Closet Monster: Obsession

While I have a lot of clothes, I don't necessarily wear them all with equal frequency. It's easy to skim though fashion and style blogs and see people in really pretty clothes, posing in a variety of places from roof tops to creek beds, obscure fields, bedrooms, and bathrooms; sitting, standing, leaning casually, attempting to lean casually. The only things I can capture well are ridiculousness and anger. I have a decent amount of energy and I spend the majority of my time on the move. I dance and while you can pose in anything, you cannot dance in just anything and I'll dress to accommodate the opportunity to bust a move anywhere. It is impractical to pose all day, unless it is your job, then it's mighty practical. Essentially, I have no reason to have so many clothes.

Maybe it's because I've been working from home for close to three months, the fact that my work attire consists of sweatpants or bed sheets seems to have changed my palette about clothes and the acquisition of clothes in general. At Anthropologie, I got kind of grossed out by how the marketing scheme would justify a price of $50 for a jersey shirt that really had no indicators of deserving that price. Wanting to play with clothes is a good mental exercise and I'm a supporter of the arts, but it is very mind boggling how some can get obsessed with constant wanting and acquisition followed by the need to showcase. People get impressed with that and then the cycle continues. That is gluttony and also such a vicious, detrimental cycle.

I enjoy buying art supplies. I don't really use them for artsy endeavors, but I like owning them and feel pretty bad about not using them.

WTF LVMH!

As noted before, I don't know much about fashion, I can't elaborate on fashion, but I do know patterns, evolution, and after almost a full academic year of being a chemistry teacher, I can call out BS as I see it.

I'm referring to the targeted takeover of Hermes by Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

There's something I find highly unappealing about giant conglomerates, afterall, being a teacher you know that the larger your class is the less individual attention you can give to each student. I'm not saying that all conglomerates are bad, but this certainly explains why I've been seeing traditionally high end designer labels almost everywhere in the masses.

I find Hermes decision to remain completely independent of the conglomerate very admirable. Until yesterday, I was unaware of how large LVMH was. I recognize that the conglomerate has a knack for revitalizing old brands, but even so, striving to appeal to a younger market is not...very impressive. All you have to do is lower prices. Cheapen materials. Create an outlet store. They only care about the name anyway.

This is where I admire Hermes dedication to quality even if they can only appeal to a small audience that can actually afford their products. They also are very well aware of how trend-based fashion is and how the good majority of fashion is transitional.

Family members recoil as they recall an LVMH official’s suggestion that Hermès bolster sales by creating a line of lower-priced bags.

“It’s exactly what you shouldn’t do,” Mr. Dumas says. “Because you will make a cheap Hermès bag which will sell like hotcakes for three years, and after three years people will say, ‘Hermès is not what it used to be.’ ”

Mr. Thomas says: “If you tell me I have to double the profit of Hermès, I will do it tomorrow. But then you’d have no Hermès left in five years.”

Fashion is business. Business is all about money. The article seems to show that LVMH has a blind eye towards the economics of reputation, and reputation standards.

Given that I'm not much for explanations on fashion, I'll do what I do best which is: give science examples.

Dogs are a beast that have evolved over the past 4000 years. One thing that I really enjoy about dogs is that if you look at other countries, almost all of them have a culturally significant dog that was developed for specific useful purposes. There is beauty in function. On a side note, I think that some may not realize that a lot of the best and most creative ideas arise out of need. Anyway, if you fast forward some 4000 years, we have miniature designer dogs that were bred for the purposes of being able to be carried around in purses without being burdens to their owners, accessories, if you will, and more importantly, dogs that would not be able to function without human intervention. Dogs that really can't stand on their own. Point being made, it's easy to create a sad situation when you cater to the wants of people. I hope that Hermes will continue to evolve naturally and if they ever feel it necessary to commit brand name suicide, I hope that it will be on their own terms.