Keeping Up Appearances

I remember the first time I ever saw a kid of my own age wearing flared trousers, I'd have been around thirteen, I think. I thought they were the coolest thing I'd ever seen on one of my peers, though I'm not entirely sure the word 'cool' was a natural part of my vocabulary back then. There was a real physical excitement involved in the idea of looking so different to the older generation. So there was a time when I must have been to some degree interested in fashion in the sense of wanting to look trendy, that being a term definitely in use. Strange, isn't it? The interest in any kind of intense sense didn't last too long - it'd largely gone by my early twenties and not too long after that reached zero.

But I realised today that I rather enjoy the fashions young people adopt. The thought was partly prompted by seeing the students at my school dressed in 'home clothes' for something termed Youth Day held annually in this Far Place. (There's a day for pretty much everybody here as far as I can tell.) Most dressed pretty conservatively but there were a few nods towards looking somewhat more funky and a few brave souls opted for outright silliness, which was highly refreshing.

And then this afternoon, for reasons which completely escape me, I settled to watch about an hour of music videos on the telly. Almost everything was completely unfamiliar but I found myself appreciating the fun, colour and imagination of it all. Even at a distance of years I could get a sense of why this kind of thing might be important to its natural audience. And I'll tell you one thing for sure: the dancing has improved several hundred-fold from what you might have seen back in my days.

I'm thankful not to feel any concern about appearance at all - other than ensuring nothing important comes unzipped - but it's part of the pleasurable texture of life that others do feel such concern and put on quite a show.