Interesting article on “Why fashion is out of fashion” in OpinionJournal:
“…maybe the best answer to ‘Why casual, why now?’ has less to do with democracy and celebrity than with calories and French fries. Casual clothing has helped bridge the growing difference in body size between slender fashionistas and the ever-fleshier hoi polloi. In 1985, the top-selling women’s size was eight, but by 2002 it was a voluminous 14. Today nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, yet the less we exercise, the more sneakers and sweats we seem to buy. This vogue for athletic wear among couch potatoes may at least be a sign of increasing gender equality, even if men’s and women’s outfits seem to be converging into a single androgynous uniform of carelessness.”
This argument may make sense for women, but overweight men definitely are doing themselves a disservice by going casual. Suits do miracles for aging or overweight bodies.
2:36 pm on September 22, 2003
