Thursday, October 07, 2010

When the Only Thing Unique Is the Price








monoculture (n) ~ a system with very low diversity; a potentially dangerous hegemony that breeds uniformity, complacency and (eventually) totalitarianism

So, these dresses are like the garment industry's answer to generic brand supermarket foodstuffs: All manufactured in the same factory by an inconspicuous label and then sold by a large retailer under their particular 'brand' at prices well below the designer products they echo. The only difference is that instead of descriptive, unassuming generic brand product names like "Deodorant Soap" or "Chocolate Syrup," we have "Look Over Your Shoulder Dress" and "Western Sunset Cowboy Boots." Viva la value...

(thanks to Violet Reaction for cluing us into this phenomenon)

10 comments:

MAB from OtterCatHaus said...

Isn't that discouraging? Ugh.

alexkeller said...

hellacious
i'm safe - i don't like any of it

Mother Midnight Vintage said...

i wouldn't pay a nickle on any of those - i'd rather dig through the thrifts and chance a true find.
most of these pieces will end up in the trash due to poor construction before a vintage item even starts to show a hint of wear!

Beth Trouble said...

I love the lack of comments on this incredibly amazing post because it is totally indicative of the totalitarianism you equate with monocultures (I hope I'm correct in assuming that this is your definition): fashion bloggers and those who aspire to someday be among their ranks are all so worried about losing (marginally) lucrative sponsorship deals with Modcloth and Ruche and the like that they suddenly go silent whenever the stores are called out for anything relating to price, quality or, in this case, their respective role in the continued 'mallification' of culture. If that's not a form of soft totalitarianism then I don't know what is.

Thanks for keeping it real AND substantive. I think this is now my new favorite blog.

Huzzah! Vintage said...

Wow! Thanks, Beth. The relationship between comments and content hadn't really occurred to me, but I like your explanation for the relative lack of responses much better than my own, which was something to the effect of 'no one found the post interesting.' I think I shall call upon your thesis for all low-comment posts from this point forward!

kidding. a little.

Kendi Lea said...

Gina --

It's reasons like this as to why I like you, your blog and your shop.

Thanks for this post. It's a little disheartening no?

xo Kendi

Elle - The Violet Reaction said...

I have PLENTY more of these that I've found... I'm just hanging on to them to gradually roll them out on my blog over time (just posted a small one a few days ago). Thanks for the nod, and I'm glad you decided to share this with your readers!

violetreaction.blogspot.com

Kelly Lauren said...

sigh, I hate capitalism. Viva Vintage! I have a wishlist on modcloth, though. but have never purchased anything because I truly feel like a lot of it is not worth the price!

mary van note said...

Makes me appreciate vintage all the more! I've tried buying things from Modcloth twice and am actually glad that 1) they forgot about my order and 2) I didn't receive the order... so ultimately they never got my money and I didn't get duped into buying cheap crap. I'll save my dough for quality, thank you.

Sidewalk Chic said...

Found you through Suze's post today -- excellent points you've made. I used to work retail at the mall, and was around the shops so often that I could tell when new inventory was in for every store, because a lot of the inventory across stores was just eerily familiar. It's incredibly disheartening as a consumer, though I suppose it's not new. It's like at the grocery store when brand name cereal is exactly like generic -- often they're made in some of the same factories.

It's another reason why I've been phasing more and move over to vintage clothing. At least it's cheap and often better made.