It struck me whilst reading DBC Pierre's book 'Vernon God Little' (review to follow) how our consumer tastes have changed over the last couple of decades. No doubt inspired by grunge in the early and mid-1990s, friends of your correspondent would buy new trainers (or sneakers it you prefer) and 'scuff' them up so as to appear more worn in.
Now in the early 21st century, this would seem to be complete madness. ‘New’ is in, and any sign of distressed wear, whether on trainers or any other clothing is frowned upon. People would rather buy ‘new’ on a regular basis than appear to treasure anything old.
No doubt fashion will change before the words of this article have even been typed on to the screen. With the recession raging will we always be able to afford to regularly buy new clothes. Don’t look to me for fashion advice. If the picture insert does not convince then it only fair to inform readers I once kept a pair of jeans 18 years!
"‘New’ is in, and any sign of distressed wear, whether on trainers or any other clothing is frowned upon."
ReplyDeleteReally? There is a helluva lot of vintage look new clothes around these days - for example pre-faded Atari tshirts and it's almost impossible to find jeans without "wear marks" down the front, but I've seen cracked-paint (for want of a better description) white trainers too.
"People would rather buy ‘new’ on a regular basis than appear to treasure anything old."
Yes, I'd agree with that - but it's *almost* not our fault. We've forgotten what it was like to have good quality items of clothing that were worth treasuring. The stuff we buy won't last long enough for us to build up an emotional attachment. It's so hard to find good quality items, price is no way an indicator.
From where I stand in the greeny/crafty movements, it feels like there is a big swing back towards handmade at the moment but that feels just like another fashion thing too. "Green fatigue" can't be too far off. Sigh.
I guess what I mean is that people tend to want to buy a big new telly, before the old one has broken.
ReplyDeleteTherefore they will have lots of different trainers.
You are right that people will buy new stuff that is 'distressed'. Unfortunately, I’m not sure those Atari t-shirts were produced when Atari’s were first out, which is a shame.