Flashion Forward: Michael Cerveris

Before we officially strap on our feed pants for the holidays, let’s slip into our pimped out time machine for one more Flashion Forward. Your hypothesis is correct, Captain: It’s time to strut our sartorial stuff and dive into fashion’s future, as well as the closets of UI’s fanciest, freshest new interviewees.

Today’s musings begin with Michael Cerveris, a polymath performer who is as comfortable on strutting his stuff on stage with a guitar as he is sans–a rock ‘n’ roller who does Broadway. Now before you whip out the barf bags, consider this: Dude got his start in the TV series “Fame.” Wait…It’s not as inauspicious as it sounds. Well maybe it is, but all’s well that ends well, right?

When he’s not busy being nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in “The Who’s Tommy,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Assassins” or “LoveMusik,” he’s fronting the Brit band Retriever, playing in Bob Mould’s band or cranking out solo albums with guest appearances from Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, members of Sleater-Kinney, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, Kevin March of Guided by Voices and many, many more.

But what really makes Cerveris awesome is not his highly laudable film, stage and musical career. No. It’s much deeper than that. Cerveris, a pale and pasty fellow who sports eclectic pinky rings, favors wacky, dark-colored ensembles and bears a rage-tinged, yet soulful gaze that a loving, slightly delusional mom might describe as “intense,” fully groks the connection between vampires and the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

It’s more than aspirational goth–it’s the desire to rise late and wreak havoc late into the night; it’s an insistence on grappling with the dark side of life, come what may; it’s intravenous drug use; it’s an almost instinctively spot-on Zeitgeisty fashion sense! Check out Cerveris’ well-thought out diatribe below.

And if nothing else, I hope you take in FF’s lesson of the day: Perhaps in 20 years Miley Cyrus will have an awesome fashion sense and a kick ass, hipster-approved career!