I keep seeing people who are lost in the '80s and I'm not talking about those little fashionistas who were too young to get tired of stretch pants and off-the-shoulder shirts, skinny pants and pointy toed shoes. They forget we used to layer our socks, too.
The thing is I've been in the world long enough to see that what my mom was saying is, in fact, true and now I begin to wonder as we cycle through a new stage of 'cutting edge' fashion which era I will inevitably get lost in-unaware as these men and women are-that feathered hair, wings and mullets and banana clips only make you look dated and not dateable.
When I was in college and serious platforms were in style, my mom would scoff at me and lament me as unenlightened-she seemed disappointed and determined to connect my fashion choice to some failure of the feminist movement of the 60s. I looked at pictures of women wearing shoes from 'back then' and managed to convince myself that my shoes were TOTALLY different. Which they were, and they weren't. A few years separation from that time period and the occasional glance at my bright red platform tennis shoes from 1997 at the bottom of my shoe shelf have since convinced me of that.
The fact is I've noticed a bit of recycling going on, and try as I might, as I've seen things go out of style, I loathe them coming back into style. Of course, my attachment here and there to a favorite shirt or pair of pants has had me treading in dangerously unfashionable waters and I have a few things in my closet that came back in style so I was happy about that.
I am sure my disgust is in part because I suffer a little bit from consumer conditioning, I mean, how can I move on to the next fashion if I am still digging the one from last week, or from 10 years ago? Gotta spend spend spend, right? But a big part of my irritation with fashion recycling is that changes in fashion mark passages of time in an undeniably vivid way.....and if you've had hopes and dreams that have not been realized this can be a crude, colorful and expensive awakening.
And so my flippant mind sometimes thinks little smart ass thoughts about people as they pass me by and then I worry and wonder if maybe I need to go shopping again.
(Truth is, I've started to like those pointy toed shoes but you can bet I will NEVER try skinny pants or them dresses over 'leggings' formerly known as stretch pants-much too much like my first day of school outfit in 7th grade)
2 comments:
Somewhat unrelated, but possibly valid bits of thought:
Since fashions seem only to cycle, with merely superficial transmutations between generations, how does fashion truly move forward in any meaningful way? Example: the suit and tie has only been a staple of the formal male wardrobe for around 100 years, but I don't see any possible way that this can change now. Put another way, How did we end up with the suit and tie as staple garments, and how/when will we make a move towards a "new standard".
Is that even possible anymore? Hmm...I think I'm going to have to blog about this...
I think you bring up an excellent thing to ponder. I think back to the 1700s and even then some perverted version of a suit and tie was being worn in high European courts.....except instead of a tie it was a white fluffy thing....a cravat? With wigs though.....I don't know. But it would be an interesting thing to look into,certainliy!
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