Nature of Fashion

The purpose of this assignment is to interview two family members, preferably from different generations, and discuss their clothing experience growing up. An aspect that has always held my curiosity is the difference between my parents’ growing up experience and my husband’s parents’ experience as they are from different generation groups. So, for this assignment I interviewed my mother and my mother-in-law to find the difference.

I also wanted this to be a little fun, so I’ve color coded the responses. My words are in white and the two mothers’ responses are in red and blue. Try and guess which one was my mother and I will reveal at the end which one is my mother. Red was born at the tail end of the baby boomers, blue was part of generation x, and I am a millennial (according to the chart on p. 56).

Describe a fad, trend, and classic clothing item that you wore sometime in your life.

Bell-bottoms. Would you classify that as a fad or a trend?  The ones I wore were a fad, they were huge. My mom made them. I was very fashionable, I thought, but it was a fad. They didn’t stand long.

What would you say a trend was? That I might have done? Let me think, a trend that I would have done growing up, lasted a little bit longer. Maxi skirts popped into my mind. The ones that are back in style a little bit, the really long ones. They were around for a while, they were longer than some of the big bell-bottoms, a couple years in the maxi skirts and were longer, like longer time.

A classic? Um, classics would be something like blazers. I used to wear a blazer now. Jeans I think are classic. For men’s would be a suit, women suits too. We actually did wear men’s jackets/blazers, just for a while. We rolled up the sleeves, but that was probably more of a fad. It didn’t stay very long.

Ok, so a fad. The best thing I can remember were the, they were like leggings and they were knit and you wore them between your ankle and your knees, they were called—I can’t remember what they were called—they were leg warmers. And people wore them all the time. They were leg warmers and they wore them in all different colors with their exercise clothing. And it was supposed to keep your legs warm so they didn’t injure them, I guess. Did you have any? I think I did, I think I did have a pair. Yeah, they were very cozy in the winter.

A fashion, something really goofy was almost ripped, loose clothing that people wore off their shoulder. So one shoulder hung down off the shoulder and then you would have maybe a tank top strap thing underneath, I guess. And that I think came from that dance movie, oh my goodness, and it was filmed in Lehi. Anyway, I’ll look it up. And also there was this movie with Patrick Swayze that was also a dance movie. They danced and stuff.

And then a classic one probably would have been a jacket but the way we wore it was with gigantic shoulder pads and so it looked like people’s shoulders were three feet across and they were really long and kinda loose.

A fad I clearly remember was the livestrong bracelets.  I never had a livestrong one, but I had a few others from other organizations. I don’t remember which other than one year at EFY they had one to go with the theme.

A trend that I remember was layers. Shirts were meant to be layered. Tank tops under lower necklines, long sleeve shirts under short sleeve ones. I actually had a shirt that was sewn to look like I was wearing layers, a black short sleeve with white long sleeves attached

I can’t think of any classic piece from when I was growing up. Lots of people wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, but I wouldn’t consider that something we created ourselves. Also, I avoided owning jeans as much as I could help it because I found them very uncomfortable.

Did these clothing items help define you?

Yeah, I thought I was pretty valid in my bell-bottoms, I really did. It was probably middle school, I can’t remember, it might have been a little bit earlier. We thought we were pretty awesome then, I guess in the 70’s. So yes, we thought we were fashionable and making a statement then. We were like, “these are so cute” and my mum was pretty good at sewing.

No, they didn’t. I think it was just following the fashions. I enjoyed wearing leg warmers because I was always cold. It was fun to have warm legs that was something really great from following the fad. And I think because everyone was wearing it, I didn’t wear anything to stand out.

Not really, I think I mostly got excited about them and then wanted some of my own. The closest those articles of clothing came to define me was the sewn together layered shirt I had. I liked it because it was the most form fitting shirt that I had at the time, I tended to wear baggier shirts even though that wasn’t really the trend. It was also black which aligned with my slight identification with the gothic trend. While I never wore all black and red with chains and studs, I did still feel drawn to all gothic styles.

How did the wearing of these items affect your friends and family?

Pretty much, my family didn’t care. And then my friends would just say like, “oh that’s cool, those are really nice.” I don’t know, that’s pretty much how my life went. They didn’t really care, but they did, you know. I was like, “hey, they like these. These are great.” But they liked me in other stuff too, you know.

Um, I think just like any fads or fashions, in high school especially, sometimes the people that really follow the trends very closely, sometimes I think there are clicks that, certain clicks are faster at looking that part. Like there was a crowd called the valley girls. They would say things like “gag me with a spoon” and they kinda went around and talked like they were ditzy, California blonds. But in my high school, there were higher dress standards, I think, than there are now, and we were supposed to be modest. And so those fashions weren’t necessarily worn at school.

I don’t feel like these items really affect my family and friends that much. I wasn’t making friends with popular kids at school, but we wouldn’t have made it off as good friends anyway. My parents didn’t really care as long as I didn’t spend too much money on clothes and dressed respectfully on Sundays. I think the biggest, unknown effect of wearing what I did in high school was on myself. A good fit that is comfortable and attractive goes a long way in building your ability to handle life. It doesn’t have to be something in fashion as long as it is something that you like.

