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Generally it's such a shame that society is made to ridicule anyone who is wearing or behaving in a way that is out of fashion. Anything between just-recently o
by vumgl 9y ago
Generally it's such a shame that society is made to ridicule anyone who is wearing or behaving in a way that is out of fashion. Anything between just-recently out-of-fashion to grandma-old-style is seen as either bad taste or says something not-so-nice about the person wearing or doing it. I would love to see people feeling more free to wear that thing that was in fashion 2, 10 or 20 years ago. The world is strange, let's keep it that way.
- ohmichel 9y ago"The world is strange, let's keep it that way." I like that.
- bsenftner 9y agoOh. it is. With everybody in their bubble, the strange are free to be, as long as we're not loud about it.
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago"All the freaky people are the beauty of the world" Spearhead
- brandnewlow 9y agoThen you should check out Planetary some time (origin of the quote). It's a wonderful comic series about investigators who uncover and document the hidden history of the world, which happens to consist of clever remixes of pop fiction tropes from across cultures, genres and eras.
- macintux 9y agoNice. I'm actually working out of a library today with the Planetary Omnibus, and I keep intending to set aside time while I'm here to start from the beginning and take notes. Such a rich world and I generally can't take enough time to read very far into it, I keep losing track of what happens along the way.
- jdmichal 9y agoMy favorite piece of advice to teenagers, who seem to keenly feel that unrelenting pressure to fit in: Everyone is weird. If you choose to try to hide your weirdness, and you'll feel shame. If you own your weirdness instead, and you'll feel pride.
- jandrese 9y agoGiven how cyclical fashion trends are those people wearing bell bottoms today might be seen as especially fashion forward in a couple of years. Who knows?
- efnx 9y agoIt happened in the 90s. It will happen again.
- astura 9y agoI'm waiting for cargo pants to come back in style
- maxxxxx 9y agoIt happens all the time. But usually they give them a slightly different spin so you can't just reuse 20 year old clothes.
- dsnuh 9y ago"Styles may change, but style doesn't."
- folknor 9y ago> Generally it's such a shame that society is made to ridicule anyone who is wearing or behaving in a way that is out of fashion I mostly agree. However, there are biological and economical reasons for this that are deeply anchored, such as for example that it allows us to more easily distinguish friend from foe, and almost instantly skip forward a few leaps in trust levels when communicating. Generally speaking, of course.
- digi_owl 9y agoSadly this also allows a sharply dressed conman easier access.
- mc32 9y agoBut it also helps avoid the used car salesman wearing the leisure suit kind of people...
- quickthrower2 9y ago> leisure suit kind of people Exactly - the clothes make the man
- KozmoNau7 9y agoManners maketh man.
- emodendroket 9y agoWhen was the last time you saw a car salesman wearing a suit, let alone a leisure suit?
- mc32 9y agoWhen you're doing the financial paperwork --your implication is right though. At that point they are not technically "salespeople" but closers who are trying to get you to buy additional things.
- nordsieck 9y ago> Generally it's such a shame that society is made to ridicule anyone who is wearing or behaving in a way that is out of fashion. Fashion is a way to signal that you are high(er) status. It's almost definitional that unfashionable things will be looked down on.
- klenwell 9y agoPerfunctory citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Clas...
- EthanHeilman 9y agoFashion can be used to signal many things: group membership, hobbies, political/philosophical views. Additionally, like other forms of art, it can also be used for intrinsic aesthetic expression. The fashion industry like the luxury automobile industry or the art industry is based around selling status. Unfashionableness an industry release cycle designed around planned obsolesce.
- digi_owl 9y agoCertain elements of the tech industry is heading that way as well...
- ghostbrainalpha 9y agoAre you just referencing the iPhone? Or are there more examples?
- digi_owl 9y agoWell there have been some straight up expensive "luxury" phones over the years. Apple in that regard is perhaps more in the BMW or Porsche end of the scale.
- simplify 9y agoDon't forget occupation. Doctors, police, prisoners, etc. all wear distinctive clothing.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- aeontech 9y agoI think feeling constrained by what other people think of your fashion is very much a factor of your self-perception and the community around you. I don't think people ridiculing others for their fashion choices is all that common past teenage years, but I may be wrong. Looking at the subjects of this article, I don't get the feeling that they are dressing unfashionably - on the contrary, they are making extremely specific and thoughtful fashion choices, probably spending more time and thought on it than people that just go and grab whatever the latest thing is on Zara racks. You may be surprised, but even grandma-old-style can be very fashionable. Fashion is very much about who is wearing it, why, and how. It may not matter as much "what" you're wearing, as "why" - like modern art in some ways. Fashion is basically another non-verbal communication channel we humans use to signal a large number of clues to fellow members of the species.
- webkike 9y agoAgreed. I think the effects are seen more in whom a person associates with. People who wear and are particular about a certain subset of clothing tend to appreciate other people who do the same.
- macintux 9y ago> I don't think people ridiculing others for their fashion choices is all that common past teenage years, but I may be wrong. Try walking around as a man in a dress in 95% of the US.
- jacobush 9y agoToday I learned elsewhere that the US ranks high on the masculine.
- jacobush 9y agoAs ranked in Hofstede https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede's_cultural_dimensions_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede's_cultural_dimensions... https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/ https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa...
