Sorry: the Suit Stays.
Or: Why things remain motionless in an ever-moving industry
There are few industries that inspire as much movement as the fashion industry.
Imagine what would happen, if all the big names of computers (and there would be have to be more than there are) got together twice a year and showed designs that differed, often drastically, from last year.
Nothing would happen.
I think it is obvious that all ultimately-conservative institutions must create spurious movement.
Think about that.
Religion, University, Law, Government.
All create spurious movement, all have remained ideologically and essentially the same for hundreds if not thousands of years.
What is really different in today’s government from that of a thousand years ago?
Make no mistake, Feudalism is still largely in place.
Money assures it.
Slavery still exists.
Why do you think there has been so much focus in the news on who is making the most money. They know. You follow the money for more than the criminal.
When 6.7% of the population still makes one third of the income, feudalism is still in place, if in everything but name.
Unless money has nothing to do with governmental process…. Yea right.
When 6.7% of the population makes one third of the income, money has something to do with the governmental process.
Kings need not be in place, ideas still reign which keep a government largely in power – Presidents have become (or always were) spurious movement.
The church, the university, law, all are just as bad.
I need not point out spurious movement in the university.
The church has its little theological debates – but only among the more informed.
And the decisions are made by a few of those informed.
When 6.7% (if that) of the church makes one third (if not more) of the decisions, guess what.
Same with the university, and don’t get me started on legal process.
This is that strange realm where fashion and philosophy intersect.
In case you hadn’t noticed.
Now, this movement is not, in my opinion, a bad thing when it comes to fashion.
Here’s why:
Religion messes with people’s lives, and there may be better alternatives (like true religion, where everyone actually thinks about and better yet struggles (and is willing to admit they struggle) with what they believe about morality and the afterlife.)
In government, we mess with people’s lives, and there are better alternatives.
In law, we mess with people’s lives, and there are better alternatives.
In fashion, I really don’t think there are better alternatives than the suit.
Sorry.
First off, the good suits I own are ten times as comfortable as jeans, tee shirt, and bomber jacket.
Fourty times as attractive
Ten thousand times as versatile.
In all their “spurious” movement, the fashion industries are really experimenting very specifically within a realm of givens.
They are finding, too, the boundaries of these givens.
I, too, have been amazed at what can come about in the midst of such a realm of givens.
Let us not forget that fashion is sometimes given to overstatement, in order to make a point.
Like whom, I wonder?
Anywho, think about all the options they have developed for the suit – button-front shirts, polo shirts, sweaters, and in all sorts of colors. Cotton shirts, silk shirts, stripes and plaids, checks, designs, etc…
Speaking of such things, anyone ever seen a houndstooth t-shirt? How about a glen plaid t-shirt?
That would be awesome. If any designer ever reads this, feel free to lift those ideas, just give a little credit.
Anywho, that’s just the shirt – ties – silk, wool, cashmere, linen. Glen plaid. Houndstooth. Diamonds. Squares. Solids. Stripes (diagonal or horizontal, never vertical). Maccsfield, spatsford, plaid, argyle (careful there), polka-dot, and that’s just the beginnings.
Then there’s the suit itself. A nearly endless number of shades of grey and blue, along with the occasional olive, brown, tan, white, and black.
There are t-shirts in every color, but who cares. A nice, light-grey t-shirt doesn’t look all that cool, unless you’re James Dean.
A nice light-grey suit, that’s another matter.
Glen plaids, houndstooths, checks, windowpane, pinstripe, solids of every texture, pick-and-pick, birds-eye, gabardine, tweeds too, herringbone being a favorite.
Try to find yourself bomber jackets with all those possibilities.
We haven’t even got to the good part yet – shoes.
Bluchers, Oxfords, Cap-toe, plain-toe, square-toe (careful again), wing-tip, and all these in many variations.
All that to say, goodbye bomber jackets.
And can you structure a bomber jacket? Not really, not well.
Okay, I have more to say, but I’ll shut up for now. I can see you’re tired of this ramble. At least, I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment