This whole “swag” thing. Oh please…
Now I’m not one to cramp anyone’s style but, am I the only one who thinks all this dying for swag is making everyone look the same? I mean I went to a park on one of the recent hot days we had and the predictability of dress code exceeded ridiculous.
My simple point here is that everyone looks the same while trying make out that they are different. Last Autumn/Winter almost EVERY guy was caught in chinos, denim shirt and boat shoes. You look at the rave pictures…it’s like playing an impossible game of spot the difference and when you DO spot a difference, it’s just the same thing in a different colour.
There’s a saying “Fashion is seasonal, style is everlasting.” The way I see it majority of people talking about “swag” are following fashion (‘following’ being the operative word here and if that’s the case, how can you even consider that you’re “different”?)
I just wonder, don’t you ever think that in your headless pursuit of swag you’re at risk of losing your identity and becoming one of the crowd despite thinking you’re going against the system?
Another thing that bugs me, is the fact that people jump onto bandwagons because they are the “in-thing”. Let’s take for example this whole “OBEY” snapback craze. Cool design I can’t lie, but how many people know that it is an experiment and the creator described your interaction with it PERFECTLY waaaaaaaay back in 1990?
Have a read for yourself:
The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.” Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.
Another phenomenon the sticker has brought to light is the trendy and CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUMPTIVE nature of many members of society. For those who have been surrounded by the sticker, its familiarity and cultural resonance is comforting and owning a sticker provides a souvenir or keepsake, a memento. People have often demanded the sticker merely because they have seen it everywhere and possessing a sticker provides a sense of belonging. The Giant sticker seems mostly to be embraced by those who are (or at least want to seem to be) rebellious. Even though these people may not know the meaning of the sticker, they enjoy its slightly disruptive underground quality and wish to contribute to the furthering of its humorous and absurd presence which seems to somehow be antiestablishment/societal convention.
Shepard Fairey described you in 1990. Nuff said. So whilst many of you may think you’re being different you’re really part of an experiment that has been running for the last 20, 30 years and you know what that means right? You’re being herded for someone elses motives.
Dropping your pants down…that all started in American prisons, but you knew that already, right?
I’ll end on this note though, it’s all well and good to want have endless swag but at the end of the day what’s more important - swag or your identity?
And in other words…
Steve Jobs said it like this:
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma
