Kevin Barrett 
When it comes to fashion, you either get it or you don’t. That seems to be the rule, anyway. It is sort of difficult to understand what makes something fashionable. It is worth figuring out, though, considering the fashion industry is worth trillions. That’s a lot of money; therefore, it is a business worth understanding.
Personally, I don’t understand fashion. I am currently wearing jeans that I bought at Costco. I am also wearing a t-shirt that cost me $11.
To an extent, I think the fashion industry is ripping people off; you can apparently buy jeans that cost over $1,000. The jeans I am wearing cost $25 and have lasted for well over a year. I really can’t tell the difference between my jeans and the jeans that cost hundreds of dollars. I suppose there are people who can genuinely tell. I don’t really want to be friends with those people, though.
There are expensive t-shirts out there, too. You can buy t-shirts that cost over $1,000, too. Why would anyone do that? They generally wear out in less than a year. Apparently Gucci sells the most expensive t-shirts in the world.
Still, there’s a difference between an overpriced product and a really ridiculous or ugly one.
Here are eight examples of products that are just really bad fashion choices.
1. The Distressed Sweater
This sweater looks like it has been worn for several years and should be thrown away. Also, the price is ridiculous. Who pays that much for a sweater?
I actually have a t-shirt that has similar damage to this sweater, except less of it. I met my mom for lunch and was wearing the shirt. She told me I should throw it away. Her exact words, I believe, were “give it up already”. It is one of my favorite t-shirts – it fits really well and it is extremely comfortable.
You know how it got damaged? I was zipping up my jacket and the t-shirt got caught. I have zipper problems for some reason. Anyway, I still have the t-shirt. Maybe I should sell it online as “distressed” for five times what I paid for it seven years ago. Curiously enough, I could see someone buying it.
People are weird like that; some people are, anyway. If something is expensive, they think it is better—even if it isn’t. I once drank really good scotch. I think it cost something like $500 a bottle. It was a present to one of my friends, so he let me try a glass one Thanksgiving. I couldn’t tell the difference between it and it the scotch I usually drank at the time, honestly, and I wasn’t exactly drinking expensive stuff.
I really do have a problem with zippers, it seems. I have ruined more than one t-shirt with a zipper. I have also have a lot of jackets with zippers that just don’t work. Do you know how much it costs to get a zipper repaired? I don’t, because I’m too lazy to go to the store down the street that could fix them.
2. The Overalls
I have no idea what the heck this is. These are overalls, sort of, but it really isn’t a good look. The girl in this image is very pretty, and she would look great in almost anything; however, this article of clothing really detracts from her beauty. I am not saying she looks bad; she could just look better. That’s just my personal opinion.
There are probably people out there who are really attracted to overalls. I’m not sure what the appeal would be; we all have our own tastes, though.
These are distressed. Why are distressed articles of clothing so popular these days? What’s the point of the trend? Fifty years ago, if you had holes in your clothing people just believed you were poor—that’s what I assume, anyway, as I wasn’t alive back then. It seems like a reasonable thing to believe.
Until I did an internet search, I didn’t realize overalls were popular garments for women. The Gap sells overalls, apparently. Naturally, they are distressed. Kohl’s apparently sells overalls for women—at least they do online. I think I would know if Kohl’s sold overalls in the store. I buy all my clothes at Kohl’s. I feel bad for people who can’t shop at Kohl’s.
The funny thing is that I have only ever seen a woman wear overalls once in my life, and that was for a Halloween costume. She was a somewhat scantily clad farmer. This was on a college campus, of course.
3. The Shirt and the Stripes
Decent manufacturers generally do not make goofs like this, so I can only assume this was an intentional design decision. I don’t get it.
Why do fashion designers these days think people want to buy clothing that makes them look like they can’t afford decent stuff? I don’t understand the point of that.
I could see it being a nice t-shirt if the stripes were aligned. I would probably buy it. The colors are nice enough, I guess, although I don’t really like red and green together on a garment. I guess it would be a great t-shirt to wear during the Christmas season.
4. The Face on the Shirt
For obvious reasons that I won’t point out, this young lady should not be wearing this particular shirt. I bet she got a lot of attention while walking down the street, though, and maybe she was going for that.
