After WWI in Germany, there was a period of hyper inflation which caused a wool skirt priced at 14 marks during the war to cost 240 million marks by 1923. So many men had died during this bloodiest of wars that there was an incredible shortage of marriageable men. During this time of incredible poverty and despair, fashion came to play an important role. One German newspaper article entitled "Fashion as Weapon" said the following:
"Whenever the fight for daily bread becomes especially hard, when the selection of clothes becomes critically restricted, fashion types evolve that can only be understood if one views them as 'weapons.' In general, a woman does not want to desced from a higher to a lower social class. It is a fate that threatens her more than ever before in the terrible crisis we are having to live through right now. She does not want to commit gender suicide by becoming an unmarried victim, a fate that is caused by the decrease in men who are interested and able to marry. So fashion becomes a powerful means to show one's personal charm in the best light, even to heighten it, while perhaps risking that 'one's essence' may sometimes get lost behind a dazzling fashionable appearance."
This article was written in the 1920s, and if it weren't for the poverty aspect, it would still be incredibly applicable today. At least in Charleston. Most women here want to get married, and they use fashion as a weapon, for sure. And the result -- you have thousands of blonde, tanning-salon girls who go around looking the same in their Abercrombie clothes and Gucci purses, competing for the rich, Mount Pleasant jocks who will buy them diamond earrings. And beyond that you discover the ultimate truth -- that these girls for whom fashion is a weapon have also managed to lose, behind their "dazzling fashionable appearance" what the author called, "one's essence." Because they may be in with the times, but these times just make them look vapid and shallow. Perhaps I'd rather be out with the times then.
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In nature, the purpose of one’s life is to mature and reproduce healthily. The genes must be passed on in order to preserve the survival of the species. However, the genes must be high quality genes; they must come from the high society of the species, the strongest, fastest, richest in resources. There is not much point in producing young that are weak and not of high quality. They will merely die off and not pass on successful genes. An observational study on the process of high quality individuals finding each other and mating was investigated in Mount Pleasant, SC
The investigators found that in most cases, when the female is mature and ready to reproduce, she will display herself in a way to attract high quality males/genes in order to produce a viable high quality offspring. She must learn the art of attraction and place herself in a location where there are a high number of high quality males. The female usually attends an ivy-league university (usually being accepted into the school by a sizeable donation from the parents of the maturing female). Once the female is in university, she works on obtaining her MRS degree. The MRS degree prepares her for choosing and obtaining a suitable mate.
The courses in the MRS degree teach the young, maturing high quality women how to dress to attract the right quality of men. She is taught to wear high quality fashion; which is extremely expensive (you must display your status). She can usually be spotted in Ambercombie clothing and carrying a Gucci purse. Defenselessness must also be mastered; a high quality man does not want his woman thinking or doing anything for herself. Vocabulary is drilled extensively. Terms such as; “like oh my god,” must be heavily used. Once the female has mastered these courses, she uses the rest of her time at school attracting young males.
The high quality male can usually be spotted wearing kakis, a polo shirt (collar up), a SC baseball hat, a SC belt, rainbow flip-flops, and usually a cocky, holier-then-though attitude. The males will compete over the female by discussing their parents’ job positions, how much money they or their parents make, where they vacation in the summer, how much money is in their trust funds, and who can buy the best jewelry for the female. The female will then choose the highest quality male: the male with the most resources (physical attraction can at some point play a role, but it is rare to see and is still being investigated).
Once the female has chosen her male, a huge celebration of their union is observed (usually this costs thousands of dollars). If the female picked her mate successfully, she should usually produce 3-5 viable children (identifiable by similar clothing to the parents and noses being stuck up; they tend to whine when they don’t get their way as well). If the match was successful, the female will also have enough resources to continue buying thousands of useless, material objects, and large homes. If the female deems the match unsuccessful, she will divorce him and attempt to mate again with another, usually older, richer male.
If a high quality species is to survive, this process will continue through the generations. A following theory is now being investigated where the male chooses the female based on similar qualities.
At first I was ready to rip this comment to shreds. Then I kept reading, and started laughing.
I absolutely agree with you, Shavonda. :) Thank you for that insightful, HI-larious, and eye-opening comment. Want to go shopping for Gucci?
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