The words contemporary fashion, meaning hip, cool, or in, and rock climbing are not synonymous to most people.
To Yosemite climber and clothing designer Paul Wignall, founder of SoCal based Matte Black, how you look – especially when climbing — is of utmost importance. In other words, it’s completely unacceptable to be scared on the rock and un-chic at the same time. To Paul, this is “no good.” It’s worth noting that Wignall was, for a period, a high fashion model who strutted the runways for Gucci.
Paul’s clothing designs have been making their way into several climbers’ wardrobe over the past several years. Though I have many of his T’s and button ups, one item in particular has proven indispensable: the jean jacket. Most climbers wear jean pants, so why not a jean jacket? There is really nothing stylistically wrong with a Canadian Tuxedo. After all, timelessly-modish Warren Harding wore one when he was working on the first ascent of El Cap, via The Nose, back in the 50’s. There’s little doubt he wore these very same digs when cruising the Mountain Room Bar.
The Matte Black jean jacket is form fitting, allowing me to freely move over the rock. When scrambling up flared cracks in J-Tree it protects my arms from the course grains. When muscling long Yosemite offwidths it keeps my elbows from becoming a bloody mess. On big walls, I throw the collar up to pad my neck when flaking the ropes over my head. This also keeps the sun from constantly beating on my neck.
If there’s one negative thing about climbing in a jean jacket is that it’s completely useless as a technical layer. If the clouds open up while you’re up on the wall you’ll quickly regret wearing cotton. You’d be better off naked.
If you’ve got the coin, there is no reason to ignore fashion trends when on the rocks. May well go all the way and pick yourself up a selection of Matte Black items. To quote the movie Dazed and Confused, “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”
