Japan, would it be safe to say, had the highest number of victims - of prey - who fall into the arms of the fashion monster that dictates what is shinhatsubai ? From the multi-color LV monograms to - what I think is ridiculous - designer sports apparel, it's all like a great big dose of GHB - when it's all done and over with, you've been screwed and you didn't even know it.
Don't ge me wrong, I love fashion. I love the creativity behind it, the historical references, the theatrics, the show, the whole presentation. But at a time when economies are down, suffering and in turmoil, how practical would it be to buy a $300.00 Yamamoto designed Adidas shoe that can't even perform beyond a normal athletic shoe for a third of the price? Or, why waste money for something extremely trendy when you know it's going to be in the "What's Out" column next year, right next to the shinhatsubai. Fashion screws us over, time and again, year after year. We've all been there and done that already - yes, go ahead and pull out those high school pictures and let's see how great your fashion sense was - so why can't people learn that fashion is fleeting, is a moment, a breath in time? That designers just dictate their fancy, their whims, their capriciousness onto the willing fashion victims of the world?
Well, I suppose it's difficult. Unless you have an inherent sense of style and the ability to control your desire for fashion, you wouldn't know what "classics" would be and what would last well into the next decade. You could end up looking school marmish, or uptight librarianish. Much easier to give in to that hot look from Valentino, Versace, Cavali or Dolce and Gabana. But what's so difficult about resisting the urge to be fashionable? Usually, it's these Italian all-out sex-as-fashion with a touch of Roccoco styling that somehow just gets lost on me. Check the ad campaigns. I don't know exactly why, but I look at them and begin to think the whole thing's ridiculous. Yes art, yes creativity, but somewhere along the way I sense an unpracticality, a fantasy at work that somehow just falls flat because it can't seem to push it along to the end. It's like a story where there's a big loophole, or an element that somehow just makes the whole thing fail because it's like a bicycle tire that's been patched but won't hold so the tire still keeps losing air until it's finally flat and dead. Unless of course you look at the whole thing from a marketing point of view and the only people that buy them are the Hilton sisters (can they read?) or rock stars and celebreties (who cares if the plot sucks, I get paid 20M anyway!) that can afford it, then they're right on track. But I, being normal everyday person who can't afford it, simply can' t be sold on an ad that features Aguillera in corsetry looking like a weathered, out-to-dry Cyndi Lauper. I personally don't want to live out that fantasy, thank you very much.
So, take Gap as being on the other end of the spectrum. They still sell the fantasy, but on a livelier note. They sell it to the masses of everyday people that have less spending power. They don't visually bathe in the luxury nor smack too much of greenbacks. But. It's still a mulitmillion dollar ad - just to get me to buy this fall's stretch cords. The $68.00 question is, will cords be in or out next year? Well, for 68 bucks, it can't be such a painful mistake the next time you look back in retrospect. It certainly will be cheaper than a three hundred dollar Adidas trainer mistake. In the end each individual will have to decide if they want to be trendy today and out of a whole lot of spending cash tomorrow, or be an average person with the cords. You could always mix and match your high and low brow - that way you could sit on the "In" and "Out" fence without being either. You can say you have unique style along with the millions of other Japanse youth who are well on their way to creating Japan's Gross National Cool. Anyway you look at it, we're just victims to fashion and we're screwed in the end.
8:12 AM | |
