ON FASHION AND DISSING YOUR WORKING CLASS NEIGHBOR or ON FASHION AND "HEY THIS ISN'T FASHION THIS IS WHAT I WEAR TO WORK"

You Carhart wearing, soft hands having, SUV driving, clean fingernail displaying, trustafarian, working-class poser, fuck-o!
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I read somewhere recently that "to play at what you are not is the highest form of disrespect, the lowest form of condescension".

After reading this, I wiped the cappuccino froth from my lip, then from my non-calloused finger onto the double-ply foresection of my Carhart pants and rose my fist in solidarity.
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YA! BASTA! POSER!
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Then, like you smart reader, I began to see the multi-dimensional quality of my life. I am a complex person. So i was torn. Torn like my Carharts would never be.
So are we expected to walk around all the time "being ourselves". I'm not convinced that any of us wants to, or should see each other's real selves.
Ew. Gross.

AND

What would I wear if I were actually my self? A North Carolina Tarheels basketball jersey with snoopy pajama bottoms? Though this conjecture is fun, very fun, it may not be helpful in this debate with myself.

So, I have two rebuttals to justify/apologize for loving my Carharts so
dear:

1) The first argument that comes to mind is this: imitation is the highest form of flattery, no? No. Like most 'first things that come to mind' this thought is useless and should be discarded.

2) The second argument is better. It is this: If we cannot play at what we are not, then just what the hell CAN we do? The need for creative couture, fashion sampling if you will; playful dress that cross contextualizes everything is so necessary and cool, isn't it. Yes.
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Don't listen to that Nipsy Russell Comedy LP, he is not you and you are not him. Don't eat that Poo Poo Platter, you are not it and it is not you. And please don't laugh at Garfield, you are not a cat.
(insert other forms of art if you in fact are Nipsy Russell, Poo Poo, or Garfield)
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. . . And furthermore . . .Take the Dashiki for instance. The Dashiki as worn by young African-Americans in the 70's as a show of Solidarity with the pro-African, Black Power movement supports my final submission to this argument that I have cantankerously started. And that's this: Why can't sharing proletariat garb be an assertion of solidarity. If the post college temp gun for hire who plays in a band or something wants to wear a gas station jacket (though oh so '95, and inappropriate for data entry) why is it that he's a poser and not a sympathizer?

So that's enough on this probably. Actually probably too much.

Aaron L