Tuesday, April 26, 2005

[GUESTblogger] clasSICK

classick by vinh

greetings. i am your guestblogger for today. when it comes to fashion, my knowledge is beans in comparison to the lovely womyn who operate this sleeping beast & beauty known as *shopmycloset*. they know fashion from head to foot, spring to winter, homemade to haute couture. me? i only know fashion up til the ankle. kicks are all i'm concern with and anything else, my knowledge leaves me naked.

i love classic, but i do not like retro. i love the asics onitsuka mexico 66, but they begin to suck when you see 6th graders rocking them to school. i love the jordan iv, but not when you can find them in 31 different flavors. i love the converse all-stars, but something's wrong when the retail is $45 for a full chuck. in 2005, nobody gives a shit about 2005 shoes. it's all about the old school, about the kicks we once had back in the day-- shit, about the kicks our parents had back in the day-- about being trendy by being "retro"... it's enough to make me nauscious. don't get me wrong: i love the fact that i can still buy those shoes, 40 years after their initial release; i just don't like the fact that i can buy them anytime-anyplace, regardless of who's around. and everybody around seems to own a pair! the 66s, the ivs, the chucks, romas, superstars, dunks, rbk classics, cortezs, and on and on. i don't blame people for liking those shoes-- they all have a timeless shape and design about them. and i don't blame those megacorps for rereleasing them either-- those shoes keep the piggy banks supple and smiling. it's just that rereleasing all those shoes-- on such a massive scale-- the classic appeal gets lost somewhere in between the store shelf and the consumer's foot. and most people don't seem to care.
(not that i care that much either, btw. just making an observation.)

the concept of retro is cool, but to ressurrect all those shoes, in all those colorways and to charge all that cash-- that shit ain't cool. it's worse than pdiddy hijacking a classic song-- it's american idol imperialism, i swear. fashion survives through metaphorphisis. it's in a constant state of flux, always changing, recycling, evolving. it's never held down by any trends, regardless of how prevalent those trends may be. fashion designers take from the past, snip, tuck, and present the products for today. they simply don't score a carbon copy and change the colorway-- that shit's too trite. but that's exactly what they do with shoes. something's wrong when you can buy the puma romas in black & pink and at any store. i mean, nice colors, but the shoe's tainted to a certain extent.

so stop it with this retro-madness. put down the crayons and rethink the designs. rerelease them, but on a limited run. remove this feeding tube called "retro" and i'm sure those classics will still have legs-- just not on everybody's legs.

that's all the fashion for this week. come again next time, where i will write about tommy hilifiger's daughter, about how she's ugly and needs to be choked.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

very nicely said. i like a guy's point of view!!

Anonymous said...

wait... you're a guy? that's awesome. i agreed wholeheartedly with everything you said.

Anonymous said...

written beautifully yet again by mr. nguyen. "hey mr. hot guy in a wife beater and no shoes yesterday on tha VSA stage!"

i hate it too when unique (progressing, and constantly changing) fashion gets appropriated by mass-fashion distributors!!! (i.e., urban outfitters--which was cool like 6+ years ago!) and having interesting style becomes a fad: wear bright colors, mix-match, vintage patterns!!! buy buy buy and wear to tha club!!!

makes me sicK too. if u aint got style you can't co-opt it. sorry! and if you want style BE YOURSELF, not a store mannequin.

enough said. AND lemme add... let us PLEASE stop with the graphic tees with obnoxious statements ie, "jesus is my homeboy", and popularizing icons such as che & marley to look "urban". WEAR A DAMN "FREE MUMIA" shirt if you wanna stand for something! (or "free eddy zheng"!)

vinh, please comment on the like, too!

Anonymous said...

carina, i agree with you too!

take VON DUTCH for an example.

i bet you 99% of the people who wear VON DUTCH caps, bags or clothing have NO IDEA who is really was or what he stood for. They MAY know he's a genuis when it comes to cars and design, but other than that, most VON DUTCH consumers do NOT know his deal... because if these consumers did, they would NOT have bought them in the first place... they probably bought them cause celebrities like britney spears are wearing them, it was all over LUCKY and STYLE magazines few years ago, or maybe they bought them cuz URBAN OUTFITTERS has VON DUTCH caps disaplayed on every other table... (and i agree, Urban Outfitters was cool 6 years ago, but not anymore because everything in there now is mass produced instead of supporting independent designers like they did way back...)

To clarify- i'm not hating on anyone who wears VON DUTCH stuff, i just want to give you a heads up and that you should be aware of the context of any name, brand, logo that is printed large on a clothing item or cap.

Back to VON DUTCH... he's a hella DOPE artist that stood strong and never wanted to SELL OUT. He had one of his first solo exhibitions in a NYC gallery back in the day and by the end of the opening party, ALL his pieces were SOLD. Then he realized that all the people who were buying his artwork were WEALTHY RICH OLD MONEY bourgeoiseie folks who didn't know anything about him or his work, or gave a damn about painting on cars... but that they were only buying it because his name was getting "big" and he was the "in" thing and they just had to BUY it. Instead of being a millionaire, he refused to sell any of it cuz it was against his ground.

He was very strong about not selling it out throughout the time he was alive. But the people who control his estate doesn't care to live up to his wishes... instead, they thought only money and mass produced it, got it into every "hip, trendy" store, and got celebrities sporting it.

So now, his work has been commodified and massproduced, and his name has no real meaning to the consumers today. it's really sad, and yes, it makes me sicK too.

:(

Anonymous said...

i want some more girl points of view. nicely said carina and k. what do all of you readers think?

