This is some sort of sick joke, right?

[Ponine]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

I'm sure people go straight from work, but at that hour most peoples make-up doesn't look freshly applied. I should have added that I go first thing in the morning.

I had a friend who would take a shower, do her hair and full make-up before going to the gym. I never understood why.

See, and I go after work. Sometimes not till 9pm. I reapply the makeup, and redo my hair, and whatever else I need to do in order to look presentable.

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Who said I was laughing snarkily? I find it funny that people get all dolled up to go to the gym. I can find it funny. I'm sure people find fault with and laugh at much of my clothing and fashion choices. Is that sad or un-swank? Or just a matter of personal opnion.

I do doll up to go to the gym.
I am a woman of size, and i know this. I cant wear the average gym clothes. they make me look really heavy, and though I know I am, I dont want to show it off.
So I make sure my gym clothes match, are washed, and are flattering. I dont want someone to stare at me and say, why are you in those grubbies?
I'd rather someone thought I was affluent, and spent time on my appearance and wanted to get thinner.
It is rather disconcerting to think that it could be found amusing, but, you know, I guess I can deal with that.
So many of the people there at that time of night, are thin, and beautiful, and its a big challange for me, at my size, and the other flaws I see, to go be around those people.

I guess for me, and I would like to think others, thats what makes us feel like we deserve to go hang out at the gym. My belated two cents.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Heehee! Is that your final answer to the part where I showed you also "feel the need to laugh snarkily at what others obviously enjoy"? We're all human, in the end.

For me, it is the disdain for the creative that gets to me. It is so easy to justify being uncreative - and some are just not appreciative of creative expression. That is sad to me, but a reality. Again, I think I come to expect that in other environments, boards, etc. But, here, I expect more. Just as we can have decent political discussions from a wide variety of views, I expect the same thing to happen when discussing social and creative issues. This thread started out in a bad way, IMHO. If a thread about a political topic was started with the same tone, I think we would all consider it baiting and probably not participate. I held off on participating in this thread for quite a while and then I just had to say something. Unfortunately, by that time I was in a general state of disgust and it showed.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

For me, it is the disdain for the creative that gets to me. It is so easy to justify being uncreative - and some are just not appreciative of creative expression.

I simply don't see the creativity in this line of merchandise. It's mass produced shlock, no more creative or rebelious than a jacket with a Misfits patch sold by the thousands at Hot Topic. If I saw someone in the park wearing a home made shirt with an iron-on of a family phot of them at Disneyland 40 years ago, that'd be awesome. But sold by Disney at $90+? Bah, just another chapter in the never-ending cycle of true rebelious creativity being coopted and mass marketed by corporate America. It'll make them some good bucks, but to me it's the sign that it's time to move into new areas of creativity.

Some people have shown quite a bit of disdain towards Shag for the very same reasons. And even though we obviously like the stuff since we bought it, I certainly understand it. Of course, they weren't charging $130 for cheap prints. They were charging $15. Had they been $130, I probably would have had the same reaction as I did to these shirts.

[innerSpaceman]

I just don't get that this thread started off in a bad way, or that it's initial subject had anything to do with stifling creativity.

It's aim was to stifle consumer rip-offs. Like it or not, clothing is a consumer item. So are films. So are many other creative forms ... when they become FOR SALE.

Some opined that the overpriced stuff was ugly. Personally, to narrow the point - I focusted on the one item I found pleasing - the Bambi thermal - to illustrate the point that it was astonishingly overpriced for such a poorly manufactured item.

Then there was the great bit of discussion about the sociological implications of fashion and apparel (cheers right back at ya, € ), and then the time-honored general criticism of this or that fashion style which Joe or Jill doesn't care for.


NA, maybe you took things a bit personally because there seemed to be some criticism of people who spent lots of money on clothing. Darling, if the stuff you wear were either ugly or cheap-looking, maybe there'd be an issue. That's not the case. Not that I've ever seen. But I don't think anyone was criticing the purchase of expensive clothing that's stylish and well-made. It wasn't extravagance that came under fire, but blind consumerism.

I guess it's none of anyone's business if someone wants to spend roughly a hundred bucks on a thermal that looks to last 2 washings at best. But we all have opinions, and this is where we express them. Some of those opinions are overly judgmental, and this is where we can hopefully learn a little about ourselves as we discuss things with others.

I'm confident that most people here, most of the time, use that insight to better themselves and the world around them.




But not everyone will do that every time. Sometimes, we just wanna be snarky.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

If a thread about a political topic was started with the same tone, I think we would all consider it baiting and probably not participate.

I wouldn't say that this thread started out with a nice tone. I mean no offense to STC or anyone else, because I am fine with people having strong opinions and stating them clearly, no matter what the topic.

