That *OBEY shit though... whether you read it as OBEY or YEBO backwards… says that you’re either conforming OR confirming OR you’re confirming that you’re conforming or whatever. Either way that just seems like some dumb ass shit to wear on your heart or sleeve. But what the fuck do I know? #itscooltobeafoolouthere
See you can argue that since breaking the rules has always
been associated with being cool, think high school, think any iconic figure in
history that was regarded as ‘cool’ and you’ll find that their image is
idolised for its anti-establishment status. But in pop culture being un-cool
has always been the next cool. So you might argue that that’s where the
street-wear clothing label OBEY’s argument sits. That in essence OBEY-ing
something is anti what’s popular and therefore by it’s nature IS cool. So
rebelling becomes OBEYING. Which as twisted as **genre-fication goes is quite a
plausible premise. And just as problematic but, we’ll get to that later.
Another way of interpreting it is that it’s a call to OBEY
the inner you in you, whatever that you is. That it motivates you to surrender
to yourself and give into your repressed/supressed instincts without filtering.
Which as noble an idea as that is, when you consider the brand’s current consumer
market it might be a better idea for that audience to steer clear from that
but, we’re not gonna go there.
So, to get a second opinion I shared my view with a friend
who by all means is way more popular culture minded and fashion forward
inclined than I am. I think I might have ended my part of the conversation with
the question “so how can a notion so ridiculous be regarded as cool?” The
answer she gave was the one I’d feared the most, one that even in my own head
while trying to make sense of this feeble topic I’d tried to avoid or even
navigate away from because I had sincerely hoped in my heart that it wasn’t
that simple. Or quite frankly, that we didn’t have it that bad. Anyway, this is
how the conversation went… Me: “remember that OBEY clothing brand? Friend: “
Yeah, the street wear joint that was hot about 4 years ago? “ Me: “ So it was
cool? Friend: “ yeah it was real cool! “ I then proceeded to say something that
resembled the opening paragraph to this joint, to which she replied (add worst
fear alert here) “Well nobody really gives a shit about what it means, no one
is tryna think deep about it, it was cool because they saw a celebrity wear it
or maybe it was on a fashion blog and that’s all that matters. That’s what made
it cool. They had to get that shit and be seen wearing it too“
A couple years ago another friend of mine who’s an ex editor
at a high profile and popular fashion magazine gave me and some colleagues a
power point presentation on the history and the behind scenes influences on the
fashion industry. One of the things that stood out the most for me was this
segment where she spoke about how the recession a couple of years ago had
affected fashion. She said that when the recession was at its worst there was
the challenge of fabric availability. Sweat shops and manufactures and fashion
houses had less fabric to work with because of the cost and so to meet the
challenge, garments that required less fabric like mini-skirts were promoted as
the new hot fashion item that winter. Not because it was a hot new idea but because
it was a means to an end. And that’s how the leggings and mini-skirts in winter
trend started.
See the thing is on the other end of the spectrum no one
gave a shit where and why that trend was popping. All the fashion promoters had
to do was put it in a couple of high profile fashion house’s collections, have
it endorsed by celebrities and the shit took off and made billions of
bootleggers get rich and save at the same time.
The significance of that is, well at-least in my head. When
you start promoting concepts like OBEY the ramifications get quite dangerous
very quickly. Thing is, not much good ever came out of obeying. It’s a
dangerous concept. But when you get people to start accepting such ideologies,
when you start making their minds more susceptible to it to a point where they
are branding themselves with the concept, then it makes the idea of ‘obeying’
something or things not so bad, welcomed even. Now if you’re the one creating
rules that you want the masses to OBEY, in that environment a problem is the
last thing you have.
As much as we didn’t know much about the mini-skirt in
winter trend’s origins a while ago. We don’t know who’s really behind OBEY. Or
who endorses such an idea for their own benefit. Even if it was a start-up
concept by some well-intended creatives who built an idea around what I said in
paragraph 2 and 3, or even if the label name meant nothing at all, there would
have to be a machine behind it that would have to drive, fund and promote it
and, this is where things always get a little sticky and not so trustworthy. On
the other hand that machine could have just created the label, threw some front
faces to the company and an image to it and BOOM, Bob’s your stepdad! All we
know is to get it to pop off they got some ‘cool’ people to rock it. Again,
history has taught us that the motives behind these ‘cool’ people’s
endorsements and their awareness in general besides ‘cutting the cheque’ has
always been questionable. But to get ‘early adopters’ which are popular culture’s
‘it’ guys or ‘thought’ leaders to transport influence from ‘culture drivers’
(read influencial public icons) and feed it into the masses, that’s generally
how you market. So, the mass market in essence becomes an influenced group that,
excuse the pun, blindly obeys trends and consumes information and products that are
marketed to them. To the point where the appeal of these products can
be shaped so that people like them because they appear to represent the exact
opposite of what they actually do.
So my question is… Who would it benefit if our minds were
more lenient to the concept of OBEY-ing? Certainly not us. And when rebelling
becomes OBEY-ing is that not cause enough for at-least some concern?
Notes
*OBEY: An
icon started as street art by the now famous street artist Shepard Fairey in
the 80's. This poster, with an image of andre the giant and the words OBEY
written in large red print underneath became extremely popular and eventually
was put onto clothing. For a good amount of time, the OBEY clothing brand was
mostly worn by hipsters, skaters, punks, and other counter cultures, but has
recently (in 2012) started being worn by douchebags who in 2006 would all be
dressing like 50 cent. This is quite unfortunate. for a further definition of
the type of people who now wear OBEY, see swagfag and yolo
I have a friend on facebook who goes to my school
whose name on facebook is "Obey Wavy" that is example enough. (Urban Dictionary)
**genre-fication – when a culture or genre's identity and
practises are hijacked and mimicked by another culture with less integrity and
substance in their motives and then presented as belonging to the original
culture for the hijacking culture’s benefit.
Have a squeeze at this and how OBEY’s image is that of a
dissent brand, then consider the irony in the reasons my friend gave for the
current market wearing it. http://www.obeygiant.com/
