Revolution or Evolution?

I know you’ve heard. Everyone has heard. It only frightens me when I think about what it used to look like. I am NOT going to do it; I don’t care how much I am pressured to ‘cave’…

…I’m not wearing 80’s clothes again! They’re BACK! Sure there were some cute leggings and skirts…for some people. And the layered look, while on the warm side, was convenient in the winter. Keeping a collar up also helped keep a chill out, and it’s quick to get dressed in the morning…you just keep layering and layering and layering…clothes, hair, socks, pants, everything.

I wonder sometimes if the 80’s styles were designed by some vagabond or previous homeless person who was used to wearing everything he/she owned.

Regardless, when I thought about my own clothing choice this morning, a pink t-shirt and black pants, I thought about FASHION and its evolution…which as it turns out is actually only REVOLUTION! What a sad picture for urban anthropology and future archeologists! Someday someone will dig up these time capsules and find the most popular clothes and wonder how the pre-historic people “knew” what would be popular.

Those of us who lived the 80’s (and that’s MOST of us), KNOW…these are repeats. As a matter of fact for as long as I can remember the FASHIONS have not been new and inspired, they are a re-circulation of previous decades, sometimes with a new flair or color or pattern. How disappointing.

You can flip on a television almost any day and see new shows about designers’ challenges, yet we continue to be swayed by old-RE-designed clothes. What’s that about? Since I have been alive, I have seen resurgence of clothes from 3 generations.

Not to belittle the industry, but it sort of makes sense…there are only SO many ways to wear hair, pants, jeans, shirts, skirts, dresses, etc. It makes sense we would rotate these to meet the ever-increasing demand for originality. Unfortunately what is being sold (at a HIGH dollar I might add) is NOT original…it’s at the thrift stores (or was before it became popularized again), it’s in people’s attics…it’s in those ‘retro’ magazines you can find at antique shops or in your father’s garage (if he’s a ‘collector’ like mine).

By the way…the word RETRO is really defined as OLD and outdated.

I went to the MALL the other day (something I rarely do anymore because they’ve LOST their popularity…we’re going back to strip malls!), and INSIDE the mall was an actual thrift store. Oh it’s named something chic and cutesy…but it is nothing but old clothes that are being resold as the newest fashions. There were concert shirts from bands that no longer exist, all the clothes inspired by a Madonna/Cindy Lauper era, and accessories too! It even has that ‘worn a few decades ago’ smell to it, like a thrift store.

I wanted to stick my head in the door and quickly shout out (because the smell is a bit overwhelming) that there is no need to pay $50.00-$75.00 for those vintage jeans, just go get your parents or grandparents old clothes. The older generations still tend to keep all their old clothes (at least that’s what my parents tell me) because “you never know when it will come back into fashion.” Apparently they were right on that too.

One of my friends was lamenting a season or two ago that her husband refused to give up his ‘pegged’ jeans (I don’t know if they’re calling it that anymore but it’s BACK)…and he had bought several pair the last time they were popular and still had a brand new pair…and now their back in style. It’s sad when you wear a fashion for so long that it makes it way BACK into popularity.

My father calls this the “throw away generation”. He reminds me constantly to save things because they’ll ‘be worth something someday’. At the very least I am more inclined to keep my clothes…to GIVE to some young family member and they’ll think I’m the uber-coolest to buy them such awesome ‘retro’ clothes.

This whole thing DOES have a point. When I thought about how completely UN-original these NEW fashions are…I thought about how incredibly GRATEFUL I am to a God that is not only ORIGINAL but wouldn’t dream of recreating me and calling me “new and improved”. You see God ONLY deals in original artwork. Every star, snowflake, sand grain, blade of grass, tree, mountain, ocean and most importantly every PERSON is a one-of-a-kind unique creation of God!

It feels so good to know I won’t walk into a store one day and see a younger-newer exact replica of me! God created KPJARA as a unique, beloved creation just for His glory!

Have a mullet-free Wednesday!

OH...lest I forget...I wanted to clarify from yesterday...I am so NOT upset about selecting new words for my friends who made the request...in a way I got to play the game twice...and make it a bit more challenging...so the new words are:

Miracle
Dangerous
Obedient
Imagine

Thank you to all who participated and contributed and I look forward to reading about what these words mean to others!