The other place was called Carhartt, a brand we associate with rugged, inexpensive clothes sold in big-box stores like Farm & Fleet, but here the things were laid out as if everything was quite posh and elegant:
It was explained that the company that made the clothes we knew had licensed its name for this pricey line, which actually made sense to me. Some guys have more money, like to shop in handsome environments, see value in softer, more flexible fabrics and slimmer, more fashionable cuts, and still want the ethos — the aura — of a manly man who'd buy his working and fishing clothes in a Farm & Fleet in Wisconsin.
We're living wherever we are, whenever we are. And yet we have our longings, and there will be shops that cater to our longings. There's a place somewhere. A place somewhen.
If you're thinking of saying "somewhen" is not a word or, hey, "somewhen" should be a word. I've got news: "Somewhen" is a word, Thomas Hardy used it in "Tess of the d'Urbervilles": "Yes, though nobody else should reproach me if we should stay together, yet somewhen, years hence, you might get angry with me for any ordinary matter, and knowing what you do of my bygones you yourself might be tempted to say words, and they might be overheard, perhaps by my own children."
Posts
22 comments:
But I don't think Thomas Hardy would have abused the "were/we're" or the subjunctive "was/were" distinction, as in
"...here the things we're laid out as if everything was quite posh and elegant...."
Gosh, I hate hipsters. Now they're making even Carhartt's urban cool?
The use of the masculinity tag was ironic, right?
"But I don't think Thomas Hardy would have abused the "were/we're" or the subjunctive "was/were" distinction, as in…"
1. I haven't read TH's manuscripts, but he had editors before the typesettings. Thanks for your editing work on this.
2. I don't like the subjunctive here, because it turns out the stuff was kind of elegant and because it would undercut the casualness of the writing. My taste here.
@Birches
Yep.
One sells old furniture and accessories from the mid-20th century.
Hey, we have some shops like that around here too. They're called "Goodwill"...must be a chain or something.
"Gosh, I hate hipsters. Now they're making even Carhartt's urban cool?"
Agreed. Filthy hipsters.
I love the black-on-black hipster with her arms akimbo, posing for you up front. Except for the high tech shoes and the iPhone the same snap could have been taken 60 years ago.
The for folks on the avant garde, riding the latest wayward breeze to shores unknown, they never really change, do they?
"Yes, though nobody else should reproach me if we should stay together, yet somewhen, years hence, you might get angry with me for any ordinary matter, and knowing what you do of my bygones you yourself might be tempted to say words, and they might be overheard, perhaps by my own children."
Sung to the Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime."
Douchebag hipsters in designer Carhartt clothes. No decency whatsoever.
Hipsters or their predecessors have been conscripting work clothes, with and without irony, forever. It is only recently when the makers of work clothes have exploited the monied. Good for them.
Tess. Stunning. Beautiful. Haunting. It affects me to this day.
Hey, we have some shops like that around here too. They're called "Goodwill"...must be a chain or something.
Ha. That reminded me of that Simpsons episode, where they find out all their stuff is worth a lot of money because it's so "campy."
Birches said...
Gosh, I hate hipsters. Now they're making even Carhartt's urban cool?
Also Woolrich, Dickie's, Duluth Trading, etc.
"Antique" (with respect to furniture) really ought to be limited to pieces that come from an era when furniture was hand made (if a piece was hand made by a craftsman yesterday, that doesn't make it an antique, although it may be a desirable piece of furniture). By the time you get to the Victorian era, you aren't generally dealing with antiques. For oriental rugs, they should be hand-made and (as I recall) use vegetable dyes. My first wife and I, as a young couple in the 70's, found that with a little effort you could furnish a home fairly inexpensively with antiques, so long as you were willing to settle for good-not-great. I have no idea what the market is like today.
Carhartt is rugged, it may be a good value, but it is not inexpensive.
I'm laughing because even Goodwill would not have wanted my husband's Carhartts by the time he was through with them.
And he was only through with them when I refused to attempt further patching.
I thought he might cry when I told him there was no way I could (or would even try) to fix one certain pair of coveralls. They were so worn and frayed around the hem that a welding spark caught the leg on fire. From the knee down a lot of fabric was gone.
He said, "But I've just now got them broken in." He was right. A new pair was so stiff simply because the fabric was so sturdy that it took a while to be able to bend over or bend a knee.
He'd worked away from home for 2 months at the time, or I'd have made sure there were no frayed edges to catch on fire. I learned early in our marriage to use the very old sewing machine to patch/darn the Carhartt stuff because it had metal gears that could take the abuse. The patches were ugly, but sturdy.
Anyone wearing anything Carhartt that isn't stained, faded, discolored, or patched somewhere hasn't actually worked in them. Same with Dickies. It was on them, that I learned those patching techniques from my mother.
ah hipsters buying carhartts. hahahaha
Also, that midcentury modern furniture, some of it looks like it was well made, it's stood up longer than anything IKEA pumps out, I'll wager.
No, mid 50s furniture isn't antique, it's called "mid century modern" in the furniture world. This style was hot not long ago as was "shabby chic" but neither is now.
BTW, an antique is defined as an object that is 100 or more years old.
"Hipsters or their predecessors have been conscripting work clothes, with and without irony, forever."
Primarily because they're comfortable, durable, and cheap.
I love mid-century modern style; I still remember regular mid-western folk living with such furniture when I was a kid. That's when it was the new style. It looks great today!
"And he was only through with them when I refused to attempt further patching. "
I use duct tape.
Post a Comment