- electricslpnsld 9y ago> grandma-old-style FWIW I see lots of people in their 20s dressed as grandmas (at least in major US cities).
- white-flame 9y agoAh, but assuming you're at least a decade older than that, are they dressed like your grandma's generation, or like theirs? If they dressed like theirs, they'd be unfashionably outdated. If they dressed like yours, they're rediscovering new old fashion trends.
- electricslpnsld 9y agoLate 20s here. I'm talking Golden Girls-esque 1980s old people clothes.
- 534b44a 9y agoI've seen a few young adult females wearing some 90s style retro sportswear alongside with modern clothes (e.g. a Nike retro windbreaker) and I remember I found them (the persons) quite pretty.
- jdietrich 9y agohttps://www.thecut.com/2017/05/new-fashion-trends-normcore-gorpcore.html https://www.thecut.com/2017/05/new-fashion-trends-normcore-g...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- usrusr 9y agoOld people look old not because of their outdated fashion style but because of their age. Kind of obvious, but we really like to forget that, over and over again (maybe to distract us from our own aging). When isolated from the aging payload and put on fresh bodies (sorry for the cynical wording), time-tested styles work remarkably well. On top of that is a short window where the last generation using a given style has just disappeared from the streets enough to to avoid confusion, but memory of wrinkled faces is still fresh enough to make youthfulness stand out by contrast.
- throwaway0255 9y ago> Generally it's such a shame that society is made to ridicule anyone who is wearing or behaving in a way that is out of fashion. These subcultures would probably have much less interest and much higher turnover rates if they weren't considered different and ridiculed for it. That's part of the appeal. The pressure applied from the outside makes the members of the "we-dress-this-way" club feel closer to each other.
- verylittlemeat 9y agoTo some extent though can you blame people for this form of cultural trolling? Some people will get violent with anger over what someone is wearing. Having the power to expose such a ridiculous reaction is probably very satisfying.
- tcdent 9y agoConversely, as someone who has spent a majority of their life as a non-conformist, the exercise of feeling comfortable in your own skin can be quite empowering. Not that it's an inflation of ego, but knowing you can convince others of your intelligence regardless of your physical appearance is a healthy challenge.
- verylittlemeat 9y agoTo be honest though I think this is where a lot of the resentment of non-conformists comes from. A conformist feels on a gut level that you're doing something "for attention" and resents you for that. Of course even if that were true such resentment is ridiculous. But to me I think there is always an element of "cultural challenge" in non-conformity (even if say 99% of a man wearing a dress is deeply personal choice).
- Retra 9y agoOn the flip side of that, the human brain seems to be willing to jump through serious hoops to both be shamed and leverage shame against others who fail to conform. We've got such a strong biological urge to fit in precisely because those who don't perish.
- jacobolus 9y agoCome to San Francisco. On a semi-regular basis I see people unironically dressed as cowboys, Merlin-style wizards, lumberjacks, semi-mythical shamans with skull-topped staffs, wearing nothing but a speedo and work boots, barefoot flower-power hippies, in kilts, with vest and shoes covered in gold sequins/glitter, in Victorian coats and top hats and monocles, men in dresses and heels, women in tuxedos, old men dressed like teenage goths with purple nails, etc. etc. Pretty much anything goes.
- Blackthorn 9y agoI haven't been to San Francisco in a very long time. And that's one of the most beautiful things I've read in a long time. I struggle every day with the mask I put on for others+. Embarrassment or shame over my own hobbies or interests, even when there's nothing to be embarrassed or shamed by. To witness those people living their lives on their terms like that...it makes me tear up just thinking about it. No, seriously. I'm close to crying right now. How great it would be to be in such an environment where people felt completely free to be themselves. Maybe I could take it in by osmosis. + And I have it easy -- I'm straight, white, cis.
- wolco 9y agoWhere are you living now?
- Blackthorn 9y agoHudson Valley, New York. The northeastern USA is wonderful in its own way, and I found it more livable than the Bay, but the wonderful weirdness of San Francisco can't help but make me feel wistful.
- camillomiller 9y agoCome to Berlin! ;) These people are doing the opposite of what you say, though, they dress and behave in a way that makes them even more omologated than Joe and Jane. The way they look and present themselves takes over their life. Dressing in a way that society easily accepts might sound like omologation, but in the end it frees up your time and let you focus your attention on more important things. You might look like the plainest midwestern dad, but maybe in your spare time you learn sanscrit and make mandalas in your basement. Maybe you’ve traveled to the remotest Amazon region and met the last member of some indigenous tribe. If you dress like these people, well, there’s a good chance that your entire life revolves around the costume you’re so painstakingly crafting.
- emodendroket 9y ago"Omologation" must be a German word, because the closest one I can turn up, "homologation," is apparently car jargon. Perhaps you mean "homogenization."
- camillomiller 9y agoYep, sorry, it's actually my Italian kicking in here. The false friend is "homologation", which in Italian means what you found, but can also describe a cultural process that brings to homogenization, indeed. Thanks for the correction.
- tlrobinson 9y agoWhy is learning Sanskrit and making mandalas somehow “more important” than spending time crafting a specific fashion?
- camillomiller 9y agoJust random examples
- tlrobinson 9y agoMy point is, who are you to judge other peoples' hobbies/lifestyle?