semiotic detritus fashions

[tht]

the kids and not-kids alike seem to be attiring themselves with ever more decals and annotations, and it seems to be getting more unfriendly

alongside the classic NIKE and KORN and all sorts of indifferent logorrheic nonense, there are the egregious lurid slogan t shirts someone alluded to on dissensus a while ago, lots of decals of skulls and dragons and that type of shit, the lamentable influence of nu indie, and discernable trends from post-crack inner city usa and the desublimated fag aesthetic

are there any good writers on this type of thing from semiotics or even enlightened non theorists, seems like a fertile area of enquiry

 

[Edward]

I find very odd the trend for wearing T shirts advertising old bands that the wearer very probably doesn't like and maybe has never listened to.
Especially prevalent is the Ramones.....

 

[tht]

there was a photo of david beckham wearing a crass tshirt in about 1999

 

[swears]

We've talked about this before, on a couple of fashion threads.

Using subtle cues and visual signifiers from the past can be interesting, playful, even really stylish. (Peter Saville's stuff being a good example) But yeah, walking around in some T-shirt that says "1968 punk surf party rave legend" in gothic script with a silkscreen of a cadillac is pretty lame. Thankfully, if you do pop into a mainstream retailer like Topman or H&M now, clothes seem to be getting less cluttered and fussy in design. The cut of an item of clothing, its fit, the materials used, they can all say more than any slapped-on text and images.

 

[tht]

yeah, walking around in some T-shirt that says "1968 punk surf party rave legend" in gothic script with a silkscreen of a cadillac is pretty lame

that's not new though, and however crap at least it sort of denatures itself through a lack of semiotic coherence, except maybe to express sympathy for those with neurological language disorders

the newer more unfriendly version is, can you see me yeah fuck you then yeah

 

[swears]

I am not really following you here, what do you mean by "unfriendly"? Aggressive fashion goes all the way back to the hells angels, if not further...

 

[tht]

there seems to be another more passive aggressive tendency, slightly contrite and paranoid and discernable from things like screenprints of phoenixes which remind me of the drawings of psychotics or those paintings belonging to saddam hussein

this is very subjective, i'm not sure if it holds water at all and completely nonspecific cos i'm conflating those from various subcultures

 

[swears]

pics plz?

 

[mixed_biscuits]

I find very odd the trend for wearing T shirts advertising old bands that the wearer very probably doesn't like and maybe has never listened to.
Especially prevalent is the Ramones.....

A fair proportion of my class likes the Ramones, apparently.

These are 10 yr old girls we're talking about. *confused*

 

[nomadologist]

there seems to be another more passive aggressive tendency, slightly contrite and paranoid and discernable from things like screenprints of phoenixes which remind me of the drawings of psychotics or those paintings belonging to saddam hussein

this is very subjective, i'm not sure if it holds water at all and completely nonspecific cos i'm conflating those from various subcultures

i know exactly what you mean! i've noticed a trend in screen printing on t-shirts where the image looks like the vaguely medievally influenced scrawl of a person in the very latest most advanced stages of psychosis, depersonalization, and paranoia. One example I can think of off the top of my head is, I believe, an entire line by the brand "Affliction", where these images are accompanied by the word "affliction" written in tattoo-artists' "gothmetal" font on the front and back of the shirt.

let's see if i can find pics...

 

[nomadologist]

Affliction: clothing to quiet the shrill din in the back of your head

 

[tht]

that's just the sort of thing i'm thinking of, the samurai is hilarious, like a very conciliatory 12yr old remedial kid who gets complimented by their teacher on how well they copied the japanese characters from a cereal packet, and the extra sword on the ground for no diagetic reason (just that swords are cool)

 

[nomadologist]

awash with the weird recurring theme, common in psychotic ideation, of the individual's warriorhood and entanglement in a sort of epic struggle between forces that seem to resemble something like "good" and "evil" but that lack any real moral content

me against the world, and the world is sort of like a video game, or a universe based on a really elaborate and awesome tattoo

 

[nomadologist]

and they wonder why so many american kids shoot up their entire schools.

new media culture and semiotically mixed messages are doing a lot to reinforce these negative undercurrents, to the point where it almost seems like incidents like Columbine are happening because they've been under the surface all along, festering, waiting for the slighest provocation to rupture the thin dermis that has contained the mess, just barely, under the skin. then once it breaks out, it spreads like acne and you have 10 school shoot outs, then 20...

it has something to do with the alienation involved in things like message board writing, avatars, RPGs

all weirdly similar to schizophrenic delusions or multiple personality disordered thinking.

toss a psychotic teen into our cultural mix and they find a lot to latch onto semiotically, is my point

 

[tht]

http://www.zazzle.com/cr/design/pt-...ront&group=baby&lifeStyle=all&side_front=vert

 

[nomadologist]

lol, you might as well start funneling money into a no-fee IRA for your kid's inevitable defense attorney's retainer when you buy that onesie

the internet is a virtual treasure trove of bad t-shirt designs. who would have thought that beyond what you can already get at urban outfitters or the mall near you that people would need or want access to even more obnoxious "ironic" screen printed t-shirts

cases in point:

this one (appropriately entitled "Shucks n Awe") is just trying a little too hard to say "psychotic" without any real scary depth to it. it sends a message more like "i'm liberal enough to like movies like Full Metal Jacket, but I still eat apple pie on the sly"

this one is clearly a cheeky and knowing sendup of the hiilaaaarious celebrity rehab trend. worn by people who used to wear classics like the "naomi hit me...and i loved it!" shirt of yore

 

[nomadologist]

this one is called "ethos", i kid you not. sadly i don't think anyone who buys this would wear it ironically.

the 69 says "i'm a mindless frat boy" but the vietnam says "but that doesn't mean i can't care"

"just because i'm white doesn't mean i can't buy ghetto blaster t-shirts with my trustfund checks"

 

[tht]

then once it breaks out, it spreads like acne and you have 10 school shoot outs, then 20...

it has something to do with the alienation involved in things like message board writing, avatars, RPGs

all weirdly similar to schizophrenic delusions or multiple personality disordered thinking.

toss a psychotic teen into our cultural mix and they find a lot to latch onto semiotically, is my point

the nintendo/tolkien/nirvana signifer clusters all coalesce around.......

the individual's warriorhood and entanglement in a sort of epic struggle between forces that seem to resemble something like "good" and "evil" but that lack any real moral content

and are sufficiently glib and unreal to be assimilable within any culture, photoshop effluvia that connotes suburban insecurity far outside the teenage subcultures that spawned the various components

 

[zhao]

nothing to add at the mo but interesting analysis...

how do you write plural of analysis? i know it's not analysisis. analysis'?

 

[STN]

Analyses, I'd imagine.