Why is the Bum Look Popular? (formally the unemployed look)

[donCarlos]

...

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
But how to change it? Is it even possible?
I´ve decided to start acting like an adult when I left the high school. I thought it´s perfectly fine, but I feel like a dryasdust in company of other young people, who are "youth obsessed". Do I want too much from the world, when I expect a bit of serious behaviour from people who are old enough to have their own families? We are 20 years old! A few thousand years ago we could´ve had like five wives, 10 children, a mammooth for dinner, four or five more years of life... Very similar life values were perfectly allright for thousands years, when did it go so wrong?

This thread seems to reveal more problems than I thought at first.

 

[Marzipan]

I think a lot of it too is just the infantilization of modern culture. Five year old boys hate to get dressed up, hate to take baths, hate to comb their hair, hate to do what they're told, and love to roll around in the dirt. Nowadays it's thirty-five year olds who act that way.

I do think this is very true. It extends to lots of pop culture, there being no distinction between what teens and adults listen to anymore. And the rise in popularity of video games as well as loads of adults adoring "Harry Potter" rather than say, the latest Vonnegut.

OK, running to hide now...

 

[Foofoogal]

Because this society is focused on, youth worship.

pretty much what LizzieMaine stated in the beginning. People learn by example. People also teach what they know. When noone wants to be the teacher and noone wants to be the pupil...Well?

I was watching a 1930s movie the other day and an older man stated basically that the youth of the day was going to hell in a handbasket. lol

 

[celtic]

What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?
-Can't you tell that your tie's too wide?

Maybe I should buy some old tab collars?
-Welcome back to the age of jive.

Where have you been hidin' out lately, honey?
You can't dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

What's the matter with the car I'm driving?
-Can't you tell that it's out of style?

Should I get a set of white wall tires?
-Are you gonna cruise the miracle mile?

Nowadays you can't be too sentimental
Your best bet's a true baby blue Continental.
Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk
It's still rock and roll to me.

Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers
'Cause it's always been the same old scene.
There's a new band in town
But you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine...
Aimed at your average teen

How about a pair of pink sidewinders
And a bright orange pair of pants?
You could really be a Beau Brummell baby
If you just give it half a chance.

Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers.
Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock and roll to me

What's the matter with the crowd I'm seeing?
-Don't you know that they're out of touch?

Should I try to be a straight 'A' student?
-If you are then you think too much.

Don't you know about the new fashion honey?
All you need are looks and a whole lotta money.

It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock & roll to me.

Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

 

[get_atomized]

Which look do you prefer?

Whichever is done best, of course! I think an awesome clean-cut look is easier to achieve than an awesome chaotic look.

 

[i_am_the_scruff]

I do think this is very true. It extends to lots of pop culture, there being no distinction between what teens and adults listen to anymore. And the rise in popularity of video games as well as loads of adults adoring "Harry Potter" rather than say, the latest Vonnegut.

OK, running to hide now...

Nothing wrong with that. JK Rowling is an amazing writer!

 

[Barbigirl]

Gotta agree

Nothing wrong with that. JK Rowling is an amazing writer!

I love the Harry Potter series, but I also love Dostoyevsky, Victor Hugo and Dr. Seuss so not a great generality parallel to video games.

 

[Edward]

Interesting thread.... turned into a rather more serious discussion than I had expected, though it has remained (as ever in my experience of this place) infinitely more civil than it would have been elsewhere on the web. Much as I would like to consider myself open-minded about the way people dress, I do find it somewhat bizarre that anyone would go to the extremes that some people do to dress in a very relaxed, often worn-out and shabby way. Of course clothing tastes are highly subjective and pretension is a charge that can be levvied at many persons who favour very divergent looks, it does seem to me rather a ridiculous exercise to spend hours getting your outfit and appearance just so in order to look like you climbed out of bed in the same clothes and headed out without chaging anything.

I fully understand LizzieMaine's point about attitude. Someone who simply doesn't care about how they look is one thing, but someone else who dresses equally scruffily but in a very studied way, having gone to great effort with it, can often project an attitude of "Look at me, I'm so much cooler than you squares who feel the need to dress up." It would be the attitude of the latter I would find most irritating rather than the appearance of the former.

I also firmly believe that it is a mark of maturity to know when to dress "appropriately" for the occasion and when to express onesself. Individual and creative dressers are wonderful, and whether or not I care for their style, I often very much enjoy seeing people who clearly find their outward appearance to be a channel for self expression. However, there are often times when one must simply accept that "this is not about me," to know when to blend in a little. I well remember one guy who used to be on the same academic conference circuit. At academic conferences, the dress styles are very mixed (a great joy of academia for me is that eccentrism is tolerated, arguably even encouraged and so I can feel free to dress vintage or whatever without it having to be A Statement). Nevertheless, even those who live in nothing but jeans were irritated by this guy in his ratty denim and flipflops as it was very obviously a pretension, done for effect. (This poor attitude was also reflected in the low quality of papers he presented...). Again, i believe this to be a maturity issue: those who are confident and sufficiently mature to work their own style without (within reason) being affected by others as opposed to those whose entire thinking about their clothing is about provoking a reaction from others. I honestly do believe that two people in an identical outfit can create hugely different first impressions based purely on how they carry themselves, demeanour, etc.

