Archive for November, 2011
Checklist of cool November 14th, 2011
Style and the perception of cool is by nature deeply personal. However due to the proliferation of fashion opinion in mass media, and our country’s seemingly insatiable consumer appetite, we are led to believe that these days everybody has it in them to be fashionable, and anybody can be cool.
Today it seems all you need is [top down] a fitted cap with the sticker left on, an off key wonky haircut, some sort of quilted jacket and chunky knit jumper, anything purple, some tight jeans – ideally partially rolled up – and a pair of pumps [substitute for espadrilles/brogues/penny loafers for regional variation]. Casio watch optional. And it’s fair to say this uniform isn’t gender specific.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing in particular against any of the above, in isolation – in fact I have a few in my wardrobe – but it’s the principle that you can buy the set and hey presto.
I used to say trends go in one year and straight out the other, but today they last almost no time at all – from geeks to grandparents, practically every identity has graced the otherwise bland shoulders of high street nobodys and East London dickheads alike over the last year. And yes I use dickhead in the YouTube sense – does that make me a victim too?
A note to Topshop, ASOS, and all the other “fashion houses” [do me a favour] who claim to be empowering the British public to bring out their inner fashionista: by making fashion accessible you are in fact turning style into a commodity and in doing so undermining the individuality that forms the foundation of the very concept of style. And please, don’t even mention the P word.
The result is a virtual checklist of cool – a frequently changing encyclopedia of “buy me and you too can be cool” – the effect of which is not a gift of selfesteem to the otherwise BHS tailored majority, but but total lack of individualism. Which is undeniably the antithesis of cool.
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