The People of Walmart - The Politically Incorrect?
I’ve recently pondered the culture of appearances. How the way we look affects third party judgement and that fashion is an intrisic part of human appearances.
It’s especially bizarre when you compare the two polar opposites of fashion.
On one end, you have the fashion magazines and runways who supposedly dictate what is beautiful and ideal. However, the extreme of the fashion magazine industry is that it is TOO ideal, to the point that models are photoshopped to death and look like stick figures without an ounce of flesh on them. They end up looking human-like but not in the sense of a real person. A fantasy so to speak.
On the other end, you have every day people who can’t afford to look like models, nor the designer clothes that they wear. Yet, they go to a far extreme that decency seem to fly out the window. What does one do when one is severely overweight? Many of them love to show off how fat they are by wearing little clothing. Or some people simply enjoy offending others with graphic tshirts, but these are just attention seekers looking for a reaction - any reaction. I just keep wondering what goes through their heads before walking out the door.
The reason I bring this up is because of this site, The People of Walmart, a daily photo blog of people shopping at the venerable super store. While ignoring the image captions, it’s unfathomable to me how some people can walk out of their homes wearing torn tshirts and jeans, or extremely revealing clothing that they believe to be acceptable. I mean if you can afford a car and chips, you can afford to buy new clothing (and Walmart does have a clothing section that’s entirely affordable). And it wouldn’t kill the women to buy clothes that actually covers them decently, or the men to wear a tshirt that isn’t shredded to reveal the top of their bottoms like Joe the Plumber.
Decency isn’t about dressing like a nun or to be without personality with your clothes, decency is having courtesy to not offend the people around you, and the children who are in the store. But it seems that respect for others in terms of fashion is “up to the individual”. Yet there’s only so much a person can take. You’re living in North America, you’re not in a third world country, and honestly even people in third world countries don’t dress as dowdy as these people. There’s no need to show off just how offensive they can be just to get a reaction from others.
It’s difficult not to judge people by the way they dress, we unconsciously associate certain looks with certain social status, with a certain background. But even the rich often make poor fashion choices. Regardless of social status, it all boils down as to what consists of “normal” and what consists of “too much”. I think everyone with a modern mindframe can guess that to be respectable in their looks is to go by unnoticed or at most, to be complimented and admired. But some people really take it too far to get noticed.
There are those who are proud of their round figures. Good for them! You love your body and you won’t succumb to the marketing slogans of the world. But please, put some pants on. Please, put a top on. Even if a slim person who walked into a Walmart in a bikini top or with boy shorts would be deemed indecent even to me. Maybe I’m just being prude. You can be attractive with clothes on. Seriously.
Whatever happened to good manners? Whatever happened to having a respectable appearance? I know it’s a general term to have a “respectable appearance,” but is it too much to ask to have at least your breasts and your bottom covered? Magazines aren’t helping, that’s for sure.
Image credits: People of Walmart
When Email Fashion Blasts Don’t Work
Dear BCBG,
I do love the dresses you have and the ultra cute shoes and accessories that give that little bit of glam. I love visiting your stores, and I love what you’ve done with the new flagship on Ste-Catherine.Your website is top notch and you’ve got the online magazine à la Net-a-porter down to great looking editorials.
However, sending me email blasts of yet another sale every single day will not entice me to purchase from your online store. I don’t care how nice your email creatives are.
If you want an effective email campaign, try sending at most once a week of your promotions. And if there’s a sale, it’s better to simply send at most 2 global campaigns to your lists: one to announce, and one to remind. There’s no need for you to send me an email every day. It’s pointless and it’s spamming my inbox.
It’s email marketing 101. If you were a consumer, would you want to get an email from your favorite brand every day? I don’t think so.
Sincerely,
Dahlia
The Misuse of the word “Haute”
As a native French speaker, I find it disturbing that the misused association with the French word “haute” and “hot” as somehow phonetically similar.
“Haute” is of course referenced to “Haute Couture”, by definition it means “high end” in the context of fashion. When we enunciate the original french way, it sounds like “o-tuh” with a brief “t” at the end. So if you know any basics in French, “Haute” and “hot” do not sound alike at all.
So when I see things like the recent J.Crew ad of “Haute for the Holidays” or at Vitamin Daily, it just rings terribly ugly. “O-tuh for the Holidays” which clearly tries to make an allusion to “Hot for the Holidays” by trying some alliteration. Are they trying to saying “Haute” in a German accent? “How-tuh”?
Either way, fashion advertisers maybe should play a round of Boggle in order to get words that actually sound similar and not embarrass themselves with silly play on words that don’t work. There’s nothing wrong in inventing words like “Freakonomics” or having funny alliterations like “Beads for Boobies.” I’m not a language police, but it’s annoying to see a French word made like it sounds similar to another word when it clearly doesn’t.
Otez-moi ça! C’est débile!
The $10,000 Mink Coats at Histoire de Plaire
Is Montreal in a recession? Apparently, Histoire de plaire doesn’t seem to think so.
