Electrician Embraces 1830s Fashion for Confidence and Style

By day he's an electrician, by night he transforms into a gentleman from the 1830s. NTD's Daniel Monaghan speaks with Xavier Leighton, who says this historic fashion gives him confidence and a stately feel. Xavier Leighton says he's been interested in historic fashion since he was five or six years old, but the fashions he likes have changed throughout his life. So when I was really young I liked the 18th century, the most colonial American style fashion, but it wasn't until maybe late high school that I discovered that it was the 19th century that I preferred over other centuries. And so it's really the end of high school when I start diving deep into research and clothing and actually wearing the clothes. At first there was a lot of experimentation and a lot of figuring out what is historically accurate and what is not, what is good quality and what is not, and how to make things look right. But as I sort of worked on that I started to get closer to what I was looking for. His friends and family all support him, though he does get the occasional negative comment online. When I dress in my 1840s style clothing people sometimes mention things like slavery and say I'm romanticizing the age of slavery and things like that. And that's really the type of negative comments that I get, are just people who don't understand the point. Leighton says he's a history buff overall, but social history is something that really inspires him. So things like fashion would fall into that, but also things like daily life of the average person in a historical period, things like how did people eat, how did people go to work, what did people do for fun, things like that. Those are my favorite things to learn about in history. Leighton enjoys living history. He says in the Romantic era people really had to think about their outfits and it suited more the spirit of a person. The period clothing enthusiast doesn't consider himself a traditionalist, although he does appreciate some traditional values. Like the traditional values of having people's backs, you know, your friends and your family and looking out for them. That's a very good traditional value I think. Things like being polite, the golden rule. Leighton says he wants to share history and open up people's minds about what he's learned about fashion and how it's evolved. And let people with that knowledge make their own decisions and hopefully come to a similar conclusion to myself in choosing to be more elegant and more appealing in their style as well as abandoning fast fashion. Xavier Leighton also participates in historical reenactments. He has gained a social media following for his unique passion, blending history with personal style. You can find him on Instagram at the handle at oldguyvibes. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News.