Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Fleishman, the Performative Middlebrow and Legible Clothing

I saw this tweet just after I'd started the book


and then I saw the Susan Hill comment after

so I'm not the only one that can't stop thinking about this book.

One of my favorites bits in the novel are the legible tank tops that Rachel and her cohort wear.
Brodesser-Akner has her finger on the pulse with these:
  • Spiritual gangster
  • But first, coffee
  • Brunch so hard
  • Ride or die
  • Lipstick and lunges
  • Any yoga I do is hot yoga
  • Nevertheless, she perspired
  • Run the world
  • Nah 'ma stay in bed
I have been fascinated by slogan-ed clothes for a while. They are an aggressive form of signaling. Virtue-signaling, too, because they are on tank tops teamed with yoga tights. The choice to wear such little clothing in public, yet having it speak so assertively intrigues me. These are texts, right?