Talkin’ ’bout my generation
I am having a mid-life revelation. I am slowly seeing what my future holds. I am not a fortune teller so I am not claiming to see details of events to come, but rather I see a general trend that seems unstoppable.
I am slowly turning into one of “those” people who shakes her head at current trends and says under her breath “today’s kids, gees!” I am fighting the bitterness, but it’s a losing battle. There is a new dawn of awareness for me as to the origins of why a lot of elderly folks grow that layer of crust on the personality with time. They aren’t mean. They aren’t just grouchy, but they are irritated and it’s not hard to see why.
When you reach a certain age (I think it happens for most of us in our 40s) you begin to realize that the things you recognize as cultural familiarities are no longer part of the culture around you. Sure, when you go to the reunion or hang out with others your age it is less apparent, but when removed from that context, you suddenly realize that the world is upside down.
In your day certain things were not permissible, but today they are magically sanctioned and culturally promoted. One day things look one way, and the next day they look differently. One day certain trends are cool and the next day they are not. Our culture is always changing, so I am not talking about the small changes. I also am not of the mindset that all change is progress. Anyone who would assume that change is good just because it’s, well, different, is likely to use the argument that the sun is hot because it’s on fire. Mm-k.
I am addressing the gestalt of those changes over the course of a decade of two.
If you have never fallen asleep one night only to awake the next day in a whole new culture then you are either too young to know what I am talking about, or you are too old to remember it happening. Either way you are on the end of the spectrum instead of in the middle. This is what middle-age is all about.
I had occasion to be out alone last night for a couple of hours. It was an unexpected time of freedom for me, and since I didn’t have my laptop or a good book with me I did what any red blooded American woman would do — I went to Kohl’s and Target department stores.
What was intended to be a mindless time of window shopping for me, instead turned into a long and tiring awakening to the bitter fact that I am totally uncool and I don’t care in the least. This awakening came through careful observation of the young ‘uns around me as well as the fashions I was subjected to that kid and manikin alike wore.
Background: I was born in the 60’s. By the time I was conscience of fashion at all it was the 70’s. I had my share of very ugly 70’s clothes (think Brady Bunch) and I even sported big hair in the 80’s. I am glad that those pictures were destroyed in the great “family picture album fire mystery” of 1991, but I digress. Big hair and weird clothing was not such a drastic change for those in my generation.
We had just come out of a time in our culture when a sub-group of the population was popping acid like vitamins. After personally witnessing the impact that had on our culture, big hair, spandex and Flock of Seagulls didn’t seem so outrageous (unless you were a 40’s or 50’s child… then you were in your own middle years).
When I was a kid fashion went from outrageous to more conservative. Back then if you were a thin girl you wore tighter clothing, and if you were a more stately girl you wore loose clothing. It was just the tacit arrangement of the day. Last night when I was in the stores I noticed the exact opposite.
Other than the seemingly carefree dress of today that allows youngsters to show off their “muffin top” and proudly display more of their body and under garments than I really ever wanted to see regardless of any circumstance, one trend in clothing caught my eye and left me perplexed. I noticed that so many of the dresses and blouses were modified moo-moos like my mother used to wear back in the day.
Seriously. I could hear JoAnn Worley saying “This is delicious!” I had “Laugh In” flashbacks and it was disturbing. This is a trend that went away for a reason only to come back again? Sure, other styles do that, but not ones that are as atrocious as the moo-moo and the psychedelic prints of the 60s! Now I have to endure the muffin top and the moo-moo! Why? Why? Why?
Why would we bring back a fashion that was developed by, thought of, and worn by a generation of people who were admittedly high on LSD? Remember people, it took psychedelic drugs to endure that fashion, or maybe the fashion came first and caused the boom in drug abuse rates… I am not certain enough to say.
Last night I saw horrible prints made in equally horrible polyester. I know that in the later 80’s and 90’s polyester was OUT. When did it make it back IN? I love linen and cotton. Give me tencel or give me rayon, but not the polyester of the 60’s. You know the polyester I am talking about too — not the more sophisticated polyester of just 10-years ago. No. The truth is those clothes look one way on a 20-year old Goldie Hawn, and another on every other woman in the world.
Think brown, avocado green, non-breathable, shiny, bell bottom, elastic waist, shows every cellulite bump in your body, stretchy crap that you were either forced to endure during that era, or perhaps you have seen it in photos of the torture we endured. Yeah, that polyester. It’s hanging on the racks again. What’s up with that?
