By Beau Didier
Breelin Clark stands in front of a group of middle school students at JK Haynes on a fall day in October. He is dressed confidently in a fine, slim-fitting suit.
Jutting out of his chest pocket is a neatly folded pocket square in the same gold color as his tie. The pieces complement each other.
Clark is a college student with a vision. He started a program called “Phresh Starts” to empower underprivileged young men through smart clothing choices.
Today, his audience, young boys of inner-city Baton Rouge, is energetic and impressionable.
“You can’t control what other people think about you, but you can control what you think about yourself,” Clark, 23, tells them. “Suits are just another way to get in touch with the other you.”
In Baton Rouge, sometimes these cultural niceties aren’t taught.
“It’s very confusing growing up in a school system that expects you to develop professionals but doesn’t teach professionalism,” Clark says today. “I want to give back to the kids in my neighborhood, to the kids of Baton Rouge. I was raised to look professional, to dress right and to be prepared. A lot of people I know just weren’t.”
He launched the Phresh Starts program at LSU last fall, speaking to a group of about 50 male college students.
With the aid of a mannequin and suit, he taught them to tie ties—a routine that was a novelty to most of his audience. He showed them how to style different types of suits and shoes, also introducing accessories such as pocket squares. He explained the power of dressing well, and its ability to impact how you’re perceived by potential employers.
The young men left with a new perspective on professionalism and self-preparation—and probably a damn fine half-Windsor knot.
Since that first class, Clark has instructed at two Capital City middle schools. With the aid of one of his English professors at LSU, Chris Tusa, Clark is developing the Phresh Starts brand. This year, he plans to visit and speak at local high schools, targeting young men preparing for their careers. He is launching a website soon and has begun publicizing his efforts via Instagram with the hashtag #PhreshStarts.
Of course, Clark is still a student himself, and when he is not attending psychology and chemistry classes at LSU or pouring energy into Phresh Starts, he clocks hours working in sales at Al’s Formal Wear.
Al’s has been supportive of Phresh Starts, working with Clark and providing a platform for the program. The store supplies clothing and mannequins for his presentations and may help him promote his cause in the future.
For Clark, that future looks bright. But he is quick to remind his audiences that he grew up in the same Baton Rouge neighborhoods they did—and they can dress and prepare for their future success just like him.