Would you describe yourself as a fashion leader, a general acceptor, or a fashion laggard?

Um, back then I would have been the middle one probably. I wasn’t the first one to wear it, that wasn’t me. Now I’m probably a laggard where I usually don’t care. I was probably middle of the road when, you know, with my friends and all that, and school because we kept up with it. Mom would sew stuff and it was cool.

Definitely a fashion laggard. I was slow. And I didn’t follow any of the extreme fashions, like there were a lot of—make-up is a part of fashion, would you say? And the thing in the 80’s was to wear just tons and tons of make-up.  Really bright blue eyeshadow, things like that. And I didn’t necessarily look so much that way, with lots of dark makeup and the big hair. I was kinda more geeky.

Definitely a fashion laggard, the knit gaucho look was something my classmates wore in 9^th grade and I got my first pair when I went to college. I tend to get the fashion in the discount section as the stores are trying to get rid of them. I think part of this is because I like to think and reflect for a longtime before buying a piece of clothing because I want it to last and be something I’ll like. Compared with the blue response, I feel I was even later.

How have you changed your attitude toward clothing over the years?

Um, I’m much more practical and I wear what’s comfortable and hopefully appropriate for the situation. You changed from wanting to be stylish and fitting in to just wearing what needs to be worn? Yeah, but if I had to go be a designer and go meet people, I would probably pick up on what the latest fashions are, probably be middle of the road again. But since I don’t have to do that I don’t. So I think I would do that if I had to, but I still don’t think I’d be a fashion leader that’s probably not my personality.

I think I’ve realized that fashion can be really silly, lately. Especially, you know, everybody looks back at stuff that people wore in the 80’s and they’re like “oh my goodness, I can’t believe we were seen in that.” And so it helps you realize how to identify things that are silly now too and because I’m not a teenager anymore fashion doesn’t define me like it may have then or what group I belong to and so it’s a little bit easier just to wear what I feel like is pretty. And also, I think I’m a little more budget conscious. Back then I was like, “oh, I want this” and now it is, “mm, I don’t need to go buy the newest thing.”

Yes, I started out as someone who tried their best to reject fashion and trends while still getting caught in them unawares. Now I am trying to look down and find my own true style, something that is attractive, modest, and comfortable.

I think the greatest part of the three responses is that all three of us fell for the fad. It is amazing how something so quick can get through all the levels of social acceptance so quickly whereas the fashions take longer to get to the fashion laggards. As explained in the book, most fads start in the lower price range and thus can flood the market quickly (p. 32). That seems true for the livestrong bracelets and the leg warmers. The big bell-bottoms fall more under the characteristic of unusually exaggerated (p. 32), meaning that the super large flare was too large to be accepted for long.

I also thought it was interesting to that the fashion laggards, myself and blue, both stated that the fashions did not define us, but then went on to explain how they clothes really did explain them. It shows that blue and I both have a lack of interest and ambivalence towards fashions (pp. 84-85), but accept them in the end anyway because we have finally learned what they mean and applied it to ourselves.

I think the part that amazes me the most is that all three of us made it to around the college age and discovered that fashion was fickle and that other things are more important when it comes to choosing clothes. While fashions were different for each of us, we still managed to learn the same lesson. I think this is also something that has been happening in modern fashions as well as women have discarded the corset and very restrictive clothing to make way for more comfortable fashions. It seems everyone is learning a similar lesson.

Have you decided which one is my mother? One more hint, a picture of each of them.

This is red:

This is blue:

My mother gave the red responses.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about the experience of clothing from two close generations. It amazes me how different they can be even though they are not far in age from each other. In the end, I decided to ask each of them for a fun story about clothes from their lives. Enjoy!

Do you have any random fashion story that comes to your head?

One time when I went to a dance and I wore a dress that was either too low or too short. And the whole time I was miserable because I had to worry that my skirt was too short or too low. I can’t remember which one it was, or maybe it was both. And it was horrible. So I never wore that dress again to a dance. And whenever I went to a dance I would try on the dress that I was wearing so I just could have fun dancing and not worry about what was happening with the dress. So I guess, things are more important for me to be comfortable and not worry about it, rather than should be fashionable and make it. That was one time I remember going, “this was the stupidest dress, I’m never wearing it to a dance” because it was, I don’t know if it was stylish or not, but it made me feel like I was too self-conscious about it the whole time. So then I always made sure I had a dress that was fun to dance in that I didn’t have to worry about it being too high or too low, and I could have fun. More into having fun than looking good.

Do you have any clothing stories—embarrassing, funny, or sentimental?

Yeah, I found a dress. I think it was right after my freshman or sophomore year and this was in college actually. And it was my first time out on my own and so I was picking out clothes and I had my own money and I found a dress that was a little more expensive, but I absolutely fell in love with it. And I realize that, and I wore it for years and years. It was kinda a princess dress, and it was modest, I felt so cute in it. And I realized that it was more important to pick out things that I liked and that I felt good in and that represented me a little bit more.  Even if it cost a little bit more than having a lot of items of clothing that I was buying just because it looked like everybody else.