Note also that this outfit makes me look rather like a large, misshapen carrot disguised as an emo guy. |
And then came The Big Conversation. My coworker was in my office discussing a website design, when he burst out with, "Nice peacock feathers, by the way!" Now, before I go on, let me explain that I have become best friends with this coworker's wife vicariously through him. Apparently she and I are both vegetarians, both cat lovers, both afraid of getting too much sun, and now, I learn, both possessed of the same secretly subversive views on fashion! So, after commenting on my earrings, he noted that his wife had recently gotten a similar pair.
I explained, "Yeah, peacock feathers are the thing this year," and that started him off. He mentioned how his wife had also recently bought some of the dreaded skinny jeans, and after that, he started noticing that that's all anyone was wearing any more. He wondered how "girls always know to dress the same," and commented on how guys' styles have basically stayed the same forever, while girls' styles, well, haven't. His wife had to school him on the fact that, if you're a girl, it's basically unacceptable to wear styles that are a few years old. He also noted that his wife doesn't even like skinny jeans, yet was wearing them anyway. Partly, I'm sure, this is because of the immense pressure to be trendy, but I postulated aloud that it's also because the new styles of shirts don't look good with the old styles of pants, so if you buy anything new, you have to buy other new stuff to go with it. At least that's the problem I've been having.
This conversation made me wonder a few things:
1) Why is women's fashion changing so quickly? In the past, styles could be defined by whole eras (Victorian, for example), and later, by decades. Nowadays, fashions change drastically over just a few years. One article I read (I can't find it now) indicated that this rapid turnover is due to dirt-cheap clothing being churned out by mass-merchandisers—meaning, if everyone can afford new clothes all the time, they can afford to completely change their looks whenever they want. Of course, this is a terrible system, in that all our poorly-made clothes end up in the landfill after just a few wears, and the people in poor countries who make the clothes work endless hours with no holidays for such pitiful sums as seven dollars a month! It's enough to make me consider whether personal adornment on the cheap is really an admirable hobby.
2) Is my distaste for today's fashion more than just the stubbornness of a single, admittedly abnormal person? Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't like skinny jeans, but both my coworker's wife and I are wearing them nonetheless, against our better judgment. Is this indicative of a larger phenomenon?
And the big question...Is fashion really just a load of poppycock? Does anyone really like skinny jeans? Do the people who wear skinny jeans proudly wear them because they think they look good, or do they grow to think they look good after seeing them everywhere?
What if everyone approached fashion with a more critical eye? Would this be a happier, more diverse, less wasteful world? Well, approaching fashion with a critical eye is what this blog's all about, so let's hope so!
I HATE skinny jeans and won't ever wear them. I'm not tall enough to pull them off & I'm not gonna torture myself w/heels. I also felt pressured into wearing them since EVERYONE does but they just looked so stupid. I agree that current shirts don't go w/my beloved flares from the days of yore but I can't go any skinnier than a bootcut. I see skinny jeans & I remember weekends at Goodwill w/my parents. Pass!
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