Demon Denim - Down With Denim

[Larry124]

Search columnist and author George F. Will in the Washington Post – “Demon Denim” 4/16/09.

Provocative to say the least. I think (hope) that he means it as an intentional exaggeration.

Excerpts:

On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically -- running shoes, T-shirts. And jeans, always jeans. If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim.

Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.

The associated article by Daniel Akst in the Wall Street Journal 3/20/09 “Down with Denim" is also shall we say ”interesting”.

[herminator]

Search columnist and author George F. Will in the Washington Post – “Demon Denim” 4/16/09.

the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.

I am elitist?

Wow!

[Standard]

Well.... I wonder what he thinks about the kilt then? We'd certainly not fall into the "draped in denim" and not dressing better than "society's most slovenly" categories. Neither, evidently are we part of the preisthood, although there are certainly men of the cloth amongst our ranks. Sounds a little full of himself to me. I too hope that the article is all in fun and to be taken, as are most rants and reviews of "professional" writers of newspaper columns, with a grain of salt.

[Larry124]

I am elitist?
Wow!

I think that he meant it sarcastically.

Since there are of course no social classes in the USA it can’t be about that.
Thank goodness we never read anything like that here.
[My own examples of sarcasm.]

[BassClefB]

I've said it before... A kilted man is always more well-dressed than anyone else around him in most cases, even when kilted casually.

[ChattanCat]

Since there are of course no social classes in the USA it can’t be about that.

None? Hmm, I would like to think there arn't any social classes but sadly I beg to differ. Could you consider the lower, middle and upper income Social classes?

[Larry124]

None? Hmm, I would like to think there arn't any social classes but sadly I beg to differ. Could you consider the lower, middle and upper income Social classes?

I was being sarcastic. Classlessness in the USA is a myth. There are class types and stereotypes everywhere.

[TheBlueCow]

A link to the full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041502861.html

The author seems to have a personal vendetta against jeans (you'll see a note at the bottom of the story that he only owns one pair because it was dress code for a function he attended). Although, I agree on his points that jeans have become the default garment for conformists and that there are, honestly, better choices out there in terms for practicality and comfort (Disclaimer: I do not even own a single pair of jeans. All the pants I own are either dress pants or cargo/khaki style). I don't really agree on his opinion that people wear beat-up jeans in order to give the appearance that they are of a lower class - that may have been how it started, but once the fad caught on people simply wore clothes like that because it was in fashion.

Where jeans used to identify one first as a gold-digger, and later as a rebel, they no longer identify anyone as anything and are simply standard garb for fitting in. It is unfortunate for the groups where a piece of clothing which identifies them then becomes a fashion item and no longer does, becoming a widespread and meaningless item of fashion. I think the author actually has a problem with the fact that when something catches on, nearly everybody assimilates it into their wardrobe, and there is nothing which remains unique or rare anymore and can no longer be appreciated simply for what it is, but must be turned into something that is for every man, woman, and child and loses it's true meaning and spirit.

I think we'll be faced with this same problem with kilts. More and more men are wearing them. Where I want every man to experience the freedom and comfort of the kilt, I also don't want the spirit of the kilt to be forgotten. If they become fashionably popular then most people that wear them will undoubtedly do so without knowledge of the background and history of the kilt and what it means.

[Larry124]

...cargo/khaki style...
...then most people that wear them will undoubtedly do so without knowledge of the background and history of the kilt and what it means.

Khaki clothing from the UK and US military, particularly WWII UK in North Africa and USN in the south Pacific? Cargo clothing from Airborne troops?

From the secondary article:

"The sort of garments that become fashionable most rapidly and most completely," Alison Lurie reminds us in "The Language of Clothes," "are those which were originally designed for warfare, dangerous work or strenuous sports."

[Bugbear]

I wear old beat up jeans or denim overalls while working out in the dirt farm or on ceramic sculptures etc. I think that is traditional. If I am going into town, I put on something nicer, but I usually go into town about once a week. That also goes for the work shirts, too. I usually wear a polo shirt of some sort when going into town, or nicer depending on what I am doing.