Monday, December 22, 2008

Fashion Slave

This is ridiculous.

Last night I received an early Christmas gift from some people I haven't received a Christmas gift from before. It was a sweatshirt. This is truly awesome, because I am in need of such types of clothing these days. It was a hoodie, which I also like. It was neon blue with neon green and pink and yellow flowery designs silkscreened on it. That last bit . . . well, it was cute, but my initial gut-reaction was, "Can I wear this in public?" I don't think I've ever worn neon anything. Even in the 80's. I said to my mother, "I'm not sure I would have picked this colour . . . "

About two seconds later, I noticed that the hood on this hoodie was emblazoned with the word (in neon pink), "Diesel."

"Diesel?!" I exclaimed.

Suddenly, I think this sweatshirt is beyond cool, and after my shift at Starbucks today, instead of going down to the church and changing out of my uniform there, I changed in the Starbucks bathroom, just in case when I came out, anybody happened to notice that I was wearing a hoodie that said "Diesel" on it in neon pink.

I'm not sure who decides which clothing companies are "cool" and get to overcharge for their merchandise, nor why I find it thrilling to own one of their products even though I doubt we stand for much of the same thing. I'm approximately 100% sure that this mindset does not line up very well with Jesus' "ideology" (if you want to call it that) about Stuff. But . . . I would be lying if I tried to tell you that I'm not quite pleased to be wearing a designer hoodie. And . . . it's not like I was trying to be designer. It just happened. (That statement right there? Also ridiculous.) I do find it kind of embarrassing that I am so easily convinced, though.

4 comments:

Cliff said...

Nah, stuff like that is fun! :) Enjoy it! Sometimes indulgence *does* "happen" to us. That's the difference between someone like you who wasn't looking to get it and someone who absolutely MUST have it and can't wear anything else - for you, it's special and the gift is meaningful for that - for the real fashion snob it's nothing special.

So yeah. Strut that hoody! :D

Jennwith2ns said...

Cliff--it totally is fun! And I am enjoying it. I think what I was finding ridiculous was 1) my almost instantaneous change of assessment of whether I liked it or not, just on the basis of a name and 2) the way that last bit sounded like I was saying, "I wasn't even trying to be cool--I just couldn't help it!" ;)

Mary Anne said...

hahaha, this post was awesome. I have marveled at the same phenomenon. I'm sifting through the racks at TJ Maxx or a thrift store, and I'll be about to pass over something that didn't interest me at all (or that I even thought was ugly!) until I happen to notice that it's a "cool" designer brand (such as Diesel), and instantly I'm like, "Oh, this is really cute!" How do they brainwash us like that???

Jennwith2ns said...

MAM--right?!