Wow, I think you both are out of it. I thought popping the collar was out already?

You wouldn't know it but the popped collar fashion was created by Eric Cantona, which gives it a "bad boy" stigma, back in our golden days in the 90's.

Marxy, since when do you identify with the plebs?

Are you serious?? This thing just started like three months ago. I know the kid who started it.

Marxy, since when do you identify with the plebs?

I love the plebs. That's why I drive used Volvos, not new ones.

According to a facebook group at my school (and it hints there are other chapters), the popped collar was invented by Jackie Burch.

But really, outside of a certain sect a popped collar really just reads "I'm a douchebag" and that sounds to me just like the guy you met on the street. Don't get peer pressured by douchebags, Marxy, even for a minute.

It's kind of sad when you act out like this, marxy. You really miss american snarky irony, don't you.

B.T.W., I read fashion mags strictly for advice on how many minutes to spend in each sexual position, but the first place I saw popped collars in Aomori was Uniqlo.

the popped collar was invented by Jackie Burch.

I didn't know you knew Jackie.

It's kind of sad when you act out like this, marxy

Act out? W.T.F.? I don't think you get what's at stake here.

Popped collars were mostly worn by the WASPy yuppies in Connecticut, etc. back in the early 80s - they never stopped doing that, but it became fashionable again in 2002, and now the only people who do it are guidos from New York City metro area.

Which strikes me as funny. Japanese people are at the same fashion stage as New Jersey guidos? Mama mia!!!!!!!!!!!! my pasta !!!111111 111111

No, no. The guy who yelled at me was not Japanese. And you are wrong: my friend Jackie invented popped collars.

The Japanese invented popped collars around 1999, but it went out of style in early 2000. Jackie's discovery was coeval, but unrelated.

It's hard to see a way out. Although a popped collar clearly says, "I'm an elitist asshole," an un-popped collar doesn't really offer you a voice with which to protest on behalf of the downtrodded. At best, it suggests a kind of oblivion to what's at stake; at worst, it tells the world that your first priority is looking appropriately conservative for work -- although that may be a uniquely American statement, given the starker contrast between Japanese work clothes and street clothes (in spite of Koizumi's best Cool Biz efforts, I don't think I've ever heard of a kaisha where polos counted as suitable attire). At very worst, of course, the un-popped collar can hint that your mother still dresses you -- but that comes to involve other complicated factors, like how high the neck is buttoned. What can you do? I'd advocate the too-rumpled-to-tell-whether-it's-popped look, one that says, "I'm too cool to fold my own clothes but too socially conscious to demand that someone else make a living doing it for me, and above all I'm far too busy with my own life to bother making an easily-decipherable fashion statement for your benefit. So jerk off, popped-collar douchebag." I'd have liked to hear you shout that back at him -- perhaps with the Orchard Street bit thrown in for good measure. Otherwise... switch to tee shirts? Over-politicized fashion is much more manageable when you can just emblazon your sentiments across your chest.

Woah, did I just slip into a time warp back to the early '80s? Was this guy wearing parachute pants and that rad red Michael Jackson jacket with all the zippers on it too?

Oh, and get those kids the hell off my lawn!

Add

When I was fifteen, I limited my polo shirts to ironic usage.

to

At very worst, of course, the un-popped collar can hint that your mother still dresses you -

=

Marxy's mum (ironically) dressed him back in 1992.

What is a "mum"?

It's a flower.

Or a band.

i thought popping the collar was like what they do in hip hop videos where, they pull there jerzee out at the collar.. pop it, yeah?

Google Image Search confirms:

http://media.godashboard.com/crooked/collar_300.jpg

http://www.duke.edu/~dce/comic2.jpg

http://www.bubblegumjunkie.com/vd/vd012.jpg

Even mums say:

http://photos-171.facebook.com/ip006/object/344/118/n2205091171_22236.jpg

except for ironic mums?

