READING REPORT #2

Fashion Victim summary 2, p21-43

In chapter 2 from “Fashion Victim”, Michelle Lee introduced some specific fashion era. He stated that our Stone Age counterparts had already created clothing to beautify themselves by adorning decorations from animals’ skins or teeth. Then he described bustles which represented the “social distinguish” (Lee, 2003, p22), as well as did harm to women’s health or life, from Victorian to the early twentieth. Nowadays, people become tacky following “the razzle-dazzle of advertising, media and celebrities”, Lee thought. (2003, p31) In chapter 3, the author said “Speed Chic is the crack cocaine of fashion”. (Lee, 2003, p34) He quoted Kirstie Clements’ word (an editor of Vogue Australia) to warn those addictive customers that “Everything can be fashionable for a minute—that is the fun element of the fashion business”. (2003, p36) The writer illustrated “the trend’s life cycle”: birth (from textile market), adolescence (from highlevel brand), maturity (“reverse bandwagon effect”) and death (from peak to retirement). (Lee, 2003, p37-39) Lee also pointed at that the high-speed fashion related to our general rush-rush state of the media, such as MTV, Internet, magazines, etc.

Vocabulary
1.Mania: excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze
2.Pied Piper: a person who induces others to follow or imitate him or her, esp. by means
3.Weary: impatient or dissatisfied with something
Eg: He is a maniacal pied piper who we are weary of talking with.
4.Trendy: of, in, or pertaining to the latest trend or style
5.Razzle-dazzle: showy; flashy; eye-catching
6.Faddish: intensely fashionable for a short time
Eg:The trendy are always Razzle-dazzled in Yorkdale by choosing some faddish cloth.
7.Snugness: fitting closely, as a garment
8.Predilection: a tendency to think favourably of something in particular
9.Blissful: a feeling of extreme happiness
Eg:After they have got a few snug garments, these younger who have a predilection for shopping will feel blissful.
10.Savvy: to know; understand
11.Esteem: To regard with respect
12.Tacky: not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy
Eg: According to my savvy, that esteemed author has never written this kind of tacky novel.
13.Poncho: A blanket like cloak having a hole in the center for the head.
14.Hem: an edge made by folding back the margin of cloth and sewing it down.
15.Obsolescence: falling into disuse or becoming out of date
Eg: In my view, this poncho adorned with double hems will become obsolescent in the near future.