrow glasses to lobster shape earrings, Repeller always designed accessories meant to channel your inner quirks. Repeller made non-fashion objects and trends, such as an untweezed or wax eyebrow, trendy and cool for their very challenge against expected fashion and beauty norms. 

Featuring the unibrow glasses with a dolphin hand bag

Shoelace gone hair tie

The bolder the better