We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meshach Berry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Meshach thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?
So I personally haven’t felt that my specific work has been misunderstood, but I do believe that the role of a menswear blogger as a whole is a bit misunderstood. I want to shed a little light on why we need menswear bloggers and YouTubers.
Online shopping is at an all time high. Let’s just start there. Due to this massive swell in internet commerce, a lot of men are purchasing clothes and they don’t know exactly what they’re getting until they actually feel it in their hands. This is where the most underrated part of being a blogger comes into play. We do the heavy lifting for you. We pull away the curtain so that you can get a much better understanding of what you buy, before you buy it. This can be through clothing hauls, reviews and stylistic guides. This is especially true if you’re purchasing something expensive, or something that’s final sale, or both! We create this content so that the everyday consumer can utilize it for their research and make smarter purchasing decisions.
The other major part to what we do that I don’t think the general public quite understands, is that we make it easier for guys to get inspired and get creative. You may not notice it, but there’s a ton of men who truly want to make changes to their style, but they don’t know where to start or what it will look like. Because of that fear, they become discouraged and content with the current state of their closet. You know, some people think that we’re just playing dress up on camera. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I became a menswear influencer BECAUSE of how YouTubers and bloggers showed me ways to style pieces that I was interested in. I’ve learned so much from studying others. That’s our main purpose. We’re not merely flaunting our wardrobe for the internet. We’re here to get your creative juices flowing, so that you can feel better about what you wear, thus feeling more confident in yourself.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Well first and foremost, my name is Meshach Berry and I’m a menswear blogger and YouTuber from Miami Florida. I run the YouTube channel “Piece Of The Puzzle” and the website www.pieceofthepuzzlesc.com.
I specialize in menswear content creation that can range from full on streetwear style guides to picking out accessories that are suitable for wedding attire. I also moonlight as a one on one style consultant—offering advice to anyone who may seek to explore the different realms of fashion and personal style.
I’ve always been intrigued by fashion in some capacity since I was a child. I remember my fascination when my older brother would get a new pair of sneakers, hoping that I’d be able to do the same. I eventually became obsessed with keeping my sneakers clean; whether that meant cleaning them with soap and water or licking my thumb to wipe away a tiny smudge (we all did it).
Without even noticing, I guess I began to develop a passion for sneakers, which eventually led to me collecting them. Before I knew it, I was camping outside of stores or waiting in hour long queues for Cool Grey 11s, Foamposites or even special edition Vans.
As I matured, my taste in footwear began to expand. I soon found myself mesmerized by boots. After purchasing a pair, I then needed to learn how to style it, and as I mentioned before, that’s when the fire truly sparked.
By surfing the web, I was introduced to so many different forms of fashion and style. I would watch YouTube videos on how to put certain outfits together and even discovering pieces of clothing that I didn’t even know existed, thus turning my obsession for footwear into an obsession for clothing.
After a while, I would take such pride in my style, that it honestly changed the way that I felt about myself, in a way that nothing else could. When I would dress up, I would feel like the man. My outfit became my suit of armor.
This feeling became so immense, that I had to teach others the different avenues of fashion, and how to style themselves. I wanted others to experience this feeling, thus creating the reason why I chose this field.
As saturated as the menswear field can seem, I do try to create content that’s different from other channels, and even though I’m a small YouTuber, I’ve already accomplished that.
I’ll be honest—yes our work is important, but it’s not the first thing you’d think of when discussing “entertaining videos.” At the end of the day, we’re still just talking about or putting on clothes, so I try to add some flair to my videos to make them pop a bit. This can be through music choice —I don’t just stick with the typical lo-fi hip hop and call it a day— like using garage house music, dancehall, Afrobeat and even rock music. Or it can be through how I edit my videos, either with split screen effects or side by side breakdowns of my outfit. Hell, I just put together the first ever runway styled fashion haul for the winter (that’s also what I’m most proud of by the way). That’s never been done by a content creator. So yes, I’m always thinking of ways to make my content stand out, because simply put, it needs to.
Lastly, I want potential subscribers, followers and even clients, to understand that I’m very well rounded, I’m entertaining and I will make sure that you look good. I’ve got you covered whether you want some feedback on your Jeremy Scott Adidas, or if you’d like to know what kind of lapel you should opt for when suit shopping.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Stop trying to have others assist you with your creative work. Now, I don’t mean this as a slight, nor do I mean this as don’t accept any help, because we all need help. But, if you can do everything yourself, then do it. From brainstorming ideas, to creating show notes, to filming your content, to learning how to edit. Everything that involves your creative process, try to rely on others as little as possible. Yes, that does mean you’ll be doing more work, and yes, it will be harder.
But you’ll thank yourself in the end. Because it’ll be done exactly how you want it, when you want it. Trust me.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Continuing my trend of honesty, at first, I thought the whole “influencer” term was a sham. It came off as a buzzword that everyone would toss around sometimes in order to make their work seem better than it is. And for the most part, that’s still the case, but I know longer scoff at the title. I say this because as small as I am and with as little reach as I currently have, I’ve experienced myself influencing other people. Whether that’s friends, family, or random folk who stumbled across my channel, I’ve influenced the way that other people dress.
And then they tell me about how great they felt afterwards.
And then it all made sense. I get why people become hooked on creating content. Having others tell me that they’re so glad they found my video, or they’re so glad they reached out to me, or the confidence they felt along with the compliments they received. Man, it just feels awesome. There truly is no greater joy than helping someone else. Nothing beats having someone radiate the energy that I feel when I get dressed up, and knowing that I helped get them there. It may sound cliche, but it’s true.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Pieceofthepuzzlesc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pieceofthepuzzlesc/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/meshach.berry
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/PieceOfThePuzzle
Image Credits
Meshach Berry