5.6.13

Poverty...So Hot Right Now



My chola obsession has waned (for now) and has jumped ship to what can only be described as “White Trash” fashion. No, seriously. It’s a thing. Trailer Park Couture, Redneck Realness, Haute Hillbilly; whatever you wanna call it I think we can all agree that the common denominator amongst these is essentially...poverty. So what’s with fashions ongoing fascination with poor people? For the rich, wealthy, and powerful (who can actually afford the Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, and other designer items being featured) is the trailer park simply the only frontier into which they have not ventured? For these people, sailing off the coast of France, vacationing in Paris, or living in an NYC penthouse is just...so common place, boring even. But a trailer park? Now that’s somewhere they’ve never been! My first reaction to this white trash obsession was the obvious fact that the juxtaposition of a $3,000 handbag or a $10,000 “arm party” held up in stark contrast to the harsh, cold, reality of a trailer park does have quite the story to tell. 



But then, instead of thinking of these two seemingly opposite forces being against one another, I thought it might be fun to look for the relationship between them. It’s like yin and yang; all these contrary forces in our life like light & dark, hot & cold, happy & sad, even rich & poor, are all interconnected and interdependent upon each other. One cannot exist without each other- they need each other. And when I thought of it this way, the conversation became even more intriguing. They say (and by ‘they’ I mean some famous smart dude) that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction...is that what we are seeing here? Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

What do you think of white trash fashion? Is it the glamorization or poverty in the name of selling a product? Or an altruistic choice of art direction specifically aimed at holding up a mirror to society and begging the question, “What exactly does this say about our world?” And if all this thinking is just too much to handle...have no fear! Tomorrow I’ll be back to posting shameless photos of myself in pretty clothes ;)

 Until next time,

 Brittany


Images via Tumblr and Neon Mamacita

4 comments:

  1. i think that it has a lot to do with finding something beautiful in an otherwise ugly scenario. i don't think that fashion's glamourization of trailer parks is meant to make a mockery of them, i think that it's actually just trying to shed a beautiful new light on an otherwise ugly stereotype. but the real great news here is that if poverty is in now i've never been more on trend in my life.

    abigail
    www.farandwildjewelry.com

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  2. A very interesting read indeed. I really enjoy the last two questions you ended the post with: "Is it the glamorization or poverty in the name of selling a product? Or an altruistic choice of art direction specifically aimed at holding up a mirror to society and begging the question, “What exactly does this say about our world?”

    I see many issues with the fashion industry bastardizing this poverty stricken community for the sake of "Oh isn't it cool that we are here with all these poor people still looking fabulous?". But then when you said 'What exactly does this say about our world?' I began to rethink these photos and look beyond the cruelness that they have upon first impression. Maybe that was the whole point, to make the viewer disgusted in the frivolousness that can be high fashion and put this into a socio-political context of upper class and lower class. By placing fashion models wearing an outfit that costs more then some of those trailer parks combined it forces the viewer to take notice to these issues we have in our society. To think about what exactly our world is made of right now and that there is more to be thinking about. Thanks for the great read and brain churning.

    -Ashley G. www.elegantidiosyncrasy.com

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  3. such an interesting debate! neah, i don't think fashion really cares about issues or tries to stay moral. it's total exploitation in the end. glamsploitation, if you wish. just looking out for the new shock value and stuff that can be turned into ''cool''. in the end it just ends up giving a false impression on poverty and trailer park lifestyle.

    on an unrelated note, you should watch that canadian sitcom, trailer park boys. great stuff.

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