What gives? Popping collars isn't all negative! It's so '80's movies; so Heathers, so Breakfast Club! There are some redeeming qualities there- Imagine a life size poster of Anthony Michael Hall donning a pink polo, all braces and bug eyes in the entry way of a shopping mall near you...

Hey, blame it on the frat boys and girls who have hijacked the style. Honestly I think a popped collar looks kinda quirky and silly (in a good way) taken out of context, so that's not really the issue that I take with it. You just can't pop the collar these days as a retro nod. I think it's pretty hard to pop it even ironically because it's a little too normal even. It would hard to be totally sure if it was a joke or not. Analogy: a DARE shirt can be worn ironically with ease, but a Gap sweatshirt is more difficult - sure it has certain yuppie connotations some would go to great lengths to get away from, but hell, anyone could own one also. I am not sure if this is a good analogy, but whatever.

So I don't mean to take it out on the actually collar, I just don't like douchebags. I don't mean to hate the playa, I hate the game. It would be better if people could do whatever they wanted with their collars and not get yelled at by strangers on the street to wear it differently. Seriously, wtf?

What is a "mum"?

And then you want to deny the ethnocentrism accusations!

I have all the Ethnocentricism Accusations' albums. I wouldn't deny them for a minute.

OK, so you finally discovered the popped collar thing. Your lid will flip when you discover the prep mohawk!

Dude, my cousin totally had a fauxhawk when he was seven. He's, like, 12 now. It was awesome.

I was on Rivington St. the day that the fauxhawk was invented.

I hope this post stays on message and beats the still young 150 comment record. It would be a healing moment for all of us if instead of "momus (et al) vs. those presumed to represent marxy", poppity collars were the defining moment here.

Are you sure that GenY popped collars aren't our generation's shitty flannel? Universal exceptionalism... I think irony broke when the whole of american youth rejected sincerity at once in our generation. Now the trucker hat/popped collar/state slogan T-Shirt/etc can't even be understood as irony from the second wearer on.

My suspicion is that once irony became a legitimate fashion statement that could culminate in getting laid, it's anti-purposiveness and therein, it's magic was gone. I blame everything on vaginas.

yeah, but didn't you see the MTV special on the bay area hyphy movement? E-40 is most assuredly the popularizer of the popped collar in the post-1970's urban context... and popularization only further cemented by the success of recent oscar winners 3-6 mafia and their hit single "Poppin my Collar", indeed, one wonders if the recent rage in collar poppin is not as some has suggested- a throwback to the preppy country club fraternity lifestyle of the late 80's and early 90's- but rather an attempt by those same country club/fraternity individuals to establish themselves both as fashionable and street through a connection to the burgeoning street/hip-hop fashions espoused by 3-6 and e-40

(bubble era throwback)

That's why you see those J. Press tweed jackets with the word CRUNK on the back.

could there be any tie.. to britian in the whole thing? much like early '00 hip hop artists brought that high jean roll up style back from japan tours. could artists now be bringing geezer stylings back from british tours? prep school fashion for everyone?

Gen Y needs something else to talk about. I hear there are some wars going on someplace. They don't have Starbucks there, however.

how old are you, Marxy?

our starbucks are suppostly full of rats here. including the cute, nibbling on pastries in the morning sightings. what does starbucks have to do with war?

how old are you, Marxy?

Old enough to remember the Challenger explosion!

My friend Dustin was injured in the Challenger explosion! His mom saw it on tv and was so shocked she accidentally poked him with the safety pin she was using to change his diaper!

OMG there are girls in here!

One of my dad's far removed coworkers was on board the challenger... the whole facility was going to hand out commemorative plastic mugs and stickers in honor of the successful launch. He showed me some of his collection in the mid nineties, but I'm not sure if he still has them.

Thanks for ruining our indulgent nostalgia session with your depressing flashbacks to painful irony!

