Okay, I was all set to make fun of this sweater--of the entire line Libertine has done for Target. I had all these great, snarky comments planned like "I imagine that the American people are in for a long winter of watching suburban soccer moms run around in these things, pining for the good old days when they were bad-asses, just like Debbie in that Bowling For Soup video."
I wrote an entirely different post on the subject* and then I changed my mind.
I took a longer look at this sweater, and checked out the other items on offer at Target's website. I read a couple of reviews by other bloggers. After awhile, I began to find myself strangely drawn to this stuff, particularly to what I know full well is one ugly-ass sweater vest.
But damn, where would I wear a candy-colored, argyle-and-skull-print sweater vest? It wouldn't fit in with the rest of my clothes. My clothes would huddle together and whisper about The Vest.
BASIC WORK PANTS, GREY: I don't know about this: It's so . . . bright.
BASIC WORK PANTS, OTHER GREY: And skully.
BASIC WORK PANTS, BROWN: Yeah. I'm out. I'm definitely out. I can't see this working at all.
The Ger-Man strolled in, and I showed him the picture of The Ugly-Ass Sweater Vest.
"That's ugly." he said. He stared at it for a moment, and then admitted that it's an interesting, unique piece of clothing.
What is it about the combination of argyle and skulls that's so damned appealing? The colors are horrible. I would probably look silly in it, but I can't dismiss it as simply an ugly-ass sweater vest. I have somehow upgraded the thing to An Interesting, Albeit Ugly-Ass, Sweater Vest.
* Because this is the sort of hard-hitting subject I tackle when not writing about Jonathan Coulton, Polkaboy or Whatever Random News Story Pissed Me Off The Most This Morning.
2 comments:
I think they made an odd choice of model for this one. I think if this blonde, lip-glossed girl really did wear the Ugly-Ass Sweater Vest over her little puffed-sleeve shirt, all her other Scottsdale friends would think "GOD, what the hell is wrong with Dina? Like, Pepto and Death?? EW!" I'd like to see it on a chubby raven-haired punk chick with a lip ring and an adorable pin-striped skirt with oversized safety pins on it... but that's just me. :)
I kind of like that the model isn't the type of girl you'd expect to see in this outfit. While her hypothetical uptown friends may judge her for wearing it, there's a risk that the "goth/punk crowd" would judge her just as harshly: She's just a poseur. She doesn't "get" what it means to be goth or punk.
A lot of subcultures and sub-subcultures (think fairy goth, medieval goth, etc.) have come to be defined by their clothing. At a certain point, you've got the Spice Girls effect (different "types" of characters designed to appeal to different types of consumers). A consumer decides who she wants to be, then goes to the mall and buys the appropriate "uniform."
This girl's glossy blondness sends a subtle "screw you!" to the uptown girls who may judge her for being so daring, the goth-punks who may judge her for appropriating a bit of their culture, and society at large who may judge her for refusing to wear whatever "uniform" she's meant to wear. That kind of insolence and punkishness* is what the whole thing was supposed to be about in the first place, wasn't it?
*"Insolence and punkishness" is one of my favorite phrases. It's from Daniel Pinkwater's, "Young Adult Novel." In this case, I mean it as a compliment.
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