Anonymous said...

i feel so stupid for buying the von dutch hat. i admit i bought it because it was, and trucker hats were, "in." i just finish googling and reading about him. i 'll be more consicous next time. sigh

rose

Miss J said...

if you check out www.buyblue.org, you will see that urban outfitters (and their child company, anthropologie) is really RED, meaning their corporate leaders are funding THAT side of politics. :)

Anonymous said...

that's such a great website! thanks jean! i'm going to look into it now.

(time for me to get disappointed... but get awared)

Anonymous said...

yay! American Apparel is 100%!


(of course!)

Anonymous said...

i may buy clothing from red companies, but i will never work for red companies.

Anonymous said...

what's up with the $500 dollar dunks on ebay?

admin said...

I need to update my clothing. Is Sean Jean considered cool?

Anonymous said...

i really love re-releases of shoes as well, as long as they are limited in quantity!

great post by the way, you guys should have more like this. :)

Anonymous said...

vinh so cool! you're writing makes me woon!!!

Anonymous said...

i hate 'member only' jackets. especially when its ocean green.


chuong

Anonymous said...

i think yours is more teal. c'mon teal is in!

Anonymous said...

what's wrong with member's only jackets? they are really nice?

Anonymous said...

i think it's because after the I ROBOT movie where will smith has those "vintage chucks" that nike&converse took advantage of the publicity and made every single colorway there is, mass produced, for us

Anonymous said...

just found out, von dutch is also a racist.

Anonymous said...

emoticon piiiiimps

Anonymous said...

I haven't been to your site in awhile, so this new post is a good suprise. I enjoyed reading it very much.

i agree with you completely about your opinions on classic vs. retro.

but i'm one of those aunties who buys their nephews the cool classic shoes. hehe. don't blame me, i just love to see them in cute shoes :)

Anonymous said...

where does it say von dutch is racist? i would like to read any articles. interesting..

Anonymous said...

good article

Anonymous said...

i fuckin love this quote:

it's worse than pdiddy hijacking a classic song-- it's american idol imperialism, i swear.

kenny rogers

Anonymous said...

i wanna hear more about tommy hilfiger's daughter being choked.

Anonymous said...

it's true, fashion is constantly recycled over time. every year, a style is recycled and marketed for the contemporary times. like how 80's fashion is now marketed in almost every brand. stripes. off the shoulder tops. neon colors. but with a 90's twist, or 2000's twist.

(or maybe it's because designers nowadays aren't as creative to come up with original ideas?..... NAH)

Anonymous said...

yes, there are many of borrowing of ideas in fashion nowadays. i always see the same clothes from forever 21, also sold at the flea market for cheaper, and then at french connection for more pricer, etc. etc. same pieces, probably all sweatshoped and made from the same group of people, and then sold by under diff brand names. no originality anymore.

Anonymous said...

"fashion survives through metaphorphisis"


indeed!

Anonymous said...

who is this vinh? would like to hear more about this topic. -joesph

Anonymous said...

i, too, detest graphic teeshirts. everywhere you go, there's lame ass graphics on teeshirts.. like the racist abercombie &fitch, or gap... and even urban, they need to stop making lame graphics teeshirts!!!!! the worst are the "i'm hot" or "i'm hot cause i'm irish"

the one and only,
aileen

Anonymous said...

american apparel tshirts are the best!

soft, simple, plain, fitted, great cotton, sweatshop free, and great company politics! and they come in every style and in every color!!

Anonymous said...

fun read, that's all.

style.com

vinh said...

well now. im glad to know that some folks agree with me. the other day, i was taking a shit (yea, unnecessary info, but so what?) and flipping through an eastbay mag, only to experience some quasi-deja vu.

retro shit filled up half of the catalog! i swear, i saw most of those shoes 5, 10, 50 years ago! had i not been shitting, im sure i woulda puked.

this retro-biz has become ubiquitous. blame vw for rereleasing the beetle, blame the strokes ripping off the ramones, blame nike for pimping the system--i dunno. a few years ago, those things were kool. nowadays, it's like we live in a time portal.

i luv fashion for the creativity and the colors, but these days, the fervor is gone. i agree with carina and those t-shirt slogans: a fucking quote ain't creativity! it ain't fashion. save them for your poetry or for your fortune cookies.

i dig the fact that you can buy anything online these days-- it makes fashion more accessible. but at the same time, i wonder why, with such access, do motherfuckers all look the same?! i know im not the most original guy in the world. im a clone, youre a clone-- we all are clones. the forces of fashion, materialism, pop culture, and economics have voltron-ed together and gave us this system. the more we buy, the better we feel, the wealthier they become, and it's a vicious cycle.

i strive not to be original. i strive to be comfortable-- with myself, with my clothes, and with those i love.

fashion, on the other hand, should not be comfortable! im not talking about the fit or the textiles-- im talking about concept. fashion is art. art is life. life breeds anews.

life is not death in trendy ressureection.

but whateves.

Anonymous said...

strive to be comfortable, i agree!

Anonymous said...

i really like the fact that fashion is very accessible these days. anyone can look good, and everything is more accessible and more affordable. online sales allows people to buy the things they wouldn't normally be able to buy in department stores. it also allows the average person to be able to browse designers and brands that they wouldn't feel in place if were at the physical store. so i don't necessary agree with you about everyone can be trendy, i see the good thing about people being able to have access to it

Anonymous said...

whoa! so many comments! just wanted to say i had a good time reading this entry.

Anonymous said...

vinh, youre so hot!

Anonymous said...

werd, vinh. werd.

Anonymous said...

yeah, i know watcha mean, sigh. you put it in good words.

Anonymous said...

great write up

Anonymous said...

sezy words.

Anonymous said...

i never knew about the von dutch thing, thanks for keeping me informed.

Anonymous said...

can i be a guestblogger too?

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