If I think something is overpriced, overblown, ugly, and lame, I'll say so, and I hope you do too. And if people disagree with me I hope that they'll say so as well. Anything else would be self-censoring.

Here's another drink for you NA because I love trading opinions with you.

ETA - what said, again.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Ponine

See, and I go after work. Sometimes not till 9pm. I reapply the makeup, and redo my hair, and whatever else I need to do in order to look presentable.

I do doll up to go to the gym.
I am a woman of size, and i know this. I cant wear the average gym clothes. they make me look really heavy, and though I know I am, I dont want to show it off.
So I make sure my gym clothes match, are washed, and are flattering. I dont want someone to stare at me and say, why are you in those grubbies?
I'd rather someone thought I was affluent, and spent time on my appearance and wanted to get thinner.

Matching clean clothes that are flattering to ones self and neat hair aren't getting dolled up, at least in my opnion.

The women in my gym look like they are going to a white-tie affair sans the gown. When I say dolled up I mean dolled up. Not just neat hair and flattering clean clothes. I'm talking Fresh up-dos, the works.

If you look like you're ready to go to a white-tie affair then ya, I find that funny. I don't find you funny, I don't think less of you for it, I just find the fact that you look like you're going to a white-tie affair instead of the gym funny (but somehow I don't think that is what you look like when you go to the gym). Just like I find it funny when people go to Disneyland in 4 inch heals. But whatever floats whoevers boat.

I'm really sorry that you feel like you have to get dressed up to "deserve" to hang out the gym with all the *beautiful people*. I do know how you feel, I did feel that way years ago but I didn't care enough about myself to spend time making my self look better so I felt like I deserved to hang out with the *beautiful people* and who knows, maybe that had something to do with my failure to lose weight back then.

Kudos to you for doing what you need to do to go to the gym and improve yourself for you (I hope you're improving yourself for you!). But if anyone looks like they are about to go have dinner at the White House instead of spending time at the gym I am going to have a fleeting moment of internal laughter.

[innerSpaceman]

I will concede that going to Gym can be intimidating. If you're going there to lose weight or to buff up, it's kinda off-putting to be around all these people who are already thin or hunky.

If looking as good as you can helps to deal with that, no problem there. It's where it crosses the line that it becomes comical (diamond tiaras at the gym, four-inch heels at the Magic Kingdom).


(hehe, no amount of dolling up is gonna do it for me; though I work out a fair bit, you won't ever find me at the gym.)

[BarTopDancer]

I saw this thread starting out as an outrage of shoddy merchandise calling for a $100+ pricetag.

[Ponine]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

If looking as good as you can helps to deal with that, no problem there. It's where it crosses the line that it becomes comical (diamond tiaras at the gym, four-inch heels at the Magic Kingdom).

The tiara I dont have... I need one.
The four inch heels at the Magic Kingdom? Been there, done that.

[mousepod]

I guess I found the OP a little flame-baity too (sorry, GD).

Back when I was a single guy, the idea of spending any kind of money (insert your own dollar amount here, based on whatever scale applies today) on clothing was silly to me. The concept of spending $100 on a piece of cloth that you tie in a knot around your neck was retarded (actually, I still don't own that many ties). Once I met and fell in love with someone who owned as many dresses as I did LPs (we're talking in the thousands, here), I started to understand the concepts of fashion a little bit better.

If a beloved Mickey hat that was once $6 was now $50, I'd understand the disgust - but you are talking apples and oranges. These are not souvenir t-shirts. These are not even "nice clothing". They are a Disney version of a fashion item that is even more pricey when sold in other places in the world.

I am sure that everyone to a person I have ever met at a DL meet owns at least one item of clothing that someone else considers extravagant. How much do you think the Disney Hawaiian shirts are marked up?

The clothing in question takes up one small section in THE LARGEST DISNEY GIFT SHOP IN THE WORLD (oops. guess my caps lock got stuck).

If the thread was about the bizarre spherical character pillows (ugly, yes. but I bought one anyway), the $5 map, the overpriced jewelry, the Shag stuff (it ain't all $15), then it might make sense. But it would be boring, because we all know that gift items and souvenirs are all famously overpriced.

If a visitor Disney fan who normally spends $200 on t-shirts at Fred Segal visits the WoD and sees a similary constructed shirt with a favorite character on it and plunks down her cash and leaves happy, I don't see how a frugal APer is part of the equation. It wasn't made for you.

And that's why I found the OP to be a little snide. If it said "Why does Disney feel the need to pursue a high-fashion audience?" or "High fashion is stupid," I think it would be more honest.