Ah, luxury beauty – how far you could stretch yourself? Who’d guess the ugly and dirty sneakers of my dad, which he didn’t even bother to clean the mud lumps off would be a piece of luxury that I cannot afford. Phew!
But there is only one creature to blame and that is the God Pan! How? Stick to the display, I am going to give an important secret to you.
The paradox – love and hate for the ugly sneakers
Almost for the whole July I’ve locked myself inside. I haven’t done it to avoid the summer heat, no, not for that. I am actually glued to my laptop to see what kind of looks walk down the runways. July is full of them. So are streetwear, fashion-less fashion and ugly sneakers. Also the paradox is too evident to miss – while the fashion houses from the most luxury ones to the most affordable ones are racing to grab an opportunity out there, almost everybody talks about the experimental streetwear craze and even fatigue! Even some new expressions are being coined – “the uglier the better”. If people are tired of it, then why there is so much craze about it? Or why so much negativity while it actually sells so well? From where this paradox breeds?
Very puzzling…until one discovers the Pan’s syndrome.
The God Pan is back … in the ugly shoe business
Rooted at the preference of the main clientele and boosted by the commercial targets of the luxury fashion houses, this craze has gained such a magnitude that it can only be explained by the Pan’s syndrome – the syndrome of mass agitation.
Who’d know the word panic derives from the name of the God Pan, a little hairy, horny, semi-animal, semi-human fellow. The God Pan with its panic-inducing screams symbolize an important aspect of our nature – our tendency to fall victim to the feeling of agitation, instinctual fight-flight state of mind that overrides logic and reasoning. Worse, this agitation very easily spreads and becomes mass panic – like a contagious disease. It talks about the instinctual survival state of mind and how easy it is to cause agitation in the masses.
How it applies to the streetwear, dad sneaker craze and simultaneous fatigue? The digital disruption has turned the societal pyramid upside down. The fashion industry hasn’t been exempt either. The layer that couldn’t get its voice out there now has gotten to the top. The influencers who wear sneakers in objection to the too-restricting, too-elusive, too-refined taste of the fashion houses have a wider reach than the elusive fashion magazines. And these influencers are capable to influence obviously to the most connected, most-exposed generation – the millenials, who naturally prefers destructive, “no-rules” over discipline and structure (no offence to anybody, we are talking about the behavioral patterns that the levels of hormones cause at that age frame).
Now, this is one side of the coin. The other side is the fashion houses and their commercial goals.
You have my sympathy, the renowned designers of fine taste!
No matter how much the fashion designers of the most refined taste may loath those bumpy sneakers and streetwear deep in their hearts, pressed against the sales targets, they have to not only adjust, but push for more sales of what already sells. So this is a two way-street – somehow the destructive taste of the main cluster of the clientele teamed up with the aggressive communication strategy of the luxury fashion houses to boost sales has caused something unstoppable. What can be explained with the Pan’s syndrome only – mass agitation. This has made even the most elusive fashion houses take the fight-flight attitude for survival. Almost everybody complains about the craze, yet everybody follows the trend. Even wants to get ahead.
The exemplary situation of mass panic – all hate it, yet all do it because there is no other solution in sight. We are blinded by our own instinctual agitation. Long live, elegance!