Maturity, Judgement and Fashion

Meh.  I’ll admit it.  I think gofugyourself is boring.  Once a upon a time it elicited a couple of laughs (I think on my first foray) and ever since it has all gone downhill (third visit onwards).  I occassionally visit for a second when I’m trying to waste time, but I can’t bring myself to read entire entries because, well, I get bored two sentences in- and fashion wise I am completely uninterested in their opinions. 

I have this new grown up thing going on where I can’t seem to muster the energy to be negatively judgemental (except in the case of annoying people: beware, you will always be judged by my all seeing eye.  In this instance I generally like to indulge in excess misanthropy).  When people and reviews particularly, delve into ’their last album was sooo much better’ or ‘gee, I’m so funny for calling this trash’ territory, my brain immediately shuts off.  Other things that raise my hackles: saying things like this: “Oh my god, I cannot believe you haven’t seen/heard of blah” (it is sometimes acceptable if you are genuinely surprised- intonation is everything…)  If you feel the need to do this, let me inform you- you are a fuckwit, with a good measure of wanker thrown in.  I’m always surprised at how self important some people feel at having encountered something others haven’t as if this is somehow a token of their intelligence and good taste- what are they, twelve?.  

Recently, a friend of mine was on the receiving end of one of these statements.  Apparently some tard felt the need to say: “Oh my god, your thesis is on ”blank”, and you haven’t seen “blank?”, in an inappropriately disgusted tone of voice.  May I ask, what is wrong with saying “Oh, well you should see ”blank”, it’s really good and it would probably be useful for your thesis”??!  Why must the world be filled with such losers?

But back to fashion: Fact: I am obsessed with ‘fashion’.  I love clothes, I love looking at clothes, I really really love staring at well dressed women and spend much of my time surrepticiously perving at well dressed girls at uni.  I am a fashion lover, not a fashion hater.  So, next time you catch me giving you the up and down scan, I am not in fact internally judging you and thinking you have no taste, I am in fact admiring your well put together outfit. 

Here’s the thing: does it matter if someone is badly dressed?  For example, most of the time, well dressed I am not.  I seem to always be rushing to get ready, I am perpetually dishevelled and often regret a particular clothing choice.  Being badly dressed seems to be presented as some heinous crime, in actuality, it means nothing- who knows why someone has managed to look hideous- it may have been laundry day, the lighting might of been shit as they got dressed, they may in fact just not understand how to put an outfit together, or they may not care.  The point is, who gives a crap.  It’s a meaningless reflection on that person.  On the other hand being particularly well-dressed is an indication of talent (don’t laugh) that I honestly don’t think many people have (myself included). 

The thing that frustrates me about people’s opinions of fashion is that most people don’t really understand it.  Fashion is really not about wearing something that is pretty and flattering- although this is often a nice benefit.  Fashion and being fashionable are complicated by the fact that fashion is often battling against its own prettiness-  so often it is about celebrating the vaguely grotesque and the bizzare.  It seems to revel in playing up all the things that make our bodies seem so strange.  You only have to look at the silhouettes that become the aesthetic norm season to season to see how oddly our bodies become presented in the form of fashion.  

More specifically, being fashionable is in my opinion (perhaps distinct from being welldressed in this instance) is at its core, a talent that requires a kind of instinctive analysis.  It is a continual play of contrasts, that sees you putting forth a persona and a look at the same time you subtly undercut against it.  Thus, you play a trend that is coming against the one that has managed to saturate the moment, you play pretty against gritty, and on top of that, you play against your looks and your persona.  As a friend was saying to me the other day- thrown together op shop looks work specifically because young women offset slighly fusty outfits against their own youth. 

In all, I’m tired of the overly judgemental: particularly from those whose analyses frankly, fall short of understanding the significance of what they’re seeing/reading/hearing.  Lastly, I’m really tired of people failing to understand their own biases.  I know that my aesthetic choices and opinions are coloured from a very particular point of view, from my own unique experiences and tastes, and I wouldn’t presume to impress them upon anyone else (ok, I do it all the time to friends, but I am equally aware that most of the things I say are meaningless crap, particularly as I have a bad habit of changing my opinions all the time… I am fickle by nature)