I do believe that a lot of the perception of the broken-down look as stylish comes from the media. See, for instance, Marks and Spencer's advertising campaign which used reformed boyband Take That:

Tidy facial hair is one thing. Hell, even some weekends myself I forget to shave. But I'd never dream of turning up for a photo shoot without having bothered to look presentable, yet this is just the sort of look that they adopted. This is by far the best-dressed photo of all of their M&S advertising.... in many of the shots they look like kids dressed up in dad's suit for a family wedding, never having worn such a garment before. Clearly, while it put me right off Marksies for quite some time, there is a demographic this sells to.... I suspect women in their mid thirties who want to buy clothes for their menfriends are the target market here. Successful such campaigns, and appearances on men represented as "sexy" by the media, it seems to me, perpetuate the popularity of such looks, thus we see more of it in everyday life.... and in further advertising. A cultivated, dishevilled look.



(Edited to include a smaller photograph!)

 

[Cody Pendant]

Perhaps we have it all wrong!

I found this interesting;
quote Wikipedia :

"In the mid 1980s, hit television series Miami Vice popularized a stubbly beard (known as "designer stubble"), which had been a German fashion at the beginning of the 16th century, when many young men sat for their portraits sporting a week's stubble growth. At one time, a modified electric razor was sold as the Miami Device, which would trim stubble to simulate one, two, or several days' growth."

I remember the Miami Vice look, but had no idea about the German fashion influence. Perhaps we have it all wrong, given the time frame, it is truly "vintage"!

We should now all sport "designer stubble" and tell everyone how old fashioned it is and then it will immediately fall “out of fashion” !

P.S. Oh yea! Don’t forget to pop the collar and push your sleeves up on your jacket!

 

[Dinerman]

damn kids.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Just goes to show...that in -fashion-....there is nothing new under the sun....-ever-

 

[ortega76]

Above all, I must applaud everyone's restraint in this spirited discussion. Marvelous. :eusa_clap

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Indiana Jones was a bum, huh. Who would ever have known? shakeshead

What a scuffy bugger. Have a shave, hippy!

It's popular because it makes fantastically good looking men like Ewan McGregor - or H. Ford in his yoof - look more masculine, manly, and rugged, and adventurous. Since we (vosotros) wish to emulate how these guys look, it becomes popular. Look at the backdrop for Mcgregor, He's in the Andes (? i think), for God's sake. He's being made to look rugged and adventurous. I understand that this was only an example of the look, but a more poorly chosen one (because of the obvious reason for him to look like this), i don't think could have been found.

Shaving every day is for mugs.

bk

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile, filths savor but themselves.

 

[Lear]

Unshaven

Women apply make-up to the face, to give them cheekbones and definition. Well, perhaps men subconsciously sport the stubble look for similar reasons. Ever noticed how when an unshaven chubby-chops gets a shave, the face takes on a more rounded look? The stubble seems to give shadow and definition to the jawline and cheekbones.

The proper solution is to back away from the hamburgers and hit the gym lol

But one thing has always fascinated me. You can have two people sporting the same stubble look. One looks trendy and cool, while the other looks like he's slept on the street. Never been able to figure that one out.

 

[MK]

My EYES!!!!

That avatar is way too freaky for this early in the morning, Lear....and it is to early for me to have a proper drink to help me with the trauma.

....and I can't remember one word that you wrote.


Where's that "hooch in your coffee" thread when you need it?

 

[MK]

.

Indiana Jones was a bum, huh. Who would ever have known? shakeshead

What a scuffy bugger. Have a shave, hippy!

It's popular because it makes fantastically good looking men like Ewan McGregor - or H. Ford in his yoof - look more masculine, manly, and rugged, and adventurous. Since we (vosotros) wish to emulate how these guys look, it becomes popular. Look at the backdrop for Mcgregor, He's in the Andes (? i think), for God's sake. He's being made to look rugged and adventurous. I understand that this was only an example of the look, but a more poorly chosen one (because of the obvious reason for him to look like this), i don't think could have been found.

Shaving every day is for mugs.

bk

Normally I agree with much that you post but I have to say this not one of your better examples.

Professor Jones WAS scruffy when on adventures but that is not how he dressed for everyday life. This is how Doctor Jones dressed for work:

 

[Lear]

That avatar is way too freaky for this early in the morning, Lear....and it is to early for me to have a proper drink to help me with the trauma.

....and I can't remember one word that you wrote.


Where's that "hooch in your coffee" thread when you need it?

Sorry about that MK. It's a true representation of my hideous feebleness.

Hope I'm not on the way to a ban (or telling off) :coffee:

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This is how Doctor Jones dressed for work:

To me, he looks much better in his scuffy adventure gear and stubble. If someone looks better with stubble (or even if he just thinks he does) why should we be telling him to do otherwise?

The old ways of expected appearance, and attitudes towards appearance are on the way to the wastebasket, thank God. Otherwise i'd never get a job in my "freakish" "attention seeking" "flamboyant" (all ways in which my hats have been described) fedoras. Many people kid themselves that they're bastions of an older, more mannered, ordered time. They're just out of touch with changing attitudes towards appearance.

bk

 

[Sefton]

To me, he looks much better in his scuffy adventure gear and stubble. If someone looks better with stubble (or even if he just thinks he does) why should we be telling him to do otherwise?

The old ways of expected appearance, and attitudes towards appearance are on the way to the wastebasket, thank God. Otherwise i'd never get a job in my "freakish" "attention seeking" "flamboyant" (all ways in which my hats have been described) fedoras. Many people kid themselves that they're bastions of an older, more mannered, ordered time. They're just out of touch with changing attitudes towards appearance.

bk

Well said, as usual. I've always enjoyed your freakish hats also.