Street fashion grimaces: Russians began to dress like punks

It must be admitted that from autumn to autumn there are fewer and fewer naked legs than several years ago, when young people (from middle school age to junior parents) did not spare themselves en masse. Even cracked (from the cold) – rolled up jeans and pulled up slacks with short socks (or lack thereof) reigned.

Nowadays, either polka dot or watermelon socks are more relevant than the pink scallop of frostbitten ankles, or catching a cold has become more expensive during the coronavirus period. Perhaps many of the fashionistas have already learned from experience, having not only caught a cold, but also felt the consequences of frostbite and chronic hypothermia. Freezing joints and blood vessels all winter long is, of course, not as risky as girlish winter walks with a bare waist, but it’s also not healthy.

However, there is no need to talk about the end of the “mini sock” yet. Yes, that’s why fashion exists, so that neither the fashionistas themselves nor those who like to wash their chilled bones will know peace.

To the question of what characterizes modern “street” fashion (and what irritates us), we can answer this way: pseudo-sportiness and mockery of the classics.

Sportswear seems to be different from holiday, work, and everyday clothing in that it should be more “dexterous” and more comfortable – in the sense of freedom of movement and weather conditions. But nothing like that can be said about either all-season hoodies or winter sneakers – white and clownishly huge, as if they are injected with more and more growth hormone every year.

There is another nuance. In the current understanding, sportswear is clothing for jerking, which does not restrict movement, but is not suitable for the everyday life of a social person. It is often inconvenient, for example, due to the lack of reliable pockets to spend the whole day in it outside the home, especially in public.

However, the purpose of clothing is not only to protect from the cold and keep keys and wallet under the owner’s hand. It seems that it couldn’t be clearer that the suit also marks the owner socially: “I am such and such.” But on the contrary, clothing, if not precisely prescribed, allows the owner to refine his image and change it (even if the freedom of choice comes down to small details): “I am who I want to be, even with the boss and with colleagues who know me like peeling.”

With the proper imagination, this works with both an evening suit and overalls. Let us recall the paintings of Soviet artists representing female construction workers, whose beauty is emphasized only by some kind of scarf and only shines brighter from the cement-gray background of the robe. And vice versa: the lack of imagination, taste, attention to oneself, and the ability to wear clothes will give any good thing an effect opposite to what was intended. For example, bright blue men’s suits became such a mass, hackneyed, faceless fashion several years ago that it is just right to dress some operational workers in a goggle-eyed shade of navy blue to blend in with the crowd.

But the suit must also mobilize the owner and give him psychological protection: “This is not my body, this is my shell.” Being completely exposed all the time is awkward for an athlete. The suit is a social exoskeleton.

A tracksuit allows you to feel almost naked, but at the same time be covered and warm. I went for a run, did some weights, and changed clothes. Always wearing sportswear is only comfortable when lying on the sofa. But walking around in tight clothes all the time (or, conversely, in some baggy “oversized hoodie”) is either a constant demobilizing relaxation or additional stress. Are we little aware of it? Well, the “barefooted” or those who like to sparkle their bare bellies among the snowdrifts have little understanding that they are hypothermic.

Of course, for a smart person who is in the right place, all this, as it is fashionably expressed, “casual style” is not a hindrance, but for some, perhaps, it really is more convenient. Geniuses, and simply great specialists, are always considered originals. But if you compare a society where the norm is at least jackets and coats, with a society where today in the same outfit they repair a car, pick mushrooms, “do service” and celebrate, you will find that some core disappears from the latter. This is noticeable in Western cultures – if back in the mid-twentieth century punks played at being gentlemen, today gentlemen play at being punks. What can we say about our society, which has experienced several waves of denobilization (“We have no masters, hat!”) and is ready to continue to “follow progressive trends”…

Probably, it would be more correct to work your way up to the right to sit at work in a sweater (which, in my opinion, is inconvenient). Schoolchildren definitely wouldn’t mind having a uniform (the only big mistake in the USSR in the 70s and 80s was to sew it according to the model of shabby police jackets without a hem and not provide for a tie other than a pioneer one). Even more, a uniform (or a prescribed dress code) would benefit students: “We are doing socially responsible work here and becoming respected people, and not playing lumpen of all times.” (“Lumpen” – as is known, these are “rags”, “cast-offs”).

It is here that another fashionable trend stands in the way of attempts to return to the classics – caricaturing.

Now bow ties have returned to fashion (in an unprecedented range and with the availability of information about the variety of styles) – so let’s wear them with torn jeans! Let’s turn the attribute of “a gentleman of his own accord” into the mark of a fooling around teenager!

Three-piece suits are coming back into fashion – let’s narrow and pull up the legs and sleeves to the limit! So that even fashionistas of the 60s would say that this is too much. And at the same time, we’ll make some kind of men’s bra from the vest, so that not only the buckle, but also the belly sticks out from under it. Well, it’s so cool! Not in the “entertaining” sense, but in the “funny” sense. A man’s suit turns into a clown’s – uncomfortable and undignified.

Of course, the fashion that falls under the official dress codes—business fashion—is also preserved. But it is of little use for everyday life, even for business people and officials. This is often the case when a suit is inconvenient to wear without a corresponding car. But even the owner of an expensive car tends to take off his jacket. And, let’s admit, this fashion is very sad.

Moreover, the European men’s three-piece suit, which arose back in the “global cooling” of the 17th century, is perhaps the most practical invention of mankind in this area. And the increasing durability of materials, low cost of production, ease of ironing and cleaning should make universal the convenience and freedom of expression that at the beginning of the twentieth century were the property of the social elite.

However, instead of a simple man in wrinkled trousers, we got a simple man in sweatpants. The examples of style, instead of the “rich and famous” of the past, were showmen portraying either the thin-legged, sockless Eloi from H.G. Wells’s “The Time Machine” or porcupine sawmills. (By the way, the Americans, who are largely to blame for the social rejection of the classic men’s suit, managed to sell to the world what in America itself was considered the spirit of the most bearish angles!)

What can be done about this frustration and despondency? Just remember that at first, at the end of the 19th century, a “tracksuit” was simply called a three-piece suit with a short jacket, all made from one piece of some unpretentious fabric. It’s convenient to take a walk in nature or ride a bike in this one. And on the contrary, what was considered decent in those days was a suit made up of items of necessarily different colors and textures. That a man without a hat looked strange on the street: “What happened? Robbed, drunk, crazy? And if a hat or cap can be a burden when wearing summer clothes, then in the fall they definitely won’t hurt.

It’s worth reading, looking at pictures, understanding and tasting forgotten old things. Perhaps the reader will then agree with me that wearing a jacket without a vest is awkward, except in the summer, and that a tie is convenience and freedom. Unlike a sweater. And let the girls walk around with bare legs. When it is warm.