In order to be part of the in-crowd today you have to embrace this fashion. It’s obvious to me because stores barely carry what I consider to be decent, normal, modest clothing. It’s hard to find a pair of jeans that fit like the old Levi button-fly 501 jeans of the 80s. Now there was a fashion statement. Women wearing men’s jeans, and looking good in them. See, that made some heads turn and left a lot to the imagination.
Oh well, if I have to embrace the moo-moo to prevent myself from officially becoming one of those older, more crusty folk who look at the current generation and shake my head in disbelief, then I guess crusty it is. I rebelled in the day and I will rebel today. I will say no to the moo moo! Embrace the bitter. Join me!
Next time we will collectively take on and conquer the topic of multiple facial piercings and ear lobe disfigurement by stretching. Until then…
I know I don’t know anything about fashion yet someone told me I am the wisest on the subject. As I sit, here, in my some old sweats and t-shirts.
Am I a NOWHERE MAN Mr. & Mrs. Hooah?
Told y’all I’d fit it in. With The Trial of Socrates and how one must try to think. A bit of the Socratic Method here ok? The gadfly. I will defend the idiots who do not know how to dress. This should be interesting. I will also win this cyber debate Mrs. Hooah! For I know nothing.
Example,
So Claire,
You are said to be very knowledgeable on fashion. A knowledga one indeed and a great writer by all accounts. You raise the issue, “Why would we bring back a fashion that was developed by, thought of, and worn by a generation of people who were admittedly high on LSD?”
“Clearly all who bring back a fashion.” Let’s start there. What was the fashion? Were there not a split in fashions? Was it a monolithic fashion trend all encompassing the planet of LSD lovers? Do we know who all the fashion designers are? Or what drugs they were or weren’t doing? If they were on LSD, did all of the outfits have the same result? Were some objectively in good fashion taste? Did some who opposed the fashion trend in the 60’s object to the way elder generations told them how to dress? What is good fashion taste? If you have that, did it come from a person who has never taken LSD? What does the word “good” mean?
You are the fashion expert and must be knowing of all these answers. For a fool like me could not possibly be wiser than you!!!!
Thanks for visiting Mr. Hooah! Revolution 9. is digitally recorded backwards. Frontways backwards hard to make sense of. Hope you like listening to Nowhere Man. The introspective question of whether I know what that is. I hurt myself remembering back to my dusty old major. Philosophy. Hope you read The Trial of Socrates. It’s short. I put up a link. Hope you had a laugh at the Socratic Method on Fashion Claire!
Night.
Well, the tongue in cheek about this piece, for me anyway, is the fact that I am not a fashionable person in the least. I am known to have a very limited range of color in my closet, and I am addicted to denim and khakis. I clean up nice enough when needed, but I do not experiment. I am probable stuck somewhere in time. As a matter of fact, after writing this narrative I suddenly began to grieve the fact that I can not find those old style Levi’s.
My four year old daughter is much more fashionable than I am. She asked for a Snow White dress for her birthday a few weeks ago. So, Mr.H! got her one, and when she opened it she was excited and then loudly proclaimed “Now I need Snow White shoes to go with it!”
I remember the days of the Sack Dress (awful) and the miniskirt (eyepopping).
I also recall the horrid doubleknit maroon highwater pants , white belt, argyle socks and saddles shoes. And the extra-long floppy bellbottom jeans, where you didn’t hem them to length, you walked off the excess.
Good taste is timeless, of course. The 40’s and early 50;s women’s dresses are still easy on the eye.
As far as Revolution Number Nine goes, I bought a copy of a Yoko Ono record, and played it backwards looking for Satanic messages.
It said — “Why did you buy this crap? ”
Yoko had a record? Plastic Ono Band. Revolution 9 (backwards) is bizarre as it is forward. I think Yoko got a raw deal actually. John loved her and that’s all that mattered. No one could accept that and falsely blamed her for breaking up the band in my humble opinion. That’s one thing that really irks me. I’m in my mid 30’s and would have loved to have seen them once. I did see Paul live which was great and Ringo his All Starr Band. Still, not lucky enough to have been at Shea or Hollywood Bowl. There will never be a group like The Beatles again. The odds are astronomical. Glad my folks raised me on them. And gangsta rap.
Claire! As far as fashion goes, I understood it to be tongue and cheek of course. I mean how can one really defend wearing ones pants down to their ankles with boxers exposed. Not for me.
The point I try to make is one of Socratic Wisdom Why can’t everyone, no matter which side, honestly, admit, we really don’t know what to do at this point. I want to win this war. I don’t know how. I think knowing that no one knows that (how to win or withdraw or whatever). The very embodiment of “Socratic Wisdom.”