I don’t understand faces on t-shirts. I like t-shirts with designs and logos and stripes and such as much as the next person who really likes t-shirts; I just don’t like faces. Why would you want a face on your abdomen? You have a face popping out of your neck. Why do you need another one? What’s next? Are they going to start putting faces on gloves?
I met a woman once who wore a sweater with a face on it. Making it even stranger was the fact it was the face of her late husband. He was a lot older than she was, clearly. I am guessing he was rich.
She told me she had a sweater with a picture of her dog on it, too, which I also find kind of weird. I like my dog a lot, but I don’t want to walk around with a picture of him on a t-shirt. I can’t imagine what people would think. Most of my friends already think I am kind of quirky, which is sort of putting it mildly. I talk about my dog a lot, as regular readers of my articles may have noticed. People find it a tad strange.
5. The Fanny Pack and the Footwear
It isn’t that I object to this particular concept, per se; I just think these are really ugly. They’re a great concept, because you can always use a place to keep your coins. That is probably what I would keep there. The colors are just horrible, though. Who picked those? The green is hideous.
Why don’t I see people wearing fanny packs? I had, at one point, honestly thought about trying to bring the look back—not that it was ever a look. People think they are dorky, but I don’t know why. They’re really very convenient. I always have so much stuff in my pockets, and it is very uncomfortable. I’d rather carry my keys, phone, wallet, etcetera on my hip.
You can apparently buy fanny packs at stores like Target and Forever 21, which surprises me.
Maybe they are coming back into style and I don’t need to try to bring the look back myself. That is probably a good thing—I have never started “a look” in my life, and I certainly never will.
Gucci sells them now, apparently, and they cost over $700. I think it is safe to say that the look has been reestablished.
It seems like they are being called other things now, like “belt bags”, which I think is a better name. I also like that they are called bum bags in the United Kingdom. That is also a much better name. In
France, they are apparently called “banana bags”, which is an interesting choice.
It really is surprising that Nike is making this particular product. When I was little, all of the kids loved Nike sneakers. It was the cool thing to have. I know I had a pair or two of Nike sneakers back in the day. My parents wanted me to fit in with the other children.
These days, I just can’t be bothered buying nice shoes. Who looks at my feet? I hope no one does. I would be kind of weirded out if someone came up to me and told me that they really liked my shoes. I just hope, at this point, that they can’t smell my feet.
6. The Shirt With the Holes
This shirt kind of ticks me off, honestly. I wear a t-shirt that has holes in it because I carelessly put them there and people think I’m poor; this guy goes around in a shirt with holes in them—because he bought it that way—and people think he is stylish. It is very frustrating.
It is very frustrating on a few levels, honestly. I couldn’t pull this shirt off. I would be made fun of by literally every single person in my life and every single person that lives in my little town. This is one of those shirts you wear in places like New York and London. It wouldn’t fly where I live.
Then again, I wouldn’t really want to wear this. I try to keep my abdomen covered most of the time. The only time anyone sees my abdomen is when I’m at the doctor, and I don’t go to doctors.
At least this shirt has holes that look intentional. You know they were put there on purpose. It doesn’t look “distressed”. It does look like you’re trying a little too hard to draw attention to yourself, but some people are like that.
Why is it a long-sleeved shirt, though? You wear long sleeves when it is chilly. Why would you wear long sleeves and a shirt that has holes that expose your abdomen? That just seems nonsensical.
7. The Color Black and the Shirt
First of all, I don’t really understand the point of the message on this shirt. Is it supposed to be a joke? If it is, it is kind of funny, but not very funny. I get it—it is a white shirt complaining about people who complain about people who wear black all of the time. There is a little humor there—but not much.
Are there a lot of people out there who complain when others wear black? I think black dresses look great on women. I own many black t-shirts. Most of my jackets are black, as are several pairs of my shoes.
I guess some people do overdo it, though. I knew a kid at university who wore nothing but black. Even his socks had to be black. Once in a while he would put on a red tie. I didn’t know him well, so I never came to learn why he made that specific style choice. He seemed like a pretty upbeat guy, actually. He was always making jokes at parties and laughing it up. I guess he just like the color black. It is a slimming color on most people.
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