Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Oysterfest in Montreal, where to shop in Toronto and spend Labour Day laughing with For A Good Time, Call


As Labour Day is a celebration in honour of those who fought to work less than 12 hours a day, it’s only fitting to indulge in a little R&R this weekend. Whether it’s restorative or preventative rest you’re after—what with a new school year, TIFF and Fashion’s Night Out on the horizon—there’s plenty to choose from, should you decide to leave your Adirondack chair.

The definition of fashion and anti-fashion is as thus. Anti-fashion is fixed and changes little overtime. Anti-fashion is different depending on which cultural or social group one is associated with or where one lives but within that group or locality the style changes little and stays constant. Fashion is the exact opposite of anti-fashion. Fashion changes very quickly and is not affiliated with one group or an area of the world but is spread out throughout the world wherever people can communicate easily with each other. 

For example, the 1953 Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation gown is an example of anti-fashion because it is traditional and does not change over any period; whereas, a gown from fashion designer Dior’s collection of 1953 is fashion because it will change every season as Dior comes up with a new gown to replace the old one. In the Dior gown the length, cut, fabric, and embroidery of the gown changes for season to season and does not stay the same. Anti-fashion is concerned with maintaining the status quo while fashion is concerned with social mobility. Time is expressed in terms of continuity in anti-fashion and as change in fashion. Fashion has changing modes of adornment while anti-fashion has fixed modes of adornment. Indigenous and peasant modes of adornment are an example of anti-fashion. Change in fashion is part of the larger system and is structured to be a deliberate change in style.

In today’s society people in rich countries are linked to people in poor countries through the commoditisation and consumption of what can be called fashion. In one area of the globe people are working long hours to produce things that people in another part of the globe are anxious to consume. The chain of production and consumption of Nike shoes is an example of this. The Nike shoes are produced in Taiwan and consumed in North America. In the production end there is the nation building a hard working ideology that leads people to produce and entices people to consume with a vast amount of goods for the offering. Commodities are no longer just utilitarian but are fashionable, be they running shoes or sweat suits.

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