The Hunt for the Perfect Jeans
Trust me, it’s terribly hard to find a pair of classic Levi’s Jeans. It’s as if I belong to a lost generation of people whose clothing needs are no longer given attention by the corporate apparel brands. All I wanted was a pair of nothing-fancy, standard-fit, straight, flat, uncut, unworn, simple jeans. What I found was a wide variety of worn-looking jeans, some that had been cut into, some skin-tight and some baggy jeans (that revealed more than what is visually bearable).
Even in T-shirts, I could feel the trend was moving toward body-tight, short-sleeve tees that were meant to highlight the forearms of men who worked out. People are moving towards what is hip rather than what is comfortable. I ask, what happens to those of us who’re blessed with paunches? What do we wear?
I visited 3 malls – Infiniti, MegaMall and (my favourite) Inorbit, in the hope of finding something to my liking. I ended up with a feeling of being ignored. And the new kids on the block have weird taste in clothes; not too far off from their terrible taste in music. Damn those pesky kids.
Girls wearing stuff that they’re not comfortable in is fine; that’s different. They’ve been wearing highly uncomfortable/painful high-heels, and skin-tight, blood-flow hindering apparels and accessories for years. They believe it gives them more power, or a better sense of self, or whatever else they’re looking to kid themselves with. But for guys, the idea of putting on something you’re not comfortable with is plain wrong. Guys who take care of themselves aren’t guys. The word “shabby” defines us. The rise of the so-called metrosexual (“semigay”) male is horrifyingly disturbing for those of us who’re hoping it’s a fleeting phase. If clothing brands began designing clothes according to the wishes of the metrosexual crowd, several generations of old-school men are going to be furious. Of course, you’ll find a section of men who feel comfortable in baggy jeans, but for me, the idea of being so scarily close to being pantless in public is unacceptable. The very thought of it brings nightmares.
Clothing brands are having a profound influence over our product choices. It’s sad and unfortunate, but I believe our purchase-decisions are heavily influenced not by what we like, but rather by what’s hip and out there and what’s available in our favourite stores. People enters stores, pick out what they feel is best for them from among large sets of apparels that don’t really suit them; yet, for the sake of buying something from the store, purchase some or the other item at an over-priced rate and exit. The fashion out there isn’t decided by the people, it’s decided by the brands. Fashion is fed to the masses. And quality for the younger generation is apparently equal to the price they have to pay. Selecting crap out of crap will get you nothing but expensive crap. For me, quality is equal to something that’s comfortable and inline with my taste, a lot of times with very less influence of the price.
It’s hard for me to like something. And once I like something, I use it until it wears out. That’s how I get my money’s worth, and that’s why price has low significance while purchasing. Spotting what I like is extremely easy; it’s like love at first sight. And yet, the tough part is getting what I like. It takes me hours to find something that interests me, but seconds to reject things I don’t like. So most of the time, I end up rejecting hundreds of items quickly, and the one item that I like immediately captures my attention. I see it. I like it. I buy it.
I’m afraid that soon the younger generation will take over the market and I’ll be left with no option but to wear what’s “hip”. Thankfully, the sporting brands – Adidas/Reebok/Nike/Puma are largely unaffected by the changes in styles, fittings and sizes. The shoulder lengths continue to be where they were years back. That’s what I love about them. They still have that basic, classic feel.
An IT letdown
A few days ago while I was enjoying my long weekend, a friend asked me for a solution to a seemingly simple IT problem. At first, it seemed doable, but later it hit me that it would require a lot more work. It annoyed me that I couldn’t come up with a solution, being the IT guy. Today again, although I was able to help someone with one problem, I couldn’t help assist her with another simple one.
The Problem : “Why can’t I see Applications on Facebook? Where has the chat gone? Where has the toolbar at the bottom gone?”
Suggested Solution : Assuming that Facebook changed it’s code and it’s not pushing out standards-compliant code, “Try a different browser. Works fine in Opera.”
Real Solution : “Switch back to Facebook from Facebook Lite. See Settings.”
The problem was in understanding the problem. The approach should have been broader.