General Discussion How Fashion Happens

William D'Andrea

William D'Andrea

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Mar 6, 2017
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I'm always careful not to say anything about how a woman dresses. That's to avoid getting scolded.
I remember once, on the Sunday before Christmas, at the beginning of the Worship Service. The Pastor was standing at the pulpit.
He spoke in a joking tone. "I see so many of the ladies here just happen to be wearing red."
I saw the expressions on many of the ladies faces. They were very offended.
Oh. I thought, the Pastor's gonna really get yelled at.
That's a problem shared by pastors and politicians, and everyone else who always has a lot to say. They have a lot more apologizing to do than most people.
 
Whendancer64

Whendancer64

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Oct 11, 2022
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THIS was really funny! But, we have to admit that we were a whole lot more comfortable in some of these items than what some women are wearing these days! In their quest to look "sexy" and "hot" they're looking "nasty" and "not."
The fashions in the movies "Hair" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" looked like my closet, back then. Ahhhhh, nostalgia.....🌻🌻🌻🌻
 
Wes B

Wes B

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Jul 28, 2019
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"Fashion is a form of Madness." And not only for women. More on that, below...

My wife and I walk a few miles each day at the local mall. We'll invariably see something in a store window or someone's appearance that will get an exclamation of surprise from her. I'll usually answer, "Well, you know..." and then we'll both say together, "Fashion is a form of madness." It's sort of a life observation/life maxim of mine that originally popped-up when we and a bunch of friends were ribbing each other about how ridiculous we all looked in some old photos.

It's often easy to watch an older movie and date it according to fashion and hairstyles. Movies from around the '70's show fashion extremes, even on men. Okay, fashion extremes is a nice way to put it. They were thoroughly hideous, and any of us who lived back then and dressed that way have earned the ridicule.

The interesting thing is, no one wearing the stuff back then had the faintest clue as to how ridiculous they looked. It's as if everyone was acting out the story of The Emperor's New Clothes, and truly believed the stuff looked fresh, original, and exciting. (In a crooked, Bizarro-world way, maybe it was...) Everyone's temporary perception did not make it any less absurd; only everyone seemed to agree together that it was something it wasn't. (After decades, we can look back, and see a bit more clearly.) It seems that large groups of people can truly agree to see things that aren't there, and a look at the world around us suggests that this "madness' can go far beyond fashion.

But in a world where an "artist" may fling leftovers from their 'fridge at a canvas, and truly believe it's art, I wonder whether the fashion designers aren't also truly enamored by their own "brilliance" at what they've "created." And this might be some madness of my own, but I think that a lot of the bizarre fashion of the past at least had a lot of thought put into it, for all its ugliness. (I mean, think of the multitude of clown-costumes alone, that they had to plagiarize...) Modern fashion abomination tends toward the dull, featureless stuff expected from the everyone-gets-a-trophy, everyone-is-magnificent world of people who were never pushed to put in any effort.

But a look at all this sends a slight chill. I just wonder, what unbelievably stupid-looking stuff am I doing right now?
 
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lynnmosher

lynnmosher

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Wes B said:
The interesting thing is, no one wearing the stuff back then had the faintest clue as to how ridiculous they looked
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However, at that time, it wasn't ridiculous looking. And what was in style is what was sold and what was worn. We didn't have a choice. I think fashions changed more in the past than they do now. And we have more choices now.
 
Wes B

Wes B

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lynnmosher said:
However, at that time, it wasn't ridiculous looking.
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Well, yes and no. My point was, it was always in fact ridiculous-looking. In the feelings of the time, it was just wunnerful... (fact and feelings can easily collide, in any era.) Just as in The Emperor's new Clothes, people convinced themselves of what they wanted to see. The moral of that fairy tale was to point out just how pliable people's opinions can be, and to warn us to try to think more with our brains than our feelings. it's never easy to do, and something always worth examining ourselves for.

lynnmosher said:
And what was in style is what was sold and what was worn.
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This probably also has a yes and no. I don't know where you lived or what your influences were, so you may actually have had no other options. Many, many, many of us had lots of other options, though. There were "trendy" stores, and more conventional ones. The options were certainly there, and we could see them in the variety of ways people dressed. Some people never bought into it, and were considered stuffy, and "not with it." It turns out, they were merely wise beyond their years, and they're the ones who can't be ridiculed for old photos...

lynnmosher said:
We didn't have a choice.
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Perhaps you did not. Or perhaps you just didn't frequent the places that gave you a choice, 'cuz they were "dull." No judgment here; just observation that many chose to ignore the choices that were "hidden" in plain sight. I can easily say that I did.

lynnmosher said:
I think fashions changed more in the past than they do now. And we have more choices now.
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That may very well be true. I pay little attention to the "variety" of modern fashion, other than for entertainment and amusement. Again, no judgment; I'm sure that the "old folks" back when I was younger were equally amused. (At least those with a pleasant sense of humor. We gave them ample stuff to work with...)
 
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William D'Andrea

William D'Andrea

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Mar 6, 2017
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Here's something I've noticed. Many women who work in the local Stop & Shop supermarket, and the nearby bagel shop, have a lot of tattoos, on their arms, legs, necks, etc. Has that now become a general fashion? If it has, they won't be as easy to remove as garments, when they go out of style.
 
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Wes B

Wes B

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William D'Andrea said:
Here's something I've noticed. Many women who work in the local Stop & Shop supermarket, and the nearby bagel shop, have a lot of tattoos, on their arms, legs, necks, etc. Has that now become a general fashion? If it has, they won't be as easy to remove as garments, when they go out of style.
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As best I can understand it, fashion trends tend to follow a pattern, and have, since way before my time...
  1. People in their teens & early 20's will experiment with new things. Could be jargon, fashion, lifestyle, etc. Doesn't matter what it is; it distinguishes them from the older folks. Sociologists call it establishing their Generational Identity.
  2. Some people a bit older, say, late 20's & 30's, start copying them, in efforts to appear trendy.
  3. People even older, who who used to follow the younger trends, start seeing the uselessness of it, and start giving up.
  4. The next group of kids who age-in to their teens, see what's already been done, & start forming new trends of their own. The cycle repeats.
Way back when, the extra tough folks introduced having the tiniest tattoos; say, a little heart or rose on the wrist. As the older folks copied this, they progressed to larger tattoos. As the older folks copied, they started inking huge sections of skin. (And copy, copy, copy...)

Eventually, a generation is gonna age-in that sees the huge amounts of ink, and distinguish themselves by displaying totally clear skin, devoid of any imagery. The people who want to copy the younger trends will be completely stuck.

My prediction... a huuuuuge growth stock in the near future will involve technology that provides clean (and safe!!!!!) tattoo removal. People who spot this early-on and invests will make a fortune...
 
Q

quietspirit

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May 29, 2018
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My husband and I were in Florida several years ago. We were along the Gulf Coast. We sat on the beach and I "people watched". What I saw were several women with tattoos. One was amazingly large. I always think of seeing her when I hear of/ see people with a lot of tattoos along their arms. I am using discretion and will not say where it was, but I believe it took a lot of time to get it done.
 
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