I’ve been thinking about the way trends begin and then eventually disappear in our culture a lot lately. Why is it these days, trends seem more likely to actually become permanent cultural changers than passing interlopers?
Let’s look at a time that had some pretty batshit trends—the early 90s. Men were wearing Hammer pants and shaving steps into their heads (two transgressions I was shamelessly guilty of). Neither of those two trends left a lasting cultural imprint. I bet almost everyone—even the people participating, with the exception of Vanilla Ice maybe, knew how fucking stupid it looked and that it wouldn’t last. Just because you were doing something for a few months didn’t mean you were prepared to make a major life decision.
Today, though, something else is happening. Inexplicably, certain things, like skinny jeans, hightop sneakers, and Pabst Blue Ribbon actually become their own mini-cultures. I think it’s because as culture becomes more synthetic, rapid, and under-appreciated, it means less to us and therefore we guard it less vigilantly. If something new comes along we aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what it means.
We should look at a photo like this and all be like whoa! This has GOT to stop.
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well said. The picture of the brookylnite gave me an idea. What about a game where you look at a picture of a hipster (or any other recognizable type: disco-guy, fireman, jihadist, etc.) and pick out what is out of place. For example, if this guy had boot cut jeans, you would certainly flag it. This game already exists for kids but could sell to a-holes who go to the store under my apt. An off-shoot would be having lots of puzzle-piece clothing items and being timed while creating a certain type of person. let’s say you pull “Suburban Jock” and you need to put a polo, etc. (or whatever these kids wear nowadays) on the character. You could also use these to create new styles. Again, this exists for kids – girls creating dresses or something – but would sell to adolescent-type adults.
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