The episode of the NBC television series Punky Brewster entitled "Accidents Happen," dealt with the title character's reaction to the (Challenger shuttle) disaster as she watched it on TV at school. It first aired March 9, 1986.

back on course!

I also remember when punky successfully called 911 after a little boy drank bleach or something. She went through some hard times!

My friend's friend died from drinking bleach. Jesus, man. Why do you have to go there?

All the times I listened to Bleach, it never occurred to me to drink it. Fuck, what was I thinking?

You assume that bleach killed your friend due to your ethnnocentric biases, but it was really his desire to replicate the clensing sensation of breathing the sulphur fumes of Hakone while wearing a retro Graniph shirt from 2001 that his Japanese ex-girlfriend bought him off of Yahoo Auctions (pre-ValueCommerce) that caused his death. I'm so offended!

"School" was the song that totally made me go to school.

Guy who allegedly killed JonBenet: collar totally not popped. Which side are we on, people?!

Ahahaha

Dude, that's how he avoided capture for so long. He's incognito.

*note: usage of the word "dude" in this case is a reference to a Demetri Martin (who Momus thinks looks like Marxy!) joke where he wonders what the most intellegent sentence that starts with "Dude..." could be. However, since it is such a normal part of the vernacular, no one would suspect this! Doh!

*or* maybe he's not popping ironically?

pop it...

while it's hot!!!!

So what exactly is the link between Zoroastrianism and hip-hop?

Freddie Mercury.

is it odd to have heard two references to Zoroastrianism in one day? And the popped collar looks ridiculous, but I think it has an actual purpose. It seems all of the collars to my shirts eventually get this crease that will not go away. The only ways to avoid it seem to be: pop it and look like a frat boy or just buy new shirts every time the crease comes. So far, I've opted for the latter. Only when I'm flat broke will I ever pop it.

Best song about popping collars ever:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kk3oDTEZynI

1. you dont know shit about fashion
2. you're old

coolbiz !

Aha, another two contenders square off in today's exciting new episode of GAIJIN ROYALE!!!!!!!

1. you dont know shit about fashion

The reoccuring Digiki theme is "Marxy doesn't know shit about (cultural field.)

The reoccuring Digiki theme is "Marxy doesn't know shit about (cultural field.)

Digiki has now just joined Alin, Momus and I as the newest member of the Marxy Bashing Club.

Welcome Antonin!

"M.A.D.D." is already taken but seems to be an appropriate acronym for your fellowship.

You know we all get together in a smoke-filled room before the match and plan the moves, and who wins, and everything, don't you? It's all rigged, top down. So, in a sense, Marxy wins every time. Banzai Marxy!

Only kidding... QUICK, HIS ARMS ARE UP IN THE AIR, GET HIM, BOYS!

yeah the "you dont know shit about..." is a very special thing going on between Marxy and I ! Nothing to do with you guys Im afraid ;)

Marxy wins every time.

I think that his "War on Bashing" and his victim complex are just secret ploys that serve him to win all arguments happening here on Neomarxisme. Just like Italian footballers diving in the penalty box...

Right me up a paper on that thesis and get it on my desk by Monday at 3.

Man, I shoulda been at work this week.
Look at all this fun I missed.

So much concern over so little. If you're concerned about collars now, what's it going to be like by the time you have your mid life crisis?

Digiki has now just joined Alin, Momus and I as the newest member of the Marxy Bashing Club. Welcome Antonin!

And is that really something to strive for? What gets me is how you guys talk about loving to critique and then discuss the stuff Marxy brings up -- at least that's what Momus states on his blog -- but in the end, all you do is systematically shoot down whatever he proposes. I mean, it's getting sort of silly, whatever Marxy says, you guys shoot it down, then mock him, and then it starts over again. Is this really a discussion?

Okay, Jean gets the Takeshi Kitano role in GAIJIN ROYALE!!!!

Jeez, you guys feel old? Wait till you're 969 years old!