A fantastically warm and sunny Easter weekend in Ottawa!
Consequence 1: Ottawa feels uncharacteristically vibrant, as everyone races outside to enjoy the weather.
Consequence 2: My thoughts turn to sunglasses.
Here are the the Marc Jacob sunglasses I will be rocking this summer:
Me And My Sunglasses
When I blew my wad at Trust Fund just before Christmas last, among other things, they gifted me these sunglasses.
I note, however, the kids all seem to be sporting this classic look from my youth:
Don't Call It a Comeback!
Which, for me, begs a theory of retro! And this is my theory:
1) Humans prefer efficient creativity and, for the most part, they prefer the familiar. The perpetual return to the previously fashionable allows people to be novel and familiar at the same easy time. Hello two birds and one curiously familiar stone.
2) A person’s sense of cool tends to coalesce in adolescence. When people are old / wealthy enough to control fashion, either as consumers or as producers, they want to look like the older cool kids they remember from their youth. Accordingly, they poach from the past.
3) It’s safe. What worked once in fashion will likely work again and, if it doesn’t, one can be absolved of the whiff of bad taste with an appeal to historical authority. Don’t blame me, blame the chumps who thought this was cool before.
Do you have a theory of retro? Am I overlooking something? Is there something I should add? Retract?
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P.s. Don’t worry. I wrote the draft of this post out in the sun and overlooking the river. I even took a picture but my crappy crap mobile seems incapable of easily transferring the data. The countdown to my first smartphone has begun. Officially.
jessicaruano
April 4, 2010
I may have to quote you in my thesis for theory number 1. Thanks! And I hate sunglasses. I can’t see your eyes, which means you are automatically suspicious to me.
sterlinglynch
April 4, 2010
Good point. I’ve positioned the discussion around fashion but it applies to the creative arts and beyond.
Keep an eye out for my next sunglasses post, your second observation is right on point!
jessicaruano
April 4, 2010
Also, I like this new layout! I think it suits you much better.
sterlinglynch
April 4, 2010
Thanks! It’s a bit of a struggle for me to find a lay-out that a strikes the right compromise. I’m starting to suspect that wordpress.com intentionally creates templates that are good but not quite good enough in the hope that we will buy the right to tinker more. Or maybe my anal desires are too broad and encompassing to be satisfied by any one off-the-shelf template …. [ eye slideways to Nadine, or Mistress Innuendo, as I prefer to call her ]
nadinethornhill
April 4, 2010
I enjoy the aesthetics of sunglasses. However, I always perch them on top of my head during conversation. Talking to someone with sunglasses over my eyes, feels exactly like trying to talk with my earbuds in.
nancykenny
April 6, 2010
I love sunglasses (and I also love your new layout). It’s first and foremost a function thing. I have trouble seeing when it’s very bright outside. That said, I like the air of mystery it creates. I’m a fan of very big sunglasses (the kind that engulfs your face) or funky frames. And, like Nadine, I also perch them on top of my head when inside or talking to someone. That gives my glasses the dual purpose of also serving as a headband for my long hair.
sterlinglynch
April 6, 2010
Thanks Nancy. I’m glad you like the new look!
It’s true! Sunglasses may actually be about, um, protecting the eyes from the sun. Well. Sometimes.
My problem with bigger sunglasses — or rather my worry — is that the chance for big ol’ raccoon eyes is much higher. One day without sunscreen and whammo!