Great piece criticizing a Newsweek article on "fashion trends"

[ellen_datlow]

Jezebel rails against a Newsweek trend piece by Sameer Reddy that blames "casual wear" vs elegance and sartorial fashion for helping to create the credit crunch -- I kid you not:

"Comfort has its place, of course, but if that becomes the guiding value in getting dressed—or anything else—then we've got a problem. This misplaced priority has arguably contributed to our current troubles with credit, education and productivity."

Here's the response from Jezebel

What do you all think about this?

Comments

[joeicarus.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

"What do you all think about this?"

Yeah . . . I . . .

That guy's viewpoint is just alien to me. But then, I don't understand people who are terribly passionate about fashion. Like it boggles my mind that we have cable shows devoted to this.

I don't like fanny packs because I think they look dorky. But that sentence right there is about as fired up as I get about fashion. It wouldn't occur to me to blame the financial crisis on people in denim shorts, T-shirts, and fanny packs. (Red Sox fans yes, though.)

Actually, that suggestion was so jaw-droppingly bizarre that it almost acts as a weird kind of camouflage/misdirection. We're so busy scratching our heads that it's hard to notice the more basic ignorance behind the statement: stereotypes aside, the economic crisis simply wasn't caused by irresponsible (read "black" or "poor") consumers at all, as much as Rush Limbaugh would like us to believe it was. The mortgage default rate is actually pretty small, and doesn't begin to account for the hemorrhaging. As Cat noted, the blame for this one belongs not to the slobs on the bottom, but to the well-dressed folks on the top.

What kind of fashion statement does Mr. Reddy think golden parachutes make?

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

I don't know Mr Reddy's work, so I'll have to take it on advisement that that piece wasn't intended as satire. The NY Times piece at least made a valid point about differing attitudes to men's and women's appearance, but I don't think that forcing men to wear less comfortable clothing is the best possible solution.

I accept that it would help subsidize the fashion industry if everyone spent the same proportion of their wealth on clothing, but unless you were to impose very heavy luxury taxes, I don't see that as an answer to our economic woes.