May 5, 2012
Posted by Jay Livingston
Sometimes the tide of fashion flows uphill.
I heard Ruth Reichl speak at “Foodstock,” a mini-conference at Wesleyan University. The interviewer, Faith Middleton, asked her if food was subject to fashion. Absolutely, said Reichl, and the fashions are always related to class. Reichl is a wonderful food writer and editor, and I assume she knows her food social history. The example she gave was from ancient Rome.
After the onstage interview was over, I asked her if fashions in food, like those in clothing and names,* diffuse downward through the class system.
Yes, she said, but sometimes it goes the other way. Right now, chefs in high-end restaurants are drawing inspiration from the ethnic food trucks that have sprung up in the last few years. She added that a similar trend sometimes happens with clothing – a street fashion gets picked up by trendy designers, who tweak it slightly and send it onto the runways, though with a price tag that would make the original wearers gasp.
Right, I thought – blue jeans. These had always been cheap and durable – qualities that made them ideal as work clothes for people who labored outdoors, or play clothes for kids. Then in the 1970s, Gloria Vanderbilt, Calvin Klein, and others reached down through the class strata, hauled them up, tightened the fit, and gave us “designer jeans.”
Another example might be beer, long an ordinary, working-class sort of drink with little cachet. But now we have “designer beers” – more expensive “craft beers” from micro-breweries, ales and lagers that allow sophisticated people to show off their discernment.
I mentioned this idea to Eric Asimov, the New York Times wine critic, as we stood in line at the Ethiopian food truck. “Is there any equivalent in wine?” I asked.
Maybe in France, he said. The big name wine houses will buy a vineyard or wine from a region not known for “great” wines. So you’ll see the more ordinary wine, carignan for example, but under the a more famous label.
I doubt that these regional wines would be considered to be “better” that the Bordeaux and Burgundies. But in their own way, they might become more fashionable
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* (Update to the previous post). In 2010, Isabella was among the top five names in all but two states (Idaho and Utah), but just eight years earlier, only seven states accorded her that place – Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, and Rhode Island. In naming their daughters Isabella, states like Arkansas, Kentucky and Wyoming are Jacob-come-latelys.
I would guess that even within those vanguard states, the 2002 Isabellas were born to more educated and wealthier parents. Fashions in clothing follow a similar path. By the time a style shows up in Target, the people who first bought it are looking for something else.
