Author: Gerry Maravilla
When I think about the fashion sense of my generation, I cannot help but feel extremely disappointed and frustrated. Anyone who knows me well could tell you that I am by no means what one would consider a “fashionable” person, nor am I known for splurging on designer jeans and sneakers with price tags in the triple digits. I tend to stick to the philosophy “if it’s comfortable, it works.”
This, however, does not prevent me from watching or enjoying the spectacle of modern fashion. Through doing so I have been saddened by the lack of innovation and creativity that has taken hold of my generation.
I first made this observation in high school when the skater trend found itself slowly dying and my classmates began to attend class rocking garments straight out of the ’60s and ’70s. Flower power, torn jeans, peasant tops and the terrible word “vintage” ran amuck amongst my peers. I remember Old Navy trying to re-market bell-bottoms, dubbing them “flares.” Even my friends, who consistently wore rock tees, shifted from Weezer, NOFX and Bad Religion to pre-faded copies of older Beatles, Doors and Pink Floyd shirts. Suddenly the fact that I owned a Star Wars shirt did not make me the object of ridicule, but, rather surprisingly, elicited compliments from other students.This phase progressed and, by the time I made my way to Oxy, the trendy fashion choices turned to my least favorite decade of all-the 1980s.
While I found a certain joy in the fact that extremely large, over-hairsprayed locks did not make a second return, acid washed jeans, sweater dresses and work-out related paraphernalia (e.g. Dirty Dancing-style leg warmers) did manage to come back into style. Every time I see a synthetic ’80s polyester vest, all I can think of is a particular scene in the classic film Back to the Future where Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) stumbles around in a stupor after traveling back to 1955. Sporting his 1980s threads, he is the subject of much confusion and questioning-“You fall off a boat or something?” “What, you in the coast guard, kid?” etc.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came one day as I was walking through Old Town Pasadena and noticed that people around me looked eerily like my older brother did in the early 1990’s-Reebok Pump sneakers, high-top Nikes and bright neon colored t-shirts were everywhere.
Is this what fashion has come to? Recycling the same old ideas over and over and over again? Rather than coming up with anything new and original, we commodify and steal bits and pieces from the fashion trends of our parents and older siblings. Have we no original ideas of our own?
Sadly, this trend of merely repackaging the past does not end with fashion. One needs only to look at the local multiplex and video store to see the number of sequels, cookie-cutter franchises and movies based on old television shows. It’s always the same old story, slightly updated with today’s current hot stars and cutting-edge technology.
I feel a certain complacency toward merely adopting the past without contributing anything of our own. What will we do when we run out of things to copy? We are slowly running out of decades to mimic and, unless you enjoy the idea of people walking around looking like Fred Durst, I think it is time for a change.
Gerry Maravilla is a junior AHVA major. He can be reached at gmaravilla@oxy.edu.
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