360. Belated Labor Day solidarity (Oh yeah, and my teenage dreams came true last night)
September 8th, 2010 § 3 Comments
Although I know International Workers’ Day is far more significant to the progressive labor movement, and Labor Day has long since been debased into having little meaning other than serving as an annoying cut-off date for fashion conservatives as the last appropriate occasion to wear white, as well as one last opportunity for a summer barbecue (which I shouldn’t demean because summer barbecues really are the shizzle,) I do want to take a moment on this blog (one day late, of course) to remember the relationship between labor and fashion.
I think it would be strange to run a fashion blog that doesn’t acknowledge the labor that goes into making clothes–both beautiful and butt-ugly clothes (I won’t name specific brands, but I know we’ve all had a moment of, “This piece of garbage costs $120, and they still couldn’t pay their workers more than $2 a day?” or “Awesome, my ten dollar jeans ripped down my ass after wearing it three times.) I know this isn’t news to anyone with even an inkling of knowledge about where most of our clothes come from, but a lot of this labor is shameful — whether its jeans made in prison sweatshops right here in the United States, or the omnipresent “Made in Indonesia/Bulgaria/China/insert whatever developping nation where cheap labor can be exploited for textile and clothing production” for an article of clothing that seems suspiciously cheap and most likely, poorly made.
I spent a good chunk of my Labor day weekend indulging in some Roman hedonism and play (more on that later or maybe never,) and the rest of it was spent with my parents’ very painful Shiatsu back massager and rereading Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory by Mariam Ching Yoon Louie, and Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Both books are not perfect books, and there was something particularly disturbing about the public’s embrace of Ehrenreich’s expose on how it’s basically impossible to afford shelter, food, and basic living needs on a minimum wage job in America, because it seemed like another instance of the American public having a collective, ‘Wow, I had no idea!’ moment, even though low-income folks and people of color have been saying for AGES that they can’t get by on minimum wage. Why does it have to take an educated, wealthy, white female author to pose as a minimum wage worker before people will listen? Black Like Me, anyone?
But that said, Ehrenreich’s book itself is a good one, and she approaches her unusual situation of artificially slumming it for a few months for the purposes of research and engagement with grace and sensitivity and complexity. Louie’s book is a really necessary and good book and makes a lot of really important points often missed by the liberal activist message–namely, the importance of local and community organizing.
And as for how I spent part of my Labor Day… I was anxiously making my teenage dreams come true!
I used to sneak out of school to make periodic trips to the East Village and the Lower East Side, often by myself, dressed in my big, platform combat boots (that were from Delias and I secretly hoped noone would out me for it) and usually an old dress of my mom’s that I rescued from the trash. I liked to go into Screaming Mimi’s and Other Music and walk up and down St. Marks hoping that some punk kids would notice me (or whoever I thought was a punk at a time,) and one time I was sifting through used CD’s at Kim’s Video and I found a copy of Outkast’s Stankonia. I was pissed when I got home because I had accidentally gotten the EDITED version (Tipper Gore, you fool,) and so for a year, I knew the words to every song on Stankonia except for the profanities.
Last night, I saw Big Boi at the Brooklyn Bowl. I got there way early and staked out a spot for myself up by the stage. I was so nervous and trembly and anxious for Big Boi to start his set that I ended up peeing eight times in two hours, and each time I came back from the bathroom, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to push my way back to the front. Big Boi was amazing. The best part of the night was when his son rushed out to the stage to dance for us while Yelawolf flipped his side mullet to the other side of his head during ‘You Ain’t No DJ.’ If you’re wondering what this has to do with fashion, I will show you with a series of photos:
Bullshit that Andre 3000′s guest track isn’t on the record. (Photo and omitted song can be found on Punchbowlblog)
Andre3000 at the launch of Bixby, his freaking awesome clothing line.
Right, participate in democracy, but more importantly: wear PLAID SUSPENDERS ON GINGHAM WITH A CLASS-A BOWTIE IN YOUR MOUTH.
Love, Jenny
Great post! I agree with everything you’ve written; it’s a topic we feel strongly about and occasionally cover at On This Day In Fashion.
I didn’t know about Bixby, though, and it looks awesome (Andre 3000 is so amazing!). Do you think the clothes are made ethically or in the USA?
oh my god I remember Screaming Mimi’s – that is a throwback! Love Outkast too! I was lucky enough to see one of the last shows where Andre and Big Boi actually played together and it was phenomenal.
These guys are SERIOUSLY WITHOUT A DOUBT one of the best (male) dressers out there. I always find myself fantasising that if I were a man, I’d totes dress like André 3000.