It was not so easy to pick a wrestler to be the topic of this column — a top spot going just after Kazuchika Okada and his glorious pants… I have too many ideas and wrestlers to cover and they’ll come… in time, but for this second piece I needed to keep it big and there was no better fit than The Miz.
I have always loved The Miz and he’s a big inspiration on quite a few levels. He’s one of the last true heels there is and his wrestling gear as always pretty much always been on point, as well as his sense of fashion and style.
Do you remember when he started, then how he slowly evolved, won Money in the Bank, got Awesome, and then won the WWE Title?
You know, when he was wearing shorts and gloves at the same time?
Speaking of, I’m not the biggest fan of gloves in wrestling. Now, in all honesty, I, myself, once wanted to wear gloves. Just one, but still. They only work when they fit the character, and the first example that comes to mind is The Urban German and wXw wrestler, Da Mack. But I won’t elaborate too much since he could very well be one of the next wrestler I’ll cover in Fashionable Wrestling.
Back to the Miz. When he was wearing shorts, it was in, since baggy pants and cargo shorts came back into fashion. Before I go on, it is very important to me to clarify some vocabulary. “Fashion” refers to something that is currently trending, in, and generally accepted as looking good at a specific moment in time. “Style” on the other end, is timeless. A suit is most generally fitting in the style section. However, style is not to be confused with “class” or “classic”. Suits, trench coats are classy, they are classics. Style is more specific to an individual. It is a distinctive appearance. The punk style, the gangsta style, the business style etc… they all have their own general rules and principles. Yet, a single person can have his own style.
I’ll end up this section by quoting Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent who pretty much said the same thing: “Fashion fades but style is eternal.”
So The Miz’s style evolved with time, his character and fashion. This is why the current Miz is so different from The Miz of 10 years ago.
Back then, he was cool, awesome, and thus made better what everybody could have access too. Did he present himself as someone extraordinaire, much better than everyone else? No, he did not. He started from the bottom, and that made him likable. He was pretty much a normal guy, who worked harder to be good, to look good in order to become, indeed, awesome.
So let’s focus about more about the recent version of The Miz. He is now wearing trunks, the most classic piece of gear a wrestler can wear.
Luckily, the fact that he’s wearing a long and closed coat for his entrance prevents him from looking like a fool because, well, trunks and long coat never look good together, a bit like Nutella and grilled chicken.
They are both great on their own, but it doesn’t mean they are better together.
Most of his trunks have a similar design on the front: his logo, which is just a reversed WWE logo, surrounded by spotlights.
This makes the logo, so him, the center of attention and helps us understand his character. I truly believe that The Miz is one of those wrestlers whose gimmick you can understand just by taking a close look at his wrestling gear.
In recent years, he also incorporated gemstones in his wrestling attire. What do they stand for? They shine a lot, they catch your attention because of their reflection. We look at most things in a passive way. We look at something that always stays the same, we process the information quickly and move on to something else. This is also why wrestling is harder to understand, because we look at it actively, using the brain much more since we get new information all the time, the picture evolves. The same goes with shiny elements such as gemstones. The reflection of light on them makes them shine more or less, thus making us look at it actively. This is one of the reason people easily get attracted to shiny things. This and because they are associated with wealth most of the time in history and in stories. So crystals catch our attention and give an impression of wealth. Why do you think Ric Flair’s robes are so majestic? Most of the time, we wear robes after taking a shower or a bath, and we don’t look that amazing.
The Miz uses stones and colors associated with wealth on most of his gear, gold and silver. Colors are linked with elements, feelings etc, and all give us different information. Yet, the Miz entrance gear is quite different from what were using to see. Again, his character is supposed to be this A-lister, this movie star, this inaccessible superstar. His last effort was also to make the WWE Intercontinental Title relevant, prestigious and important and not just a mid-card badge. The title itself, being white, looks classy, as opposed to the extravagant purple tag titles. This mission influenced the Miz’s gear just like his former gimmicks did. For instance, if his collars are oversized and always up it’s to draw attention. But attention to what? Well, to what it’s surrounding, his head, a direct reference to his Money Maker era.
Then, and to come back to his title quest, the color of his recent entrance jackets as well as their design is quite simple, most of the time made of one single color, especially black and gold. Black being the most simple, classic color as well as the most common color for suits, trench coats and overcoats, all three staples and must own items. Gold, once again, referred to his status and his quest for gold. The design however is slightly more original, as it’s more often than not quite fitted on his upper body but wider on the lower body. My mind being twisted, I can imagine a vague depiction of an Academy Award in it, the base of statue being wider than the statue itself. Then, the gold color of the coat also works with the idea of the statue. Then, of course, he’s also well dressed outside of the ring, wearing suits most of the time. He’s original with his choice of suits, while not being as crazy as John Cena. And don’t even worry, I’ll cover Cena, his gear and his suits, another day.
The Miz grew more and more aware of his in and out the ring appearance as years went by. He’s a class act who created his own style, influenced by the biggest artists and actors of our world, and well, probably Maryse too. I’ll leave you with me dream: The Miz and Maryse invited to the Met Ball. It would absolutely fulfill his career and I’d love to see what they would both wear.
