According to many on the East Coast, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has and always will be Lotus Land a hippy-dippy paradise populated by draft dodgers and long-haired peaceniks. A place where everyone kayaks to work in a polar fleece vest and a pair of Birkenstocks.
So pernicious and hurtful were these rumours, the city a mere adolescent at 125 years old went out of its way, over its means and, some might argue, out of its mind to impress the cool kids of Toronto and New York. Were world class!, we shouted, tragically unaware that merely saying it made it woefully untrue and exposed us to more backwater hick jokes. We had the Olympics!, we cry, over a year and several billion dollars after they came and went. Its truly pathetic, and I, for one, want it to stop.
I think what Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»needs to do is stop playing by big city rules. Well never be Paris or London or Moscow and thats OK, as long as we stop comparing ourselves to them. We have our own niche, one that we have created for ourselves organically. (How else?) We are an informal, good-natured people and I think its high time we embraced it.
Last week, when the organizers of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Eco Fashion Week announced they were considering removing the Eco from their title, I was somewhat taken aback. Seemingly successful in their second season, they were thinking of dropping the one thing that made them uniquely and quintessentially West Coast. They were never going to pull buyers from New York, Paris or Milan Fashion Week. Hell, theyd have trouble mustering up the numbers of Los Angeles Fashion Week. But it seemed to me that by starting the only game in town for eco-conscious, sustainable fashion, they could actually build something lasting. Remember, too, that Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has already gone through several different incarnations of a Fashion Week in the last 10 years.
I think we can all agree that for the foreseeable future, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»wont rise to the top of the national, much less the international fashion heap. What we have given the sartorial world is nothing less than a calendar full of casual Fridays: yoga pants, cami tops and flats not just at the gym or while walking the Seawall, but on outings to restaurants, the theatre and even the office.
Lets face facts: the citizens of this fair city often dress in a manner reserved for fitness trainers back East. Instead of shaking our heads in disapproval at the socks and sandals guy or muttering insults under our breath to the dude in shorts on a snowy day, we should embrace our fellow travellers laissez-faire attitude towards conventional dress and loosen our own metaphorical corsets.
If we dont act soon, we run the risk of losing our long, long lead in this area. Already tired of the Snuggie, American infomercials are touting the comfort and style of Pajama Jeans (), an unholy hybrid of stretch cotton and denim styling for people who find regular jeans too formal and constricting.
The Norwegians, another famously breezy bunch, have taken the world by storm with the One Piece (), an adult onesie with all the sophistication of a union suit.
Hard to believe the OnePiece was invented by three hung-over college students, isnt it?
And where are we in the race to create the better lounge suit? Were stuck in the past, clinging desperately to our first volley from over a decade ago: yoga pants. Lululemon was our Sputnik a wake-up call (or a snooze button) for the entire world. We were going to take life lying down and there was nothing you could do about it.
Weve forgotten our couch-splayed glory days. Like its most famous wearer, Lady Gaga, the One Piece wont rule the planet forever. When the lazy and shiftless are ready to move on to the next, lower level of dress, where will they turn? If we go back to taking sloth and procrastination seriously, those slack-jawed masses may be once again looking to us for a bright and idle future.
