Friday, January 14, 2011

Stickitothemaniosis in Hair and Clothing

I got a new hair cut just before Christmas.  I don't like it.  It's one of those new-fangled shaggy styles.  I know, I know.  It's just a style.  It's cool and hip.  But I'm not cool and hip. 

Besides all that, I like things to look neat, not messy.  I don't allow my kids to wear jeans with holes in them to school.  And ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to pay for or allow them to pay for new jeans with holes. 

But it's not just a neat freak thing.  And I've finally, just in the last five minutes (it's kind of a young philosophy), figured out how to articulate why messy styles bother me.  It seems to stem from a rebellion against what's considered proper.  I'm not saying that everyone who wears holey jeans or has a shaggy haircut is rebellious.  Most of them probably just enjoy being trendy. 

But I would say that the trend toward sloppiness or the urging of messy styles upon consumers by the fashion industry is a rebellion of sorts.  It's analogous to the modern movement in art and literature.  Dada poetry or abstract art.  Yes, such art and literature probably has some deep and meaningful message to the artist.  But there was also a definite and intentional rejection of the forms in the previous styles.

And so with hair and clothing.  Go ahead and wear the holey, shaggy styles if you choose; I'll not hold it against you.   But at least I know now why I don't like such styles

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