MovieChat Forums > Seamless (2005) Discussion > Please Help Me

Please Help Me

posted 17 years ago by groggo
10 replies | jump to latest

After watching 'Seamless' and being spellbound by the sheer vacuity of the fashion world, can someone please explain what it is that attracts people to it? Doesn't anyone get annoyed that a single dress can cost a couple of million bucks, be worn once (usually to create envy in others), and then discarded, because, after all, you wouldn't be chic if you wore it twice, would you? This flick gave me good insights into the world of fashion while it made me quite angry and almost ill. Hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars go into this industry every year. Is there a fashion fan out there who can explain what is so attractive about this strange world inhabited by very, very strange people?

[–] pantsaroni 16 years ago

and the extremely affluent will wear a very expensive outfit only once & then discard it. unfortunately, some people are very shallow & insecure & stupid & have too much time & money on their hands. but there are a few who will donate the discarded items to charities that will then auction them off. or some will sell them to thrift shops. some arrange with the designer to merely borrow the item in exchange for the press coverage the outfit will receive.

i also resent the fact that fashion editors & magazines try to dictate what looks are now "in" or "hot," and try to convince us to abandon many of the outfits we bought in previous seasons, the same outfits that they once hyped.

there is so much waste in the fashion industry.

so, while i love fashion, i show some restraint. i hardly ever buy clothing at full price. i won't shop impulsively. i don't buy new clothing very often. i gravitate toward classic silhouettes with subtle, innovative, special detailing or fabric, so that i can wear them for many years. sales associates can never influence my choices.

one indulgence: i hadn't purchased a new handbag in over 21 years, so when i finally decided i needed a new one, i splurged. but only after mulling it over for about a year.

[–] groggo 16 years ago

Thanks for your informative and witty reply. I'm a guy who isn't 'with it' (in other words, I'm a fashion barbarian). I can't relate to this stuff at all; it makes me very ill. I'm glad you show restraint even though you 'fess up to loving fashion. Maybe there's some sanity out there after all. Thanks again, and good luck.

[–] pantsaroni 16 years ago

it's also very interesting for me to get your perspective as a guy (who's not a metrosexual or vain). to tell you the truth, you shouldn't be able to relate to this stuff, & it should make you ill! it's a very silly industry, very frivolous &, again, wasteful. i do know a lot of women who are addicted to fashion & shopping. one actually had to file for bankruptcy because she owed so much on her credit cards. she now hides new purchases in the trunk of her car so her husband won't yell at her.

anyway, you're welcome. & thank you for your response. good luck to you, too!

[–] groggo 16 years ago

Thanks for your vote of confidence.

A little anecdotal note apropos of nothing: I live near the ultra-chic, terminally bourgeois area of Yorkville in Toronto, and saw a 20-something couple today in 'casual' afternoon dress that cost the equivalent of a small war. Their boots alone could pay for a year's supply of Donald Trump combovers.

I watched these two precious people closely because (a) I don't have a life; and (b) I'm incurably nosy. They descended an escalator and, despite being arm-in-arm, never once looked at one other -- they were instead looking at all of the people who were looking at them. They were smugly satisfied, but were suddenly diverted by a guy who was too busy reading a book to notice them. Hard glares were directed at this guy. The indignity of it all! How could that primitive not notice them??

Wonderful slice of nothingness. This is what I do in my joyous life: watch human beings transform themselves into lunatics.

Happy New Year!!

[–] pantsaroni 16 years ago

i know a lot of narcissists, but i don't think any of them are quite that extreme. i love observing people & the way they interact with one another.

(how do you think 20-somethings could afford such expensive outfits?)

happy new year to you, too!

[–] groggo 16 years ago

Like you, I love observing people and the way they interact, particularly when I think I'm going around the bend and romancing lunacy. It's great therapy.

Like you again, I'm often stymied when I see 20-somethings with mountains of money. There just can't be that many super-duper jobs that afford untold masses of disposable income. Maybe their parents give them allowances, or they traffic in credit card machines.

