Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The 20-Something Woman's Appearance
"How is it that if you're sharp, you're generally able to estimate a person's class at a glance?" p.51
Fussel's chapter Appearance was one that really got me thinking about the way that I buy clothes and dress myself. Not only that, but how I (consciously? unconsciously?) perceive others based on their clothing and accessories. Men and women have among themselves very different ways of asserting class to other men and women that they encounter in their daily public life. For men, well, I'm not even going to attempt to go there or assume I know how it is for the 20-something male. Seeing as I was born with the lady-parts, I'll attempt to bring to life how I believe other women my age perceive and form ideas as to another womans class by the accesories they carry, and the clothing that they dress themselves in.
Since I would prefer to not play a total creep and interrogate unsuspecting women in Minneapolis with my camera in an attempt to illustrate, I will instead go through a few of the things that I have on me on a day to day basis.
1) Sunglasses--The sunglasses I bought this past summer cost me $89 dollars. After a few summers of breaking 7 or 8 $10 dollar pairs I realized how much money I was spending over the course of time. After spending that much money on the damn things I know now that I will take care of them instead of sitting on them when I get into my car. Other women see them, probably recognize the Coach 'C's and probably wonder whether or not they are real or fake. One thing that I think is absolutely frightening is that a lot of women my age have this uncanny ability to spot whether or not a purse is real Chanel or Coach, or whether or not another woman's sunglasses are real or fake Gucci or Armani. Have we really gotten to a point ladies, that we have this hardwired into our brains?
2) Purse-- I got this purse over a year ago at the Coach outlet. Normally $350 dollars I got it on clearance for $70. I've used it every day since then, and it is starting to show. It folds funny because I usually have enough change in there to pay for a block of parking meters downtown. The straps are starting to frazzle and fray. Something that I have become conscious of as of late is the fact that depending upon where I am I will make sure that the Coach front is facing me and not outwards as though I am embarrassed by the fact that I own it. It's weirding me out and the more I try not to think about it the more conscious I am about it.
3) Boots--These Rocketdog boots I've had since my Freshman year in college. They're beat up, and have seen better days. Other women my age see them and probably think that I bought them because I cannot afford a pair of Ugg boots. The fact that my last name has 'ugg' in it is enough for me not to buy them out of fear of more bad puns being made out of my last name. They probably see my Coach sunglasses and purse and think 'she spent all of her money on those two things and couldn't buy the proper boots'
4) Jeans--Most of the jeans I own are Volcom brand. They are the only brand that I've found that actually fit me well. A lot of women my age can tell exactly where a pair of jeans are from by the butt pockets of the jeans (that's right men, women look at other women's asses!) It frightens me that I have this ability as well. I can tell from across a room where the jeans are from, and take a relative guess as to how much a woman has paid for them. It creeps me out, but I can't help it.
There has been a push recently in advertising that is geared towards young women who call themselves 'fashionistas' to become 'frugalistas', as though now the 'in' thing is to be an X person of sorts. Not an X person that doesn't really care about what others think of them, but in spending less that other women did on the same things as some sort of show of superiority. The quote I added in on the pictures is a modification of a line from Fight Club, which I think applies beautifully. Also for some reason I kept thinking of another quote from the movie, 'sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken', and I'm not sure if I can explain why or how, but I feel like that fits too.
No comments:
Post a Comment