Four Fashion Trends That Must Be Nuked in 2009by
Karen De Coster I’m still a youngster – right on the borderline between Baby Boomer and Generation Xer. I’m considered to be cool, I still say “hip,” but I’m old-fashioned. I dress less-than-conventional, and in fact I am labeled by my friends as retro. I like short skirts, open necklines, and form-fitting, flared jeans, but I don’t like the skanky or sleazy look. And I dislike anything frumpy or old ladyish. But I reckon I am considered to be fashion intolerant when it comes to the mass acceptance of nauseating apparel conventions concocted by slick individuals who devise ludicrous ways for satisfying peoples’ desire to look absurd. Thus my overall lack of admiration for the fashion intelligence of the masses has lead to this misanthropic musing on four current fashion fetishes that are a source of irritation for me whenever I am in public.
January 16, 2009 Karen De Coster [send her mail] is a Certified Public Accountant, has an MA in Economics, and works in finance and accounting in the securities industry. See her website and her blog. Copyright © 2009 Karen De Coster
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The
first item up for assault is crocs. These are hideous, plastic shoes
that come in colors which rival children’s toys. They are appalling
yet everyone wears them. A friend of mine called them “the
lazy person’s shoes.” Indeed, you don’t have to think
about what to wear and you don’t have to bend down to buckle
or tie anything. Just slip on a pair of the neon-colored, plastic
junk things and they go with everything. What’s worse is that
men wear these things and it makes them look like girly-boy weenies.
While I am out and about – restaurants, stores, wherever –
I see whole families wearing them. In west coast coffee shops they
are the standard shoe code. A few weeks ago I was in a west coast,
upper-middle class java retreat when a family of four walked in
and each one of them was wearing different color crocs. Dad was
sporting neon green. True individualism! Why ban smoking when you
can have just as much authoritarian pleasure banning those unsightly
things? Believe it or not, crocs even come in camouflage for men,
and that ain’t a pretty sight.