Christian Benford has by no means adopted the group, particularly in relation to trend.
The cornerback from the Buffalo Payments exhibits up in tunnel walks and on Instagram in severely distressed denims, graphic Ts and hoodies and skeleton-embossed sweatpants with grills on his enamel and many chains and crosses.
“I put on something that appears good,” he mentioned. “I’d do black and darker colours, however I additionally like mild colours, distinctive colours as properly — nothing matchy-matchy. I’m actually not too targeted on what everyone else has to say.”
It’s that expression of individuality that he hopes to impart to children by way of “Fashionable Safari,” his first youngsters’s e-book. The e-book will likely be revealed on Tuesday and options Benny the Bobcat and his schoolmates utilizing trend as a approach to showcase their distinct model.
Benny the Bobcat
MadWorks Pictures
As he writes to start with: “In a small home close to the sting of the bushes, lived Benny the Bobcat, as daring as you please. Not large, not fancy, however oh, so sensible, he made his garments like artworks.”
Benny mixed buttons and materials from varied sources to create patchwork hats, pants and colourful vests, which he paired together with his favourite watch. The youngsters in school ridiculed him for his unconventional outfits, however Benny simply laughed it off. “Trend is enjoyable,” he advised them as he surrounded himself with others who have been additionally distinctive dressers resembling Ella the Elephant, who wore vibrant bows on her nostril, and the funky Chloe the Chipmunk.
Issues rotated on Benny’s birthday when his trainer requested the category to “put on one thing enjoyable [and] vibrant.” Everybody did besides Zack the Zebra, who wouldn’t budge from his drab grey swimsuit.
However as a substitute of turning the tables and making enjoyable of Zack, Benny inspired him to affix within the enjoyable. “Zack, man, trend is about what’s inside. Simply combine it, match it.”
That’s simply what he did, and from that day on, the entire class wore distinct outfits. “Be your self,” Benford writes, “’trigger being you is cool.”
“The rationale I did a youngsters’s e-book was as a result of I’m large on impacting children as finest as attainable,” mentioned Benford, who survived a troublesome childhood rising up in Baltimore. “A number of instances I really feel like children get just one view of the world and I would like to have the ability to unfold love and educate them or rewire them.”
Chloe the Chipmunk
MadWorks Pictures
He mentioned when he was rising up, he was “large into trend,” however that didn’t at all times go over properly with the opposite children and he was typically questioned about his decisions. “Fashionable Safari” is his manner of battling that peer stress. “I simply needed to indicate children that it’s OK to put on what you need with out [worrying about] what everyone else has to say or what you see on Instagram. The brand new cool factor may not be your factor.”
He mentioned he selected a bobcat as a result of, very like his trend decisions, it’s an animal that’s totally different and never as pervasive in youngsters’s literature as elephants, lions or tigers. “Not many individuals discuss in regards to the bobcat, so I needed to emphasise that.”
And Benny is a variation of his final identify.
The e-book is a household affair, devoted to his 6-year-old son and illustrated by his artist sister Jewell Benford. He hinted that it most definitely received’t be his final. “I’m considering of doing a sequence,” he mentioned. “Extra adventures with Benny.”
