A Different View
Ultimate generation gap is all in the jeans
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
There was a time when a hole in the knee of your trousers meant it was time to either throw them out, find a patch or simply die of mortification – but now you can actually buy them that way.
And not for the first time, fashion has me flummoxed.
I understand that trends, by their very nature, meaning moving on from something old to something new, and by their nature those who form these sartorial trends aren’t aiming at a fifty-something father who hasn’t been in fashion since John Paul was the Pope.
But even allowing for that, it has to be hats off to the genius who decided that the way forward was to rip jeans to shreds.
‘Rockstar jeans’ may well be a natural follow-on from what was apparently known as distressed denim, where their balled-up, non-ironed appearance was a virtue rather than an embarrassment.
Before that it was stone-washed, which was fine but then turned out to be just the thin end of the wedge – now it’s all ripped, blasted, wrecked and ultimately destroyed, in many ways undoing the old boast of Levi Strauss that his product was indestructible.
And I’ll also admit that I’m anal enough to always iron jeans; that I could never imagine wearing a pair straight out of the dryer – but even those who don’t admit such traditional habits surely see that cutting the knees to bits is a step too far.
I could live with small rips on the knees – although it should be through wear and tear rather than self-inflicted.
But there are versions of these shredded denims that now seem to have more missing than left – knees, thighs and other bits exposed to wind and rain – and all in the name of cutting edge.
The obvious next step has to be jumpers and shorts with big tears at the elbows, or woollen wear that looks like it was previously a playground for moths; shoes that let the water in and hats that have a giant hole on the top.
The good news here has to be for those people who cannot afford to keep up with these changing fashions – all they now need is a sharp pair of scissors or perhaps just a cheese grater, and their tired old winter wardrobe is literally transformed into cutting edge.
Part of it may be a generational thing of course; you may want to wear denim but you don’t want to look like your dad does at weekends.
Denim used to signify rebellion – even back in our disco days, you couldn’t get into a nightclub with jeans on – but now they come in enough shapes and sizes to accommodate all ages.
Which is why the younger generation had to find some way of standing out from the oldies – hence the grungy, shredded look which, to the rest of us, looks like sartorial sabotage.
But fashion is a bit like music – if we like it, the kids won’t.
And God help them, in an effort to distance themselves from their forefathers, they have to go so far in the other direction that they soon meet themselves on the way back.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
The only time in your life that you should ever utter the words: “Do you know who I am?” are if you’ve just had a bang on the head or you are unfortunately suffering from dementia.
Because, otherwise, the phrase ‘do you know who I am’ only serves to make things a whole lot worse.
Normally, the phrase is unleashed towards late night door staff on a wave of alcohol – and never once in the history of time has it produced the result the utterer had intended.
The doorman may well know who you are which is often the very reason you’re not getting into the place in the first instance – or if he doesn’t know who you are, he won’t be unduly influenced when he does, unless you’re a famous movie star or his long-lost cousin.
‘Do you know where I am?’ might often be closer to the phrase you’re looking for, because that would serve you well when you’re looking for a taxi.
‘Do you know who I am?’ is a threatening phrase that in truth wouldn’t frighten the cat. But if you’re anxious to dig the hole a few shovels deeper, you should follow up with ‘I’d like to speak to your manager.’
Managers can be elusive at the best of times, but they’re normally rarer than hen’s teeth when it comes to the small hours of the morning – and even if they’re there, they are most likely watching proceedings on CCTV…just so they know who you are, in case you yourself can’t remember.
‘I’d like to speak to your manager’ suggests that you and he or she are from the one social sphere which is several strata north of the one occupied by door staff.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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A Different View with Dave O’Connell
As it turned out, we were much closer to a Eurovision win than we could ever have imagined – not Ireland, of course, because we’ve now mastered the art of just sending cannon fodder to be blown out in the semi-final.
No, this was just two of us – myself and our eldest – who were lucky enough to be at Anfield for the Reds’ recent win over Brentford, where positioned in the seat right in front of us were four happy lads from Finland.
One of them, we now know, was Käärijä, the singer of the catchiest song at Eurovision, Cha Cha Cha.
But just a week before 7,000 people sung his catchphrase at the Eurovision Arena, he and two his mates – accompanied by an older bloke who had to be either his dad or from the national broadcaster – sat anonymously in the same corner of the lower level of Anfield’s Main Stand.
He was utterly unknown to us as well of course, and the only thing that saw him stand out was his green nail varnish. Live and let live, of course, but it still ensures that you make an impression even if it looks like you were just very late for St Patrick’s Day.
Käärijä may well be Liverpool’s greatest Scandinavian fan, although the bar for that is set fairly high, given that they invade the city in greater numbers every two weeks than the Vikings did just once during the first millennium.
Equally, he may not be a football fan at all – although, as the rest of the week proved, he sure loves a crowd.
Positioned as we were in the corner of the Main Stand, the next section to us, around the corner in the Anfield Road Stand – currently adding a top layer – was occupied by the visiting Brentford supporters.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
Contactless payments reached a record €17.9 billion in Ireland last year – up by 31 per cent on 2021, as people came out from under their Covid shell and appear to have left their cash behind them.
Figures from the Banking & Payments Federation found that – despite the cost-of-living increases – the Irish public made three million contactless payments a day, worth an average of €53 million in the final quarter of 2022.
Given that there are 3.8 million people in Ireland over the age of 18, that means that almost every single one of us tapped the card every day last year.
And again, on the presumption that there are a few who still prefer peeling a fifty off a wad of notes, the true figure may be even higher, as we eschew actual money every time we go into a restaurant, bar or shop.
Then comes the monthly morning of reckoning when you open your statement – electronic of course because, like paper money, banks don’t deal in paper statements anymore either – and your guilty secrets unfurl like a rap sheet before your very eyes.
Five taps of a Friday night in the local, followed by a five-ounce burger meal on the way home.
And just why did you need a family-pack of crisps when a small bag would have done? Was all that beer and wine really for a party, or a night in just for one?
Cash provided plenty of dark corners to ignore your profligacy, but there are no hiding places in the contactless world.
Worse still, until that morning of reckoning arrives, you’ve no clue how much you’ve spent, and handing over the card doesn’t hurt half as much as parting with hard cash.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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