Celebrity Culture and Fashion: A Bad Romance?
8:37 PM
Looking back on the 20th century, one can’t deny the earth-shattering movements in fashion. From the poodle skirt to the mini skirt; the corsets to the unpopular braless movement of the 1970s, fashion was a roller coater of change and innovation. Today, I fear fashion has become a merry-go-round of used fashions and lack of originality.
It is impossible today to turn on the TV without seeing a slew of reality TV shows about a faux-blonde with a plastic nose looking for her prince charming or rather, Joan Rivers reporting on the celebrities’ “latest” fashions. Never in the past had a generation been so celebrity-crazed. In fact, until Anna Wintour celebrities never graced the cover of Vogue. Our culture has put bad behavior on a pedestal and has left us millennials bowing down to these pop tarts. Take Lady Gaga for example. Although I do admit the woman is talented as I often find myself singing “Paparazzi” into my hairbrush, I find it curious that a woman regarded as being so original, is not so original at all. From her Jackie Onassis inspired shades to her Audrey Hephern pearls to her collection of latex lingerie stage costumes inspired by Madonna, Gaga belongs in a fashion history textbook not the latest episode of Fashion Police. Not to mention her shock tactics are not so shocking anymore as more people would expect her to show up to the Grammys in a banana suit.
But somehow her revolving door of fashions have trickled down to the runways, red carpet and even the streets. Female celebrities would be unrecognizable today without their faces since they all look the same with their closets full of crop tops, hot pants, and rainbow colored wigs. It is more shocking for a female celebrity to dress like a lady these days. I find this fact alarming in today’s world where women are beginning to have higher ranking jobs than men. This celebrity-obsessed culture has blurred the lines between the real and the make-believe so much so that we don’t know how to dress for these new roles. Our world is constantly advancing technologically and socially everyday and I hope fashion can find some better role models so that fashion can follow suit.
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