Style Apogee?

[thunderw21]

A couple questions for us to ponder and discuss.

At this point in time have we (meaning society as a whole) reached the bottom of the style barrel? Or could it get worse? Has the reset button been pushed yet?


Is it possible that we could witness another 'Goldern Era' of style, a style apogee, within our lifetime (depending on your age)? Not necessarily the style of the 1930s and 1940s, but an equally elegant and post-modern style? Or are we too far gone?

 

[Dr Doran]

I think it'll be thin ties if anything. It will also need to be machine-washable.

 

[Lonn]

Optimism is healthier

Every where I go save the mundane Gateway Malls in central California I see Inferior fedoras for sale in drugstores and just barely passable hats in the trendy mall stores and styling boutiques. On art walks I see more and more real Fedoras, pork pies and bowlers on the kids. O.K. They are wearing them with ripped jeans and dirty t-shirts but they are there. And I am seeing vests over dress shirts through restaurant windows and suits and ties on the street under hats with overcoats over the arm.

Am I just more aware? I don't think so. I think they are really there.

I think you have a point with "Not necessarily the style of the 1930s and 1940s, but an equally elegant and post-modern style?" Maybe something more like Kubric's vision in Clockwork Orange or lord help us Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. I have often wondered what a high waisted narrow lapel three piece would look like made from a Swedish soft shell fabric and will anyone ever figure out how to make a good felt out of resins? If 3M sets their minds to it, sure.

So, yes, I think so. I think we may see an upswing and I hope it encompasses more than Sartorial concerns. Another age of Enlightenment would suit me just fine right about now.

 

[thunderw21]

Good points, Lonn.

Playing a bit of Devil's advocate, should this post-modern style apogee ever happen, would we on the Lounge be able to recognize it (seeing how our sense of style is so different from style today or in the future, or is it)?

 

[Lonn]

Broader view

I am compelled to consider Victorian, Elizabethan and even Medieval style. I enjoy what the Steam Punk folks are up to, I consider myself a true punk at heart and I was raised a Hippy. I see traces of all these amongst fellow loungers as well and it does not take long to find our compatriots other hangouts. Club Obi Wan, IndyGear and BrassGoggles come to mind among others, so yes, I do think we on the Lounge would recognize it. Hell, we are helping create it.

 

[Diamondback]

My experience: just when you think it's rock-bottom, someone breaks out the first the jackhammers and then the mining-grade commercial explosives.

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Now playing: John Williams - Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor
via FoxyTunes

 

[maggiethespy]

They say fashion runs in seven-year cycles, but sometimes it takes a little longer for things to resurface. Perhaps, if that is the case, a truly classy amalgamation of eras could emerge.

Most likely, with "stars" like Miley Cyrus dictating fashion to the masses, hemlines are just going to get shorter and eye-makeup is going to get thicker...

 

[Diamondback]

Hence my comment, O young Texas rose. Unfortunately, each round's interpretation is successively more "trashed out" than the previous...

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Now playing: John Barry - 009 Gets The Knife And Gobinda Attacks
via FoxyTunes

 

[KeyGrip]

Hell, we are helping create it.

I like to think this is true; that websites such as this are giving college and high school students a different standard by which to measure style, and that they will form a generation of better-dressed people.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Housekeeping...

... This thread is better suited here.

Personally, I think this is the best time there ever was for style. People are much more accepting now of however you want to dress without the immense social pressures to dress one way. There are a myriad of choices for your look and, if you wear it with confidence, you will usually be celebrated for it.

 

[Undertow]

...a truly classy amalgamation of eras could emerge.

I believe the above is quite correct but only in the sense that a single era won't be showing through; and only really manifesting in a small subculture.

With the downturn of the economy, I have a feeling fashion will take a downturn and we will see a freeze on "new" style. I think things will slightly regress, in fact. We'll see people sticking to what they know; jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, ball caps, etc. There may be an upswing of chore boots, overalls, wool coats, and other durable, useable variations of vintage clothing, but only out of necessity.

As far as our sense of style, the vintage Golden Era sense, I can tell you for sure there will never truly be a renaissance of any particular era. Those styles thrived as natural manifestations of their times. One thing literally led to another. Nothing (substantial) just popped out of thin air.

We may see cheapo hats and retro ties, or perhaps even so much as some high-waisted pants, but there won't be a population-wide shift, and never a true sense of style.

We're relics and that's a good thing. The vintage Golden Era is a relic, and that's a good thing, too.

 

[reetpleat]

In Seattle, in the last few years, I have noticed a bit of a renaissance of style amongst youngish men, kind of a metrosexual style if you will. OVercoats, suits, dress shirts etc. While they often will go in for cheaply made, poorly stitched items because that is all you can get even if you spend a lot of money, and they don't know any better, and they also do not always know a proper fit, but the effort is there.

even the kids who are wearing this kind of proto punk late seventies/emo look are at least putting a bit of effort and dandyism into it. They are actually replicating an era that was quite dandyish, kind of late seventies urban rebel style. I actually do see a bit of a trend away from the older grunge skate punk look.

But it may be too late because people often don't have the eye to really distinguish good clothing fit and style. But who knows.

 

[Naama]

Aren't we already in a Post-Modern Fashion Era? Since we are already in a Post-Modern Era..... And Fashion today is Post-Modern (as is everything nowadays).



Naama

 

[Dr Doran]

Aren't we already in a Post-Modern Fashion Era? Since we are already in a Post-Modern Era..... And Fashion today is Post-Modern (as is everything nowadays).



Naama

That is exactly what Hemingway Jones was more or less saying. An eclectic style in which things are mismatched on purpose, or sometimes almost on purpose, taking various elements from different periods is EXACTLY the hallmark of postmodernism (in architecture, at least).

It can work. Or not, depending on what the viewer thinks.

The only people theorizing about this stuff seriously is us on the Lounge, as far as I can tell. There is Anne Hollander's book SEX AND SUITS which lends heavy theorizing to The Suit (and I recommend this book) but she doesn't say much about the eclectic style.

The very last chapter of From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun theorizes a bit about the current wave of style, but his view is extremely pessimistic. It's very interesting, though, and he is a marvelous writer (Columbia professor in his 90s) who knows everything about everything, including Wagner and 20th century political and artistic history, so he contextualizes the backwards baseball cap meme and other atrocities both artistically and historically.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Not likely to get any more stylish amongst the masses. See the film 'Idiocracy' to get a good look at our future. Clothing will become just an advertising medium with slogans and logos.

-dixon cannon

 

[Undertow]

Clothing will become just an advertising medium with slogans and logos.-dixon cannon

I don't disagree with your idea at all. However, I do believe the economy may stunt this a little, or at least slow its progress. But who knows; I believe if clothiers (if you can call them that) decided to make their wares cheaper, and also include huge logos, the economy won't affect it at all.

I guess I'm coming from the point of view where brands like CK and Tommy are usually more expensive to purchase. Consumers aren't as likely, in this economy, to purchase something so frivolous.

 

[Dr Doran]

See the film 'Idiocracy' to get a good look at our future.

And our present.

(See Idiocracy thread for more on this subject....)