Spring Break
Fashion Perspectives
Don't listen to ghost of fashion past
Lauren Dillard
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Diversions
On Jan. 1, 1990, people all over the developed world tore off the fashions that had become so well established in the previous decade like a uniform for a place that no longer existed.
From then on, no sweatshirts were defaced on purpose. Leg warmers were never sold in stores again - have you seen any lately? At their peak, Wayfarer-style sunglasses dropped out of sight.
Fashion is divided sharply by decades; those who do not miss the memo of the times exchange their entire wardrobes when one begins anew with the next trends, which all commence at the same time, on the same day. Why does not matter; all that matters is that not making the switch is unacceptable.
It is now 2009. Less than a year remains before another big discard of all that we love, and we are going to have a lot of catching up to do. As evidenced by the backwards-looking choices of today's students, many of you have missed not one, but two memos.
Those sunglasses. The grave has been robbed.
It is difficult to view someone wearing this outdated accessory differently than one would someone coming to class 10 minutes late.
In 1988, your mother (whom you undoubtedly got them from) may have impressed by using the fashions of the time to her advantage, but art ages poorly. The past is not to inspire, but to be expunged.
Not only are today's Wayfarer sunglasses outdated, the varieties popping up around campus are shamelessly outdated, coming in more than one color, often neons. The wearers look as though they failed to notice that their pairs were the result of a very bright accident at the factory, and that is not "cool." Neither is said factory for making any.
The root of the problem may be that the resurgence of Wayfarer sunglasses was the next step from the oversized sunglasses - with origins in the 1960s - that still hide the faces of celebrity emulators who think they can pull them off like models.
Now, I take no issue with the intellectually-stunted hiding their faces, but I prefer the paper bag. "Coming in 2011 - a new way to recycle. Green face-wear." Being the one at the keyboard, the burden of the choice is mine, and I say that cynicism is the new hot pink.
In pre-emptive response to the argument that the best part of a look is how it comes out on all kinds of people and that there are as many good trends as there are imaginations to interpret them, you are missing the point of fashion, the point from where this began. Time. Time above everything, and time does not care who you are.
If you are old enough to read this, you are old enough to have appreciated the Great Lycra Burning of 2000, the energy of which still powers industrial sewing machines today. You are familiar with the base-ten clock by which we dress - the rigid rule of moving on.
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
From then on, no sweatshirts were defaced on purpose. Leg warmers were never sold in stores again - have you seen any lately? At their peak, Wayfarer-style sunglasses dropped out of sight.
Fashion is divided sharply by decades; those who do not miss the memo of the times exchange their entire wardrobes when one begins anew with the next trends, which all commence at the same time, on the same day. Why does not matter; all that matters is that not making the switch is unacceptable.
It is now 2009. Less than a year remains before another big discard of all that we love, and we are going to have a lot of catching up to do. As evidenced by the backwards-looking choices of today's students, many of you have missed not one, but two memos.
Those sunglasses. The grave has been robbed.
It is difficult to view someone wearing this outdated accessory differently than one would someone coming to class 10 minutes late.
In 1988, your mother (whom you undoubtedly got them from) may have impressed by using the fashions of the time to her advantage, but art ages poorly. The past is not to inspire, but to be expunged.
Not only are today's Wayfarer sunglasses outdated, the varieties popping up around campus are shamelessly outdated, coming in more than one color, often neons. The wearers look as though they failed to notice that their pairs were the result of a very bright accident at the factory, and that is not "cool." Neither is said factory for making any.
The root of the problem may be that the resurgence of Wayfarer sunglasses was the next step from the oversized sunglasses - with origins in the 1960s - that still hide the faces of celebrity emulators who think they can pull them off like models.
Now, I take no issue with the intellectually-stunted hiding their faces, but I prefer the paper bag. "Coming in 2011 - a new way to recycle. Green face-wear." Being the one at the keyboard, the burden of the choice is mine, and I say that cynicism is the new hot pink.
In pre-emptive response to the argument that the best part of a look is how it comes out on all kinds of people and that there are as many good trends as there are imaginations to interpret them, you are missing the point of fashion, the point from where this began. Time. Time above everything, and time does not care who you are.
If you are old enough to read this, you are old enough to have appreciated the Great Lycra Burning of 2000, the energy of which still powers industrial sewing machines today. You are familiar with the base-ten clock by which we dress - the rigid rule of moving on.
Erin Beauchemin
diversions@dailybarometer.com
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