I'm a half-assed social psychologist, and I go to the super-yuffiefied areas often, primarily for amusement and other giggles. I see a lot of hotshot loonybirds with $500,000 cars or SUVs driving around and around on the 'in' streets of the Yorkville section of Toronto. They're not going anywhere. They park, get out, lock the vehicles, and then sit perhaps 10 feet away from them on store-steps and watch people admire their precious vehicles. That's all they do: for hours. This is absolutely true. I love this stuff. I write about it a lot, and even take pictures, because it's just a wonderful slice of life gone absolutely nuts.

All the best!

[–] pantsaroni 16 years ago

"I see a lot of hotshot loonybirds with $500,000 cars or SUVs driving around and around on the 'in' streets of the Yorkville section of Toronto. They're not going anywhere. They park, get out, lock the vehicles, and then sit perhaps 10 feet away from them on store-steps and watch people admire their precious vehicles. That's all they do: for hours. This is absolutely true. I love this stuff. I write about it a lot, and even take pictures, because it's just a wonderful slice of life gone absolutely nuts."

this is too nutty for me to wrap my brain around! are you KIDDING me?!?!? i used to live in manhattan, & i saw many people with both old money & new money, but i never saw such overt displays of insecurity & desperation.

oh, back to the topic of fashion & shopping, one phenomenon that always perplexes me is men who let their girlfriends, wives, or significant others drag them out for HOURS while the women shop & try on clothing, asking, "what do you think of this one?" "should i get this one?" "do you like this one better than the mauve one?" [man: "mauve?"] "does this make me look fat?" "will you hold my purse while i try this on?" the men look so miserable. they're splayed out on the armchairs, their eyes glazed over, & you know that somewhere, on some channel, there's a football game they could be watching. what's up with that? do any of your male friends do that?

[–] groggo 16 years ago

Very funny. Laughed a lot at your shopping scene, particularly the one about 'does this make me look fat?' I've been asked that one (and all the others you cite) more than once, and, like all good snivelling, cowardly schlubs, I do what men do best when confronted with women on a shopping blitz: I lie. It's a survival technique we probably learned in the caves. Most guys prefer multiple choice questions (and answers) -- anything to avoid telling the truth.

I can safely say there isn't a man alive who would tell his partner that such-and-such made her look too fat, even if it does, in which case he'll usually say something that is spectacularly dishonest: 'no, no, no, darling, you look FABulous; buy two! Three if there's a sale!' And if she wears it, he takes her to dark streets and dimly lit cafes.

I (and most other men) really are hopeless schlubs when it comes to shopping. We have a basic fashion sense (e.g. Kodiak boots don't look that great with tuxedos) This is probably sexist (who knows anymore?), but I have never in my life met a woman who didn't love shopping, although I HAVE known women who vociferously deny it, even after beating eight other women senseless at a sweater sale.

It seems to be a 'feminine' thing, and one really sees this in the fashion industry, where most of the male designers and hangers-on are, well, 'sensitive' and in touch with their 'feminine side' -- in short, they're gay. I think Yves St. Laurent said he might be the only straight man in the history of the fashion industry. A slight exaggeration, but the point is made.

'Why' is my favourite word. I never really know 'why' women are so distinctly different from men when it comes to clothes. Did it start in the same caves where men first learned their getaway stories?

[–] pantsaroni 16 years ago

well, you sound like a very kind, considerate, patient, sensitive person. the women in your life are very lucky to know you.

"and if she wears it, he takes her to dark streets and dimly lit cafes." hahahahahaha!

what confuses me is why so many women need the opinion of others before making a purchase. when i see a garment, i feel very strongly about: i like it or i hate it, & no one else will be able to convince me otherwise.

"we have a basic fashion sense (e.g. kodiak boots don't look that great with tuxedos)." hee, hee! although don't be surprised if some up & coming young designer decides to show tuxedos with kodiak boots in the fall 2008 runway shows. they have sent stranger combinations down the runway, in an effort to make a "dramatic statement."

"i never really know 'why' women are so distinctly different from men when it comes to clothes."

unfortunately, i think it all results from adults early on telling girls how important their appearance is. then the magazines & the rest of society continue hammering it into them as they get older.

if only i knew more guys like you & your friends. lately, the men i spend time with are all more vain than i am (in my opinion), asking me over & over if they look okay. damn you, david beckman!!

[–] annseton 15 years ago

pantsaroni and groggo you are way too classy for the imdb boards!