At 04:57 PM 10/15/2002 -0400, Michael P wrote: > And >the clothing fashion cycle, the ultimate model of all modern fashion >cycles, is almost as old as mass production itself; it becomes annualized >and society-wide in the early 19th century.
Well fashion changes go back to year zero, I'm sure. But, sure, the involvement of the less than rich in the game is parallel with mass production. What I find most interesting is that fashion has not actually changed for twenty years (except for the very rich and the young.) For the young grunge gave way to hip-hop; for the rich, who cares? For the rest of us it's been pretty steady on. They tried reintroducing the mini-skirt, with very little success. They did a little better with calling back bell-bottoms, but still only the young wear them. So what happened? My suspicion is that the culture is truly spent, and the fact that it's spent/depleted on the symbolic plane underlines this all the more. It remains to be seen whether a war with the Middle East will lead to making harem pants fashionable....but, all that aside, there has not been a new fashion idea (other than ethnic) since the sixties, and the sixties stuff was pretty awful. To put it another way, what much have you got in your wardrobe, other than jeans and T shirts? Joanna
