In
the late 1800’s and early 1900’s on one side of the Atlantic Ocean there was a
big uprising about the Victoria Era. Since America was still kind following the
trends from England, America was not too far behind England with their fashion
icons.
We
all know about the Victorian Era and how it came to be about. It all mainly
focuses on Queen Victoria herself. You can drive around older towns and cities
and see the works of this Era. You can just drive around Hamilton and you can
see these big beautiful “Victorian” homes. Those were the style back then. Also
another thing that was in style were the clothes they wore.
Women
in the Victoria Ear wore big, colorful dresses. The men wore silk suit s and
big top hats. It was all about impressing someone. The bigger and more colorful
your dress, the more men you could get or you could attract. Same thing for
men, the more silk or the nicer your suit looked, the more ladies you could get.
These are the type of clothes that they would wear back then.
In
this time period people also went out of their way to buy nice things to
impress people. Things that they did not really need, but again it was all
bought just so other people would like them.
The
same thing is going on in the present. People buy nice clothes to impress the
opposite sex. They buy nice items that they only have just to impress people.
The items and clothing might be different, but it is the same idea.
Again
going back to what I just stated about all the items then and now are different
yes, but it is the same idea. Like the dresses, the male clothes, and the
random items like iPhones.
--Jasmine Osman
I agree with you about how we are still built around the idea of the higher class being based on appearances (clothes, home, iPhone, iPad, etc.). In class today we talked about how during that time era, people put together rooms based on possessions. For instance, look at MTV Cribs. We see celebrities have rooms in which they don't even step foot; everything is just for show.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how the concept is the same throughout history, but the trends or whats in style is completely different. I agree with what both Todd and Jasmine said, that the majority of people buy what will impress other people more than just what they need. The average American doesn't need a 4 story house that is completely marble and having millions of dollars of paintings hanging up similarly how in the Victorian era shown in the picture from class they didn't need these fine linens draping every object they had. They didn't need the china and pottery that stacked almost every surface and which was more than likely empty. All of it is just to impress and the sad part is most of people especially today are in debt and cant get out out of it just to impress.
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ReplyDeleteBased on reading your blog I have drawn a conclusion: people have been crazy for decades and decades, it isn't a recent development for consumers. I will base what I have to say from what has already been said. It is amazing that people still hold dearly to the idea of impressing people by having material things. I cannot try to say I don't participate in it to a degree, because there are numerous occasions (such as job interviews and dates) where I have put extra effort into my appearance in an effort to impress my potential employer or significant other. It is interesting to see how people take consumption and status to the extreme, sometimes when I read the "celebrity" news on yahoo, it is unbelievable to me how stupid people are.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is perfectly fine to purchase/consume products that you like or are interested in. I would make the argument that most people consume in this manner, they consume what they want. I think that it is just a part of the culture that we live in, but it is sad to see that there is such a separation between "high class" and "lower class", and I think the gap is only going to continue to widen as we progress further along the timeline of capitalism.