Is this our legacy?

The naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album turned seventeen this year. Listening to Spencer Elden's story on NPR I was struck with the power of nostalgia. Spencer didn't grow up in the nineties but he longs for that time, loathing the guitar hero and facebook culture that permeates his high school days. As a child of the nineties I can tell Spencer he didn't miss much. As I thought more about the past I realized the one thing I was proud of is that I didn't grow up in the gaudy eighties, flocking seagulls anyone?



Later that night I saw a group of Jersites straight out of My New Hair Cut sporting the latest Affliction threads. An epiphany struck and it wasn't pleasant. Is Affliction a repeat of eighties chic? Have we just reverted into a new form of loud and ugly and in ten years we will think, "God what the fuck was wrong with me?"



It isn't that I hate Affliction, I would accept their sponsorship money easily, but the more the clothing becomes a cultural phenomenon the more ridiculous the clothes are. Yes NBA stars, rappers, fighters and heavy metal rockers look like Marlo from The Wire in the ornate print of black t-shirts. But without the force of presence behind the clothes they just look ugly, and painfully so (see below). For all the wannabes sporting the most over the top Affliction clothes let me tell you something. Celebrities make Affliction clothes look good not the other way around. And it isn't just Affliction, a host of other companies are beginning to follow their lead.



Can you imagine if the lasting legacy of MMA in the 2000's is shitty Affliction clothes. And it is not like we can blame George W. Bush for this outcome just ourselves. When VH1's "I love the 00's" airs it won't be hard to imagine c-rated comedians mocking the gaudiness of shirts like this.