coolbeans, 2/8

The class on Thursday really cleared up what Lyotard was trying to say for me. I found it hard to grasp what the reading was saying because the point seemed to jump around from topic to topic. Something that I found to be really interesting was that he said that the avant-garde does not exist anymore because it becomes commodified and available to everyone. I do believe that this is somewhat true. The punk style was once a thing that was seen as avant garde and unusual. A movement of style reflected in the fashion of a rebellion against establishment. Nowadays, it seems that the style has been mass produced to be sold in stores such as Hot Topic. Back when the style movement was first started people were ripping their own jeans and putting their own safety pins through their clothes, now kids can buy their jeans with holes in them already and safety pins in them already. Not only that, but the message of the original subculture has also been commodified. The ideas of nonconformity and not selling out that were the primary ideologies of the subculture movement. These ideologies have been commodified as well. Now when someone dresses in the punk style and chooses to act rebellious it is seen as another form of conformity and selling out. The person is conforming to a different now mainstream style choice and selling out to the ideologies that they are supposed to embody because of the way that they dress. Fashion provides a good example in how the avant garde has become commodified. Some forms of fashion however, remain true to the avant garde style. The form of fashion design known as haute couture is the creation of pieces that are exclusively custom made and fitted for a specific person. Also, some companies such as Billionaire Boys Club, Johnny Cupcakes, and Kidrobot only create small amounts of each item of clothing in order to keep the items from being mass produced and to add a sense of limited exclusivity to the clothing line.