Follow my new Instagram Account: Passportalex

Hi guys, I have started a new Instragram account called Passportalex. The reason why I did this is because I had a chat with a very successful influencer who had a look at my existing Instagram account Alexpinstripes and found it to be very messy: there was a lot of fashion related content along with some random stuff which are either my gymnastics training videos or my holiday photos/videos. Now she took some time to analyze the content of my account and realized that I had some potential in becoming far more influential on Instagram if the content was a lot more focused rather than just me uploading random pics and videos. So she offered me two options: either shift all my travel content into stories or simply start a new Instagram account for my travel content - I have chosen the latter in view of the fact that I have quite a few trips coming up very soon and I just don't think I would want to squeeze that much content into Instagram stories. This influencer told me that my existing Instagram account Alexpinstripes already has the right name to suggest that it is about men's fashion and thus I am taking her good advice. Heck, I'm also supposed to be doing my tax return right now.

So allow me to explain my Instagram names: well obviously my name is Alex and I am very found of pinstriped suits. Pinstripes and chalk stripes are a certain kind of pattern on the fabric used to make suits which can be seen as loud or bold - it certainly makes a statement about standing out in a crowd, it is definitely power dressing. That does summarize my attitude towards dressing up formally for work - I dress to impress, I want to be noticed and I want this Instagram account to be about my relationship with fashion. After all, there are a lot of rules in men's fashion and especially for me as a businessman in the UK, so much about how you dress is sending out a message to the people around you about your social status. Unfortunately there are so many men out there who are totally clueless or simply oblivious - they would prioritize other factors like feeling comfortable in their clothes rather than how they would be judged for what they wear. Oh yeah, there are a lot of rules when it comes to men's formal wear fashion but I want to demonstrate that you can still take pride in your appearances, carefully observe a lot of those rules whilst still having a lot of fun with fashion. I also spend a lot of money on my clothes - so obviously most of the time, I only see so many people on a daily basis at work and in my social life, so my Alexpinstripes is a way for me to show all these clothes to a much wider audience. I have found a small but captive audience already but I feel I could do a lot better. Of course, the brand identity of that Instagram account gets diluted with tonnes of photos/videos from my many holidays, thus I have created Passportalex. 

So why Passportalex? Have you tried creating a new Instagram account recently? I tried combining my name Alex with words like travel, traveling, holiday, voyage and anything else you could think of when traveling and it was impossible without making it look ridiculous with punctuation and numbers. I then paused for a moment and thought about what I normally take with me when I go traveling - then boom, I had this image of me queuing up at passport control, waiting to cross an international border. So I tried various combinations of Alex + passport and what do you know: passportalex was available without having to add any silly punctuation and numbers. Given that I spend between 10 to 12 weeks a year traveling, I do use my passport a lot. Besides, most Instagram accounts with the word 'travel' are actually taken by travel agencies and these are business accounts rather than by individuals like myself who just want to share content about my travels. This is important for me because I came from a poor working class family in Singapore - I barely traveled as a child because my parents thought it was a waste of money, I had two siblings and it was not like there was a lot of money around for nice, long holidays. So as a child, I used to go to the library and read books about other countries a lot as a form of escapism. This fascination with studying about the different countries in the world eventually led to a degree in geography - whilst that degree was pretty useless in hindsight, I am doing what I always wanted to do as a child: to take loads of holidays and see this fascinating world and it's not like I have anyone in particular I want to share that experience with, rather it is my younger self that I have in mind - I am taking him to all these amazing places. 

I am a completely different creature when I am on holiday as opposed to when I am in London. I always travel very light, I did my entire trip across Georgia in January this year with everything I needed stuffed into my hand luggage. So in the photos, I'm always wearing the same clothes as I prefer to have the convenience of not having to carry heavy bags around with me when traveling. If I was going on a business trip however, then of course, that would be a different story. But I am simply too pragmatic to bring more clothes than I actually need when I go traveling, what's the point? Whom am I trying to impress with my outfits? When I take photos or videos when on holiday, I'm not trying to show my followers what I am wearing, rather I want to show them this stunningly beautiful place I am visiting. In fact, the only reason why I would take a selfie and include my face in those photos is just to remind myself that I am actually in this stunningly beautiful place, that I'm not just reading about this is a library book because my working class parents are too poor to take me traveling, that this is really happening. So there's a certain Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde thing going on here: when I am traveling, I am so pragmatic and basic but when I am at home in London, I am so vain and would take forever to dress up even to attend a team meeting with my colleagues because I always dress my best for even the most simply occasions like that. I want people to take a look at me and think, "wow, take a look just how smartly dressed this man is, I bet he has very important people to meet today." Whilst I like dressing up a lot, it is not something I do when on holiday. So rather than try to reconcile Jekyll and Hyde on Instagram, I'm giving these two sides of me different Instagram accounts. 

So there you go, kindly follow Passportalex on Instagram if you want to see some of the wonderful things I shall discover on my trips across the world and if you're interested in men's formal wear, then follow me at Alexpinstripes. Whilst I enjoy blogging a lot (as I obviously have a lot to say for myself), I do love the medium of Instagram because of the way I can share so much content with you that is visual and you know the saying, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Many thanks for reading, see you on Instagram! I am flying off to Barcelona on the 30th December for an epic road trip.