āØThe FashionistaāØ
While watching āThe Clothes Donāt Make The Turtle,ā I noticed something.
I found it interesting that Raph, Mikey, and Leo were content with Raphās outfit choice until Donnie stated that he wasnāt āin love with it, yaā know.ā
Suddenly, Raph declares āIām a disaster!ā Albeit ridiculously endearing, it was a little strange to see his sudden shift from moderately content to absolute dissatisfaction. Huhā¦
Then, the disaster twins decide to help him out.
Take a note of their outfit choices.
Raph tries on all of these fits and more.
Donnieās first choice is a mild āno.ā Leoās choice is a hard āNO.ā (Not surprising, lol.) But then, the overwhelming consensus lands on Raphās fourth outfit, which ended up being Donatelloās other pick for his brother.
So, in summary, Raph tried on his personal choice for an outfit, of which they rejected. Then, ultimately, Donatello picked out an outfit for his brother, and that pick ended up being perfect. Hmmā¦
Then I noticed something else. In this episode, we never get a Donnie ācurtain revealā moment, to our disdain. I mean, Raph, Leo, and Mikey got to try on several different outfits in order to get their brothers' opinions before landing on that āperfect outfit, you know the one.ā All of his brothers got to shine. Why not DonTron?
The try-ons were to get their brothers' opinions and approval. And, for his brothers' choices, he was a major contributor in assisting them in pulling their looks together.
What if, bear with me, Donnie didnāt need the "curtain scene" because he was so confident in his fashion sense that he didnāt need to ask his brothers for help to pick out a great look.
ā¦or they figured out how to break Hypnoās spell before he could get a ācurtain reveal.ā BUT STILL-
Look at his outfit choices in this episode. Some of his wardrobe changes were off-screen, but all of them were fire.
(I added the baseball cap pic because it makes me happy. I wish we'd seen more of that fit.)
To me, he makes some really smart choices for himself, pushing the envelope of what is expected and taking chances: an open collar with no tie for a āblack tieā event, a beanie and spiked wristbands for their āgansta look,ā no socks with loafers (a viral fashion trend that actually began in Africa) with old man slacks in his reclined pose. *muah* Chefās kiss!
But Donās fashion sense doesnāt just shine in this episode.
In āReparinā the Baronā the boys go to Draxumās apartment. Leo and Donnie show up in some extra nice āSunday Dinnerā twin drip.
The gold is in the details. Everything Leo is wearing, Donnie rocks its compliment: for Leoās round collar, Donnieās is angled, for Leoās blue shirt, Donnieās is white, For Leoās light slacks, Donnieās are dark. Blah blah blah. Itās so good!
Look at the winter fit in Snow Day.
Again, Donnie is Leoās perfect compliment. As a pair? Fire.
Donnie has āthe eye.ā I can go on and on with examples, but Iāve said all of that to say thisā¦
In the future, we see that Donatelloās technology had major pull in the resistance. He had drone ships patrolling the skies. He built and designed Leoās arm, Caseyās chainsaw-hockey stick, and Casey's mask. The list goes onā¦
But, when Donatello from the past seeās Caseyās clothing from the future, he says this:
We know about the āGenius Builtā brand. Weāve seen that logo on all of his tech up to this point. But, here he didnāt just say āGenius Built.ā He said, āGenius Built Apparel.ā
āApparelā is not a tech brand. āApparelā is a fashion brand. Of course, tech is incorporated into the clothing, but still.
This means that past Donatello secured this trademark with plans of creating a fashion brand, comparable to the likes of Gucci, Ralph Lauren, or any other modern clothing brand, as a subsidiary of āGenius Built,ā the tech company.
And why not? The evidence has been in front of us this entire time. He has a sharp eye for style, fashion, and trends. It is easily canon that he can sew. Splinter sewed their ninja garbs in āInsane in the Mama Train,ā and there is a sewing machine in the house.
They already learned Ninjutsu through basically osmosis, so learning to sew is not too far-fetched.
And here it is, right in front of us, Caseyās entire ensemble, from mask, to weapons, to clothing, was made by Donatello in the middle of the apocalypse under the brand name āGenius Built Apparel.ā
And that was just in the bad future. Resources were limited, they didnāt have access to much of anything in that broken world as they were survivors of a devastating Krang invasion. Yet, he created all of this.
However, now that theyāve changed the future, his future as a fashion designer is limitless. Think of what Donatello could produce with unlimited resources, unlimited technology, and unlimited creative freedom.
Tech genius. Clothing designer. Fashionista. Future Genius Built Apparel Owner and CEO. Iām sorry, but I have to call it...
Donatello Hamato of the present, of the bad future, and of the good future is a fashion icon, the likes of which the world has never seen.