Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2011-12-25 13:18:36)
Last edited by g- (2011-12-25 18:25:02)
Last edited by g- (2011-12-25 22:24:54)
I still think it comes down to balance, you can wear a wild and wonderful outfit, or a very classic conservative looking one. The key is of course, is it balanced? If it is, you can always say it is not your taste, but you'll always have to admit it is a very well put together ensemble (for what of a better word). Only a fool would excuse his eyes to his ears whilst observing something. Forget the back story, the context. If it looks good, it looks good. No matter what the style.
"By this I mean, show me what the kids are wearing who are protesting Putin and I will show you someonoe who's style is worthy of inspiration because that is a deadly game."
BINGO!!!
The attempt to be "transgressive", or "flouting the norm", or "being individualistic" is significant in proportion to the consequences of such behavior. The less serious the stakes, the more the posture is bombastic and inconsequential.
This Woof guy is just TTB (Too Tryin' ta Be- according to my daughter). His only success is as an epic fail unless, of course, you are a fervent Roland Barthes acolyte and you prize postmodern deconstruction semiotics as the hippest sociocultural space to be in. But that is such a tired 70's faculty lounge trope.
Woof's jape is not only a failure, it is yesterday's failure. And that is humorous not in a clever way, but in a pretentiously pathetic way that makes me laugh at the man when I should be charitably concerned for him.
This is a great thread. My experience has been that clothing is tribal, and that you can manipulate your adherence/non-adherence to whichever tribal norms insofar as you wish to identify with the tribe or distance yourself from it.
I have also found that this process has (at least for me) its limits -- I am not such a chameleon that I can successfully don the clothing of just any tribe. I suppose that is just as well. It has also been my experience that there are lots of competing tribes (more especially in densely urban areas than elsewhere), so your clothes are always simultaneously winning the approval and disapprobation of onlookers to varying degrees.
Last edited by g- (2011-12-26 20:41:21)