Histoire de plaire is a newly opened store on Ste-Catherine next to the recently revamped BCBG flagship store . This small Swiss chain had recently established itself and is somewhat of an oddity on the Ste-Catherine strip. I took a random tour of it last weekend to see what the store was about and was surprised at what the merchandise had to offer.
The first rack I came upon were the sales racks of Chanel-like tweed jackets and skirts, all priced at around $500 each. The overall styles of the store weren’t really particular to my taste until I started noticing fur pieces. I don’t particularly know too much about fur (except of course being able to tell what is fake and what is real), but it wasn’t until I saw a fantastic brown mink coat in the far left corner of the store. I’ve never seen mink upclose, the stuff only seemingly existing on tv shows and movies. I thought it was some other type of fur but upon touching, I knew it was something different. It was smooth to the touch despite its coarse hair, a perfect size 38 (in Italian sizing) with brilliant shiny fur with the softest undercoat.
I casually checked the price tag and was flabbergasted at its price: $10,500. The lining was made of polyester, though a controversial fabric in itself (it is made with oil), its advantages are somewhat justified: polyester retains heat and never wrinkles. But the biggest insult to injury besides the hefty price tag was its home production base: China.
I’m not sure which factory in China creates luxury products of this sort that it can justify a retailer in selling $10K mink coats, but either some chinese companies are really upping the ante on quality production, or we’re getting scammed somewhere else.
If Histoire de plaire can sell at those price points, it had me begging other fur pieces in the store. Sure enough, ultra soft black fox fur boleros were clocking in at a few thousand dollars, rabbit fur jackets were a few hundred dollars (though from what I was told, rabbit fur is the cheapest you can get, and russian sable is top of the line).
Non-fur apparels were made of luxury blends of cashmere and wool, including basic luxe turtleneck sweaters at 3 for $200. It became suddenly clear to me that this store isn’t kidding around with its products. Yet the mink coats were still boggling my mind. I only see those kinds of prices at places like Holt Renfrew or Ogilvy, but not a boutique on Ste-Catherine, home of the strip clubs, fast food joints and cheap end shopping (H&M is not even a block away). It was busy enough to have several women sifting through the racks including one woman who had a black fox fur coat draped around her shoulders, so very 1940’s.
Interesting to say the least, but will it survive? Only time will tell.
Image credits: histoire de plaire, loulou magazine
Refusing To Shop
If you take a look at my Pricephile page, a summary of my fashion purchases this year, I have bouts of not purchasing anything for an entire month. Such is the case for October, since I am still recovering from other non-fashion related expenses.
But since the recession and a purchase of a new kitten, my priorities over fashion have shifted significantly. I have donated and got rid of 3/4 of my wardrobe to Le Chainon, and the rest in the garbage. I realized that buying many clothes is not the solution, and that to be “in fashion” is purely subjective. This is especially apparent when Montreal’s winter is right around the corner, and it is especially then that to be fashionable in -20C weather goes right out the window.
In times of financial constraint, one must prioritize. And like my decision for consumer electronics, I have decided to wait out on my wardrobe until there is an absolute need for replacement.
The statement of not shopping not only demonstrate a great deal of will power against the onslaught of marketing and advertising, but I’m also trying my best not to consume and pollute so much. To buy less means to consume less and in North America, the mantra is all about being a consumer. We buy things to excite us, to make us feel good about ourselves because we associate that what we own is what we are. To think that we are not materialistic, if living in North America, is just baloney. We are more materialistic than we have ever been.
It is this greed of consumerism that drives the retail market. Sure, it creates a lot of jobs, I have no doubt about that. Is there an alternate way for people to work in something else? Absolutely. Do I know what they could be working in? No. I’m not an anthropologist. Humans have developed such a complex life system beyond the basic needs of shelter, food and clothing. Some for the benefit, others only for propelling the greed for money and fame.
Fashion Waste
While it is nice to see the new creations of fashion designers, think of all the waste that they produce in the long run. How many unsold designer garments and non-designer garments are created each year and wasted because of over production? The immediacy that shoppers seek to satisfy their shopping cravings is getting to be beyond ridiculous. It would be much more economical to have designers take in exact orders of what is needed rather than produce in large (even small) quantities, only to have the left overs discarded to the discount bin and then eventually to the trash can. Because something that is time consuming “costs a lot of money”. But wouldn’t it be worth it?
Because of this, I’m doing my best to only buy essentials (underwear, socks, the likes) in terms of clothing. Any more is indeed superfluous. It is true that clothes are a reflection of one’s self and taste but who are really dressing up for? Ourselves or for others to compliment us? It’s time to reflect and truly think about our choices when it comes to fashion.
My run for Pricephile has another 2 months to end for 2009, I do not intend on buying any more clothes for the rest of the year. For 2010, I intend on spending much less on fashion clothing, perhaps replacing a worn out skirt that I had bought from R&W (cute skirt, but cheap quality). I would only purchase to replace worn or unrepairable clothing.
How will you change your shopping habits?
Image credit: NYtimes.com
