Good reminder of why I avoid Newsweek.
Posted on 08/21/2008 12:48:42 PM PDT by Mount Athos
It turns out the opening and closing ceremonies in Beijing's majestic "Bird's Nest" stadium are the world's biggest fashion shows. [...]
Lauren has built an empire by becoming the unofficial outfitter of the American Dream, marketing an idealized image of America's former ruling class to the nation at large. However, the WASP aesthetic he sells—think of characters from "The Great Gatsby," clothed in tennis whites and delicate tea dresses—has come to represent a classist and racist set of ideals, hardly representative of the current multicultural social fabric of the United States. A strange choice then, to redefine the U.S. team's visual identity in this way, even as it marches further away from the 20th century, when WASP power reached its peak. But if one stops to consider America's shaky status as the world's preeminent superpower, Lauren's nostalgic, retro creations begin to make more sense. [...]
The issue is that the Polo brand is built upon an aesthetic intended to communicate to the world, the wearer's successful assimilation into the traditional institutions of upwardly-mobile American culture—the elitist world of typically WASP-only country clubs, prep schools and cotillions. (Never mind that Ralph Lauren, née Lifshitz, was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants who most certainly would not have been allowed into the country clubs that many of his designs seem destined for.)[...]
Interestingly, the Canadian uniforms were also some of the most high-tech and culturally inclusive[...] The Canadian public, however, had little affection for them. One puzzled local TV newscast couldn't decide whether they more resembled a "Halloween costume" or " '70s leisure suit."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Good reminder of why I avoid Newsweek.
Not to mention the spot-on first comment.
As I was reading, I just assumed this was the Onion, until I saw the source.
Pretty funny, in a “Plan 9 from outer space” sort of way.
Also discussed here:
Newsweek: Preppy Look is Racist, Classist
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065105/posts
(newsbusters.org Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008)
The author looks like quite the fashion plate himself!
I couldn’t help but chuckle when I look for the back button and saw “perv page”. I thought, how fitting!
I looked again and it said “prev page”. I guess the author’s picture had preconditioned my first response!
Maoist twink.
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