Dapper Sam
Sam Story is Red Bluff’s Modern Victorian…
Style is something each of us already has, all we need to do is find it,” said renowned fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.
Twenty-seven-year-old Red Bluff resident Samuel Story has certainly found his style, and a substantial Instagram following, in American 19th Century clothing, which has become his daily wear.
“I wish there was a deep reason why I like to dress Victorian, but it’s just that I like it,” he says, noting that he’s become a keen consumer of sites on Etsy and eBay that help him build his period wardrobe.
“My grandma used to watch over me a lot when my parents were working,” he says of his childhood. “That was probably the start of the influence. She would take me to antique stores.”
Once at Red Bluff High School, Story was asked to dress in period costume as a caroler. He realized he could pull off the look and actually enjoyed it.
From there, he began researching fashion of the era and picking up pieces to create outfits. “It’s been 10 years of just slowly increasing my collection, adding to it,” he says. While he has taught himself embroidery to embellish such pieces as a late 1800s-era anchor shirt, he relies on the skills of others to construct the garments he wears. “I’m not patient enough to sit down and create a full garment,” he says.
He does have patience, however, to research the history of top hats and has amassed quite a collection. “That’s a fascinating little history, the evolution of them,” he says. His collection can tell a decade by decade story of preferred styles of hats men wore in the 1840s up to
the 1900s.
From his detailed daily period outfits to his house filled with antiques and old books, it’s almost as if Story is from another era. But he says he fits well into this one because he also has a penchant for modern amenities, especially in technology. Travel is easier and Instagram allows him to connect with fellow enthusiasts the world over. He enjoys creating electronic music and is working on a soon-to-be-released album.
Story says he is inspired by movies such as Guillermo Del Toro’s “Crimson Peak” and “The Pale Blue Eye.” “I love all the costume direction in the movie ‘The Gangs
of New York’,” he adds. “There are lots of costumes I want
to recreate.”
Story has a particular interest in American, as opposed to English, styles of the era. “To the untrained eye it all kind of looks the same,” he says. He will occasionally venture into cowboy styles of the American frontier but says they require a lot of buckskin. And he has a more dapper aesthetic.
In fact, his Instagram handle is @im_dapper_sam and he has amassed 127,000 followers. He has created sets for photo shoots in his home that range from simple to elaborate and has learned photo editing to give them an old-time patina. A reel he created getting ready to see the remake of the film “Nosferatu” gained significant attention.
His look includes period grooming, including permed hair and a handle bar mustache. “It was more of a process to learn,” he says. “It was a lot of trial and error. I do use a lot of mustache waxes, poms and the like.”
Customers of Umpqua Bank have become accustomed to seeing Story in his period clothes – “I’m a bank teller, which is oddly fitting,” he says – and others may find that he fits in quite well with the architecture of historic downtown Red Bluff.
There’s no doubt that his look creates curiosity from all who see him. “It’s gotten to the point where I don’t really notice it anymore,” he says. In fact, he’s incorporated the aesthetic so much into his daily routine that he’s started to wear period loungewear. “Occasionally I will dress in what I call incognito mode, which is modern clothing.” Although, he adds, “modern clothing at this point just feels like I’m not wearing anything.”
Story will be presenting his knowledge and top hat collection to visitors of the Kelly-Griggs House Museum in Red Bluff at 2 pm Saturday, November 15. The title of his talk is Sam Story: Vintage Men’s Clothing. A $5 donation will benefit the museum.
“I’ve always been theatrical,” says Story, adding that he enjoys the aesthetics of an eccentric 19th century gentleman. “They were a lot more fun,” he says. In the end, there’s no deeper meaning other than he likes it. Gratefully, he’ll be sharing that fun with the community at the Kelly-Griggs House Museum this month. •
Find him on Instagram
