Okay. Things are looking grim, I know. But I think there's plenty of good coming out of this recession.
For one thing, it's given fashion magazines all kinds of great fodder. A recent "Go Ask Alice" column on style.com was titled, "Recession 101." In the article, a fashion columnist points to designer Alice Temperley as a guide to learn how to 'navigate the recession with a wink and smile.' From the title, you're sure the article will give you great tips on how to look like you're wearing a $3,000 dress when really it's from the clearance rack at Banana Republic. But, no, the article is actually about really wearing a $3,000 dress. Apparently Temperley hasn't felt the recession the way readers have -- she is still planning to open a 2,500-square-foot shop in Dubai. Where, presumably, she can sell $3,000 dresses to tycoons who would look at me in my DVF knockoff dress and say, "Recession? Shesmession."
Luckily for those of us actually dealing with the recession in our J.Crew chinos and Target flats, TIME Magazine offered a spread on "Recession Chic" in March of last year. "March of last year?" you ask! Yes. Apparently Time magazine and fashion designers alike acknowledged what the Fed so hesitantly finally admitted in Dec. 2008.
In the spread, Times columnist Kate Betts predicted the downturn of color and prints on the runways to coincide with the downturn in the economcy. Betts quotes Amy Winehouse and says it's "Back to Black" for the fashion world as stocks stay in the red. Betts warns that the dour black of this recession won't be nearly as heroin-grunge chic as the early 1990's, but rather a much more sophisticated black. Sharp lines and classic cuts will showcase the newly-discovered practical side of fashionistas.
The recession isn't just giving great fodder to heady institutions like Vogue and Time though. Chick-lit age bloggers are getting great stuff out of the dour times, too. It seems that most blogspots have blogs titled "The Recessionista," or some similar witty take on the phrase. What do these blogs have to offer? A variety of things ranging from five-star-restaurant-quality recipes you can make at home to listings of stores with great deals. Some of them are no-nonsenes guides to more-frugal living, and other are wildly humorous tales of the horrors of shopping during a recession: everything's black! everything's last season! everything is too expensive for me now that my I-Banker boyfriend is jobless!
So, alright, if the economy picks up around the second quarter of this year, I guess I'll go with it. But until then, or if then, I'll keep frequenting my new favorite blogs. I'll proudly don my sophisticated black dress for lower-key cocktail parties, and I'll wear my off-the-rack washable knit pants to class with my head held high. For I can feel confident, with the support of bloggers worldwide, that I'm not deigning to wear off-the-rack clothes, but rather I'm just letting out my inner recessionista.
