Kaitlyn Hart
Life Editor
Walking to his mailbox one day, John Bolliger, a sophomore at ISU, heard the faint sound of a car coming down the road. He paid no mind to it, lessinging it to the background noise of a busy world.
This continued until he swiftly turned around and noticed that the car had stopped, directly in front of him, with a man leaning out the front window. When he looked closer, he realized that the man had a camera out. Not filming him, but more specifically, his pants. Bright pink pants, with flowers detailed around every square inch of fabric.
For John, having strangers come up to him for pictures is not exactly a rare occurrence.
“I’ll be going to class and somebody will be like “Oh my gosh! I finally have a class with you, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for so long,” says John, known at ISU and around Pocatello for his eccentric and sometimes even kaleidoscopic pants.
“Most interactions that I get on the street, people just tell me that I have really nice pants and ask where I get them.”
Since the 7th grade, John has been collecting and proudly wearing colorful and outlandish pants, many from the brand LoudMouth. This company is known for selling brightly-patterned clothes that are designed to make you stand out in a crowd.
His first pair was given to him as a joke. “When I was in middle school, I think it was my Grandma that got them for me and it started out as more of a joke,” says Bolliger. “But I actually like them, so I guess the joke’s on her.”
For many people, putting themselves out there to be so blatantly judged would be more or less a nightmare scenario.
Having so much attention from strangers and your community comes with a great deal of responsibility, which is why Bolliger is very careful to not wear the same pair of pants twice in a row, or even the same pair twice a week.
“I have 39 pairs of these pants, so people notice when I wear the same pants twice in a row,” says Bolliger. “I’ll wear the pants that are on the far left of my closet and once I wear those, I rehang them on the right side, so that I only wear the same pants every 39 days.”
The fear and pressure of looking and dressing a certain way has terrified many young people into never overstepping boundaries or trying new things, but for John, he’s making a statement.
“It represents my defiance,” says Bolliger. “I don’t like to follow into all social norms. For example, I have this bright pink water bottle. Everyone is always like ‘why do you have a pink water bottle’? It’s like, pink is just pink. It’s just gender stereotypes.”
As a triple major in Sociology, Political Science and Philosophy, John is often fascinated with the way that people react to seeing someone partake in anything that is outside of the “norms” that society has dictated.
Many times when people have a certain character trait or quirky hobby, society likes to reduce them to that one specific quality. Bolliger thinks that this is an inefficient way to see the world.
“I try not to listen to the influence of other people, it’s something that I really enjoy and it’s definitely a hobby of mine,” says John. “My pants aren’t my personality, you know?”
