Editing Buckminster Fuller (section)

== Appearance and style ==

Buckminster Fuller wore thick-[[lens]]ed [[spectacles]] to correct his extreme [[hyperopia]], a condition that went undiagnosed for the first five years of his life.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VWF_6f0UCkYC&dq=farsighted+buckminster+fuller+zung&pg=PA320 Thomas T. K. Zung, ''Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for a New Millennium''] Retrieved June 13, 2016</ref> Fuller's hearing was damaged during his naval service in World War I and deteriorated during the 1960s.<ref name=tomkins-1966 /> After experimenting with bullhorns as hearing aids during the mid-1960s,<ref name=tomkins-1966>{{cite magazine|last1=Tomkins|first1=Calvin|title=In the Outlaw Area|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=January 8, 1966|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1966/01/08/in-the-outlaw-area|access-date=December 14, 2015}}</ref> Fuller adopted electronic hearing aids from the 1970s onward.<ref name="Sieden-1989-Buckminster-Fuller's-Universe" />{{rp|397}}

In public appearances, Fuller always wore dark-colored suits, appearing like "an alert little clergyman".<ref name=Kenner-Guided-Tour />{{rp|18}} Previously, he had experimented with unconventional clothing immediately after his 1927 epiphany, but found that breaking social fashion customs made others devalue or dismiss his ideas.<ref name=Fuller-Maharishi-1971>{{cite web |title=Buckminster Fuller and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Part One of Press Conference 1/3 | date=December 31, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8u313eY_c | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/6z8u313eY_c| archive-date=November 7, 2021 | url-status=live|publisher=YouTube |access-date=December 14, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{rp|6:15}} Fuller learned the importance of physical appearance as part of one's credibility, and decided to become "the invisible man" by dressing in clothes that would not draw attention to himself.<ref name=Fuller-Maharishi-1971 />{{rp|6:15}} With self-deprecating humor, Fuller described this black-suited appearance as resembling a "second-rate bank clerk".<ref name=Fuller-Maharishi-1971 />{{rp|6:15}}

Writer [[Guy Davenport]] met him in 1965 and described him thus:

{{blockquote|He's a dwarf, with a worker's hands, all callouses and squared fingers. He carries an ear trumpet, of green plastic, with WORLD SERIES 1965 printed on it. His smile is golden and frequent; the man's temperament is angelic, and his energy is just a touch more than that of [Robert] Gallway (champeen runner, footballeur, and swimmer). One leg is shorter than the other, and the prescription shoe worn to correct the imbalance comes from a country doctor deep in the wilderness of Maine. Blue blazer, Khrushchev trousers, and a briefcase full of Japanese-made wonderments;<ref>''Questioning Minds: The Letters of Guy Davenport and Hugh Kenner'', ed. Edward M. Burns (Counterpoint, 2018), p. 733.</ref>}}