The Suit Is The Story: The Christopher Coleman Interview
Instagram’s @christophercoleman421 Brings Folk Art To The Doorman’s Uniform
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Christopher Coleman gets dressed every day like everyone else. One foot at a time. One tie at a time. One suit at a time. But it’s the nightly routine that sets him apart from the rest of us.
In the quiet zen of his apartment, he sets down a blank blazer. Hours later, smoke emits from his paintbrush. He wipes the sweat off his brow. His newest masterpiece bears the likeness of pop culture—movies, TV shows, anime and video games—but it’s been morphed together beautifully, like different colors of Play-Doh, all mashed into one ball, and then delicately shaped into a flat surface, colors spreading, forming an impressionist painting. But in this case, the painting is a suit that he wears.
He posts videos of himself wearing and telling the story of each “fit” on Instagram. Viewers keep coming back to one comment: “Modern-day folk art is alive and well.”
What’s immediately clear when you speak to Coleman is: he’s operating at a high media consumption rate and reflecting it all like a fun house mirror. The warped reflection, cast onto his suits, is an accurate representation of our modern times, more accurate than a normal mirror.
At least, that’s how his followers feel. But how does he see it?
We spoke to Coleman on Easter Sunday and realized that his stream of consciousness narrations are just the way that he talks. He just can’t help it, so much so that he gave us a few sneak peeks (at upcoming suits/stories) at the end of our talk.
Since that day, he’s gone viral again, drawing more people in and making them wonder…
Have you always been a storyteller?
Not really … So, years ago, when I met my best friend, I used to hang out with her kid and read her stories. She didn't like hearing the stories from books. She'd tell me to make stories up.
I guess it started there. I was just making up random stories on the spot, and now it's something far bigger and much more fun.
Where did you learn storytelling? Did someone teach you how?
No, I've just consumed so much media over the years, like TV, movies, cartoons, anime … I’m just merging everything into one cohesive story.
What about your drawing? Where did you learn to draw and why?
Nowhere [laughs]. When I was a kid, I sucked at drawing. My hands were always shaky. Everything looked terrible coming out. So I gave up on it until last year, when I was at a low point and nothing was really going on.
I was like, "Maybe I should give it another shot," and I did.
It turns out, it’s a natural talent that's just been lying dormant in me for years [laughs].
Drawing helped you get out of a low point?
Yeah, it's basically- You've heard the story a million times: a guy strikes out with a girl. But the thing is, I've been striking out with just about everything for years, so it was just building up and building up. I was just at the point where … Nothing was working. I had to try something completely different.
So, I tried this drawing on suits thing and crafting stories for it. It's completely different, totally fun! And I feel like I can control everything, so I can't lose [laughs].
How did storytelling and suits combine?
Originally, I saw this guy, we'll call him Seth Rollins, he’s a part of WWE, and every week on Monday, he would wear a different suit. At first, I didn't care, but then I saw one suit in particular that was shiny and black, and he had the glove that was also shiny, and the belt, and the shoes, and the hat.
And he was beating up somebody, and the crowd was singing his song, and I'm like, "Man, this is so cool. Can I do something like this in real life?"
So I started buying suits on Amazon, and then I was like, "This is boring. Maybe if I tell a story or have jokes with it, it’ll be better."
So I tried that out, and that was pretty cool, but then I was thinking, "You know what, these suits are kind of- They look nice, but if I made the suits myself, I could craft the story. The whole experience would be better if I made it myself."
So I tried that out, bought some paint from Blick Art Supply, started drawing, and I was surprised that my drawings were decent [laughs].
What is it about the suit? Why did you choose it over other clothes?
Originally, it was because at work, I'm required to wear a blazer, so I figured I'd work within that basic guideline and design around that.
Yeah, I heard you work security, is that right?
Yeah, well, I work two jobs. I'm a concierge at a building in Cambridge. They love me there. I tell my stories, I show off my suits. It’s a great time. People are really nice. And then on Friday and Saturday, I do a doorman gig. It's nice, but I like the other gig better.
I've been in this line of work for a really long time, like 10 plus years now.
And what do you like about it? Is it sharing your suits with the people?
Absolutely! Making suits and pumping out stories is pretty much all I do anyways. I can share it with them, and they laugh, and they tell their friends. Then, they invite people over so I can do my demonstrations in front of them. It's a great time. I really like it.
Do you have some big fans at your workplace?
Oh yeah, I made a canvas, which I don't normally do, for one of the residents. There are a lot of younger kids too, who will come down just to hear my stories when I'm there.
It’s cool that it’s like your uniform.
Yeah, and I’m sure I could just paint on other types of clothing, but that seems boring, and I feel like everybody does that who's into designing on clothes. They'll use t-shirts and denim or whatever. I don't want to do that.
I'm going to stick with blazers. I feel like this is my thing.
So what comes first, the story, the suit? Do you draw it first on paper and then go for the outfit? Where does it start?
It's very rare for me to draw it out first. I want to say like 97% of the suits are rough drafts. I just start drawing on them [laughs] and go from there.
And how about the name of the outfit? When do you decide on that?
The name is always crucial [laughs]. So when I'm coming up with a story, I'm hoping that the name will come to me. I’ll give you an example.
My favorite blazer that I’ve made is "The Birds and the Bees." I was thinking of doing an Archer blazer, but I didn't really feel like drawing the Archer characters. And I wanted to do Petey Penguin at some point too.
I was thinking, I want to do a crossover with those characters, but I want the story to be adult, so … It'll be a hookup story.
Then I'm thinking, [now speaking like a diabolical plotter] "But what do I call this story in the end?" I'm like, "Wait, the characters … I got bird characters, and I’ve bee characters, so … The birds and the bees?’" I was like, "That's perfect! I love it. I gotta write all this down."
Petey Penguin was perfect because penguins are not cool. He can’t fly, so everybody rejects him. We'll frame the whole story around him [laughs], like he needs help meeting girls.
Then I was thinking about an episode of Archer, where they call some spies "honeypots." What if the secret agent I make is someone who disguises themself as a bee and she calls herself "Honey Pot." Ooh, this is perfect! And I'll make the suit look like a bee. It'll be yellow and black. [laughs] That's the origin of the two Archer characters I added, who I named Honey Pot and Wanna Bee.
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