another idle thought

[rm]

Is our culture's excessive obsession with weight a partial product of the casualization of clothing?

I realize that wealthy societies as a rule tend to favour thinness and poor ones heaviness, because those things are markers of affluence (i.e., time to work out and be "healthy" or proof you have enough to eat and are therefore "healthy"), but as I was look at all the bad fashion choices in Union Square today, I realized almost everyone looked like shit because their clothes had no damn structure and excessive thinness can at least fake that structure or "require" less of it, than a larger softer body. That said, people are not made of perfect curves, straight lines and ideal angles at any weight, and I say this as a woman who can bring death with her elbows. I'm not convinced that better tailoring and accurate sizing can solve problems, but I sort of think the lack of both has caused a bunch of them.

Comments

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

I think it's more mass production and lack of emphasis on quality combined with a complete loss of skills. I think that's the problem with people's diets, too.

It is hard work to create something that's well-made. It cuts down the profits at the top. Therefore, cheaper clothing.

Loss of skills means that people don't know how to fit clothes, they don't know that their clothes don't fit, and they wouldn't know how to fix it if they did. I think the nation as a whole is somewhat depressed (emotionally, not financially) and aimless, and it doesn't really realize how it looks.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I think the nation as a whole is somewhat depressed (emotionally, not financially) and aimless, and it doesn't really realize how it looks.

I think this is brilliant, and true.