Given that to be a truth, and this is more or less directed toward Mr. Hooah!, as a matter of American history, am I so far gone to remember back to the days of Lincoln who surrounded himself with those who thought differently than him?
I know this is a completely crazy and Utopian ideal, but, what if the winner of the General Election, whomever that might be, agrees to put the loser in as Veep. There were days when that happened I believe. Different parties in same cabinet. Even on same ticket.
Such a style of thought is an underused technique. Too bad, b/c it is best for our country.
Woody Allen said in Annie Hall, “Politics is a notch below child molesting.” He would know, considering Sun Yi and all.
KICK BUTT! BE SAFE! KICK MORE BUTT! BE SAFER! FOR ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE FORCES, MY BLOG AND DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN. AND IF ANYONE NEEDS A LIFT COMICALLY OR WOULD LIKE SOME HELP, YOU’VE FOUND A BEATLEMANIAC WHO WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES FROM A RUBBERNECKER POINT OF VIEW.
except voting for McSame.
This blog is awesome.
Told you I’d win the debate without knowing anything. :) Have a great weekend and we have the Fourth next weekend. What can I do to support the troops for the Fourth? I have a ton of movies on DVD and was thinking maybe I could send them over. I only trust this place for some reason. I thought a few movies might be cool. Don’t know protocol. I want it to come from this blog and me though.
OUT
What’s even weirder, is but for Comedy Central, I would have never had the honor of meeting y’all. As Mr. Hooah! and Claire pointed out, laughter is the best medicine. I have some great comedies. They have portable dvd’s. I love films and music. Maybe I could send over some music too.
Like, I have some unreal stuff music wise for missions I would want to hear that actually is not The Beatles. Hard stuff. Rap, Speed Metal; my Ipod is stacked! I can maybe compile a Sgt. Peopper mix of stuff I would want to hear if I was there. Adrenaline pumping tunes. I have a very eclectic taste in music.
I also have a little tv I don’t need. I’d love to send a care package. My grandma (may she rest in peace) was alone when my grandpa was stationed in NYC when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I know she was on a wreck. My Grandpa, a briliant man, was responsible for making sure The German’s didn’t attack by submarine when that went down. In and of himself, he is a great story. Worked his way out of the depression, with no education, to become a powerful and respected man in the business community He’s on his last legs now, and, I feel like MY GENERATION does not know what sacrifice is. This is not to blame my generation, for we did not have to go through conscription. Yet, I can Imagine.
I have a great film to recommend BTW. “Across The Universe.” Very poignant and if you love The Beatles or not, it is one my personal favorites as of the last 20 years. It won’t play well on a mission, but maybe someone will watch it. It was nominated for Best Pic last year at the Golden Globes.
OUT.
“Somewhere In Time!” Great film with Christopher Reeve. Time travel love story.
Ahhh, starting the slippery slope into middle-age revelations. Funny how that happens! My youngest and I strolled through Kohl’s last weekend and my comment to him was, “These clothes are just plain ugly”. A sea of been-there-done-that ‘fashion’ still as unattractive as it was decades ago.
No moo-moo’s, uh uh, not allowed! Stay crusty and full of good spirit!
Waves to Sgt Pepper…..Not that I am old enough to comment on fashion of course, BUT I did have a funny encounter with a REAL British soldier on Liverpool Street Station during the Sgt Pepper era….When I know you well enough, I *may* share with you.:)
But, can I say ON the record? I LOVE miniskirts, and yes, I DO still wear them….lol
When my daughter had a ’60’s dance at high school, she was delighted to root through my old stuff and find a miniskirt that I had saved from my London 60’s days. We mothers have our uses…. It was such a trip down memory lane (or even Penny Lane and into Strawberry Fields
) for me……My girl was raised on the Beatles and can identify just about any lyric. Part of the brat legacy ya know.
Oh oh and Sgt Pepper? I have all sorts of places you can send care packages to. Ask Mrs Hooah for my email addy..;)
I’ll go on record and say I like micro-mini skirts. Even microey,mico, mini- ones. Thanks Brat! I dream one day to visit Liverpool. My parents went there a year or so ago and my Mom raised me on The Beatles.
There basic point, IMHO (I hope that stands for in my humble opinion but am not sure), was to try to put your best foot forward, have fun, and try to be cool or love. I fall of the track sometimes, but am constantly reminded of their philosophy each day when I listen.
I wrote something called Nowhere Man (it was a song request from Mr. Hooah!). Little did I know I would be questioning myself.
I think I stole some Aretha Franklin in answering my question. I may have to add that song………NOW.