"as close to the platonic ideal of T-shirt as you can get"
So, I'm linking an article that may or may not be worth reading:
And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch was Pushing It?
I saw this article last night and the great irony was, it's about the clothing company American Apparel-- the makers of the navy blue t-shirt I was wearing at the exact moment I was reading it. I also own a blue hooded sweatshirt made by them, which I am now wearing this morning.
Now, even I wonder why I am wearing anything by a company who has even been mentioned in the same context as Abercrombie & Fitch-- the ubiquitous shopping mall chain which I despise (see if you can find a picture of the A&F CEO, if you'd like to see a middle-aged man who is pathologically desperate to look like an undergraduate on spring break.) I discovered American Apparel on the internet, in what I thought would be a failed attempt to find what I assumed had surely gone extinct -- basic, simple, good quality clothing. No weird adornments, no sign of the planned obsolescence inherent to the fashion industry, no frills and poofiness -- something that I think the Gap once sought to aspire to but I think they've fallen from that ideal. And I'm not always willing to pay $65 for a lame skirt, I'm sorry. So American Apparel saved the day, so I didn't have to go around naked, in my refusal to wear crap.
Anyways, I am only vaguely familiar with the company's supposedly provocative ads, which lead to their comparison with Abercrombie. That's what the article is about.
Comments
Well, well----to quote Charney, "This is the way the adult generation is going to live. They're not preoccupied by monogamy. Exciting things can happen. They're mobile; they can travel; they're willing to take chances; they're open-minded and ready for change. That is what the boomers presented for America, and that's what this new generation presents for us."
It's a new generation "hippie"--the kind of "artsy, latter-day-bohemian, indie-culture-affiliated young adults who live and shop in the neighborhoods where American Apparel stores are located."
"Your response to his [Charney's] boundary-pushing determines whether you count as a young person or an old person in today's society. Look historically at how the baby boomers changed the course of culture. Well the same thing is happening now."
"The baby boomers are getting older, so they are less liberal." It's a revival of the Sixties attitude now that we, the boomers, are finding ourselves in our 60's. We thought we'd never be old. And so goes the "loop."
Posted by: Jane | Abril 23, 2006 11:20 PM
That's an interesting comment; I didn't get that far in the article.
I don't think these "latter-day bohmeians" are quite so radical, or numerous--they're definitely a subset of the population, rather than a nation-wide trend. I think collectively my generation is a relatively tame bunch.
Posted by: Karin | Abril 25, 2006 03:00 PM
How many standard deviations from the mean were the people you went to school with at Macalester, do you think?
Posted by: Jane | Abril 26, 2006 09:48 PM