The lunacy of fashion is foremost of the things that have always mystified me. I realize admitting this renders me culturally irrelevant to the chic among us. But irrelevancy aside, I still wonder: Do the people who peddle this "I'm so poor" pretense to the consumers who are willing to swallow their swill ever stop to consider the message being conveyed to people who are truly poor? How many mouths can be fed by $128.00?
Who is this cranky, fashion-challenged blogger trying to reach with his crabby rant? I'd settle for anyone who has seen an ad like this and had an inkling of wondering about what it says about unthinking consumerism.
I have to say that I agree with you 100% on this one. My other fashion bugaboo is wearing clothing with logos...after all, shouldn't Nike be paying US to wear their advertising around? But then you and I will never be fashion forward so maybe this is just wannabe kvetching.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I look at these torn jeans, not just in ads, but on people and think it is ugly and stupid. I love clothes - always have since I was a teen. I saved up my babysitting dollars to buy what I wanted not what my Mom would buy for me. And I sewed my own clothes. I do not consider torn up jeans fashion nor chic. It seems like people wanting to be different but not having any sense of aesthetic.
ReplyDeleteKim & Ines: Happy to have found at least two people who look at these jeans and say "huh?"
ReplyDeleteI always lean on that favorite expression "BEAUTY is in the eye of the beholder." So regardless of what we think, and I concur with Pat, there are many who will think otherwise--that is what makes the art and creative world go round.
ReplyDeleteUnknown; Thanks for the comment and the good grounding perspective.
DeleteThe comment above was from MLee
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon, Pat. Hope you're all doing well. Does this type of post make us sound older? lol But, I have to agree with you. I've actually seen jeans, in worse shape than these, selling for much more. and people have bought them. I have jeans similar to these. But they've earned their holes and rips. Usually, and for some unknown reason, it's the right knee that will start to fade, then threads start to show and then the holes. Small at first and then, after a few washings, will grow into something very similar to the picture you posted. After a while I will trim some of the longer threads until they are no longer able to be worn without making the holes bigger each time I pull them on. So .. They become my 'yard work' jeans. Well worn, broken in, deserving of the name 'BlueJeans'.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Hey Bob; Although this post indeed might put me in fuddy-duddy land, I can live with that because I would have written the same thing in my 20s or 30s. I've always viewed this "I'll pay to look poor" look as ridiculous and ill-considered for exactly the reasons mentioned in my post. If that makes me a cranky, crabby curmudgeonly, coot, oh well.
DeletePerhaps we must turn this phenomenon on its head and label it "The Fashion of Lunacy". Maybe the worlds needs lunacy as much as it needs sobriety and a visual representation, aside from the obvious financial implications, cannot and should not ever disappear from our sight.
ReplyDeleteSteve; Thanks for the comment, especially given the different perspective you offer, not unlike the one above from "unknown". I always welcome when smart people challenge my crabby side.
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