The Birkenstock Civilization: Radical Call for Chill
We no longer relax; we chill.
Forget movie-and-popcorn nights,
we order a Deliveroo for a good “Netflix and chill.”
And we don’t just order dinner;
we want comfort food — greasy and porny.
And why even go out?
We work from home and dance for TikTok videos.
So, obviously,
we need clothes that match our ambitions…
Have we entered the sock-and-sandal civilization?
Celebrities, who serve as lifestyle models for most people,
when paparazzi catch them off-guard, show that as soon as no one is watching, it’s super important to aim to look like nothing.
It’s no surprise — we live for the camera, and as soon as it turns off,
we swap the blazer for the hoodie, the skirt for sweatpants,
and the shoes and heels for Birkenstocks.
And it shows: on Instagram, bodies overflow with fashion fantaisies,
but photos and videos are taken in bedrooms.
In the streets?
It’s a competition to wear the most OFF clothes ever imagined.
It’s the official uniform of our 3.0 mass societies
— the Birkenstock sooooo anti-fashion, sooooo ugly that anyone
who wears it needs to muster strength in front of the mirror
with a “Oh, I don’t care anyway.”
It’s reassuring, comfortable… Functional, you don’t get it?
I do dear, but to me it mirrors our societies caught in the grip of wild capitalism — where everything must be functional!
Clothing is just a reflection of this broader transformation.
Look at the surrounding architecture of our modern cities:
buildings are often austere, functional, devoid of any ornamentation and beauty.
Post-modernity, with its obsession for practicality and profitability,
has infused all aspects of our daily lives with this functional ugliness.
In our frantic quest for comfort and practicality,
have we sacrificed the very soul of what makes our existence beautiful?
Beauty, this incessant pursuit of harmony, elegance, and uniqueness,
seems to be lost in the shapeless folds of chill clothing.
Refinement? Style? Elegance?
That’s snobbish, that’s taking oneself too seriously: LOL!
In our societies obsessed with hyper-entertainment,
we constantly distract ourselves with the idea that freedom necessarily
means liberating ourselves from the dictates of beauty
— just like these Birkenstock-and-sock wearers whose only aim
is to walk behind each other, without differentiation, to escape gazes and mockery…
What a shame 😉
