Dublin fashion creative on TikTok, personal style & online trolls
Sínann Fetherston chats with fashion TikTok creator Matthew Lenehan about his style staples and how he deals with online trolls.
For Matthew Lenehan, a fashion creator on TikTok with almost 30k followers to his name, if you don't step out into the world feeling a little bit stupid, you're in need of an outfit change.
"If I was just starting out, I would do two things," he says of curating a stylish wardrobe. "First, find some outfits that you like, on TikTok or on Pinterest, and just copy them. Doesn't have to be piece for piece, just get the clothes and put them on. The second step is to nearly make sure you feel stupid in them."
"If you put them on and you feel too comfortable, then you didn't push it out enough," he explains, promising that pieces that initially feel too 'out there' will become every day staples over time.
Creating fashion content on TikTok since 2020, Lenehan's street style and dry sense of humour have garnered him a strong fanbase (as well as some trolls), with videos documenting the evolution of his eye-catching looks.
A recent video, which saw the Dubliner style his girlfriend's skirt on himself, amassed over 800k views. All too aware of the kind of reactions he was likely to get, though, he knowingly captioned the clip: "Comments should be good".
While many praised his styling abilities, as well as his willingness to play with pieces regardless of gender, others shared hateful comments, many of which questioned Lenehan's sexuality.
In response, the content creator found a "beautiful little number from Dunnes Stores" in his mam's wardrobe to try on.
"There's always going to be that group of people that give you stick," he explains. "No matter if it's the trendiest thing in the world or not, there's still going to be that core group of people who will just latch onto it, especially on TikTok, because it's so easy to just throw a comment in."
Homophobic comments are often rampant in Lenehan's comment section, but he has yet to hear how wearing clothes has any ties to sexuality.
"It's crazy, I'll literally have my girlfriend in the video, but that won't make me straight [to them]," he explains. "There's no way having a girlfriend makes me straight, but if you put on some wide-leg jeans, that's definitely gay?
"The other side of that, as well, is that I know so many gay people who do not dress like me and have no interest in fashion. There's really no correlation, but it's just so easy for people to throw those comments in."
Thankfully, the vast majority of Lenehan's content is well-received, which has led him to meet a wide network of like-minded people and a growing audience. So far, the trolls haven't deterred him.
"I have the awareness that TikTok is just not real life," he says. "The amount of comments I'll get online saying, 'state of that', but I've never had anyone walk up to me on the street and say, 'hey, I just wanted you to know your outfit is poxy'."
"I understand that no matter what I post, there's always going to be people commenting to try and get a reaction. If that's your thing, whatever, but that's why I've started replying to it because we can have a laugh and a bit of back and forth if that's what you really need - the attention of it."
Thinking back on his school days, the visual merchandiser says it's clear that many boys have an interest in fashion, but only seem to be comfortable leaning into certain items like runners or certain jerseys. For some reason, the buck often stops there.
"Back in the day, me and my friends would all be in the same sort of tracksuits, so it was just about what shoes you had on," he reflects.
"If I came out in some new shoes, I'd be strutting around thinking everyone was looking at my brand new, clean shoes," he laughs. "I don't know why it's flex for your shoes, but then it stops."
"There was many a shoe that I had on that I still got stick for," he adds. "Once you start edging anything out in any way, that's when it starts to get a bit ropey."
It was in college that Lenehan began experimenting with his style, and credits London-based, Denmark-born content creator Magnus Ronning as being a major influence at that time.
"I used to watch his YouTube videos and just be trying to stay in the loop of what's going on, what's cool, what's everyone wearing. I kind of watched him progress with his style and saw him swerve away from that more trendier, whatever is in at the minute kind of things."
Now, as a trend-setter himself, the Dubiner insists that the best way to build a wardrobe is through lots of basic pieces like good quality jeans, well-made t-shirts or a classic jacket. From there, the odd statement piece can be thrown in for when you want a pop of colour or texture.
The way to make a look stupidly good, though? Add some accessories.
"Accessories and shoes," he says. "I can't make my decision [on an outfit] until I have my shoes on, my necklace, my earrings, rings - any sort of thing that will give it a bit more layer to it. Small bits like a bit of jewellery can just take it up to look a bit more put together."
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