[ExI] Fashion

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
Subject: Re: [ExI] Fashion

>...OK, I might be totally lost every time I enter a clothes store or look
at my wardrobe, but at least theoretical fashion design sounds like fun...

Brilliant analysis of fashion trends in terms of chaos theory Anders!  {8-]

>...Fashion is defined as "the cultural construction of the embodied
identity" by the journal Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body &
Culture; it is not just about high fashion worn by models but just as much
what Linux t-shirts to wear at hacker parties...
--
Anders Sandberg,
_______________________________________________

All of these, ja.  The way fashion trends are currently identified is that
society somehow rather arbitrarily chooses individuals as fashion leaders,
often rock stars or Hollywood movie personalities.  But what I want to know
is how we can ever actually prove, in the mathematical sense, that the
chosen ones really are "cool."  How can we know?  I want a formula for
coolness.

Regarding hacker parties and in general every gathering of geeks, it doesn'
t matter.  Animals, proles and geeks are free.  We never need to ponder what
to wear at any social occasion.  In fact, society has developed to the point
where geeks are highly esteemed, a reversal from my own youth in which we
were disdained.  So now, ordinary people sometimes intentionally dress in a
clumsy fashion in order to appear to be a geek.  It has gotten so that now,
if I show up at some geek gathering wearing some geek-wannabe outfit, I risk
having the genuine geeks point and shout "PHONY!"

spike