From Dolce to Dead Poor

The first paragraph of “American Life Styles” talks about how America has some of the best dressed poor. By this we as a society loses sight of the growing gap between the rich in the poor. The ability to mass produce and create a society where designer labels can be acquired in the same fashion as any off brand cloths. With America’s obsession with an outward appearance the way you look can dentate whether they belong in social settings or should even be considered or valued in certain situations. This passage strikes me because when I was contrasting myself in a recent essay, I brought up the idea of cloths and how they define who you are and are a large part of my personality. The juxtaposition of Valentino to second hand clothing. This idea defines where I want to be within a social class, whereas my friend Mike would where what he wants and knows he belongs in any social setting. What you where is who you are in this American class society. So for even the poorest in America strive to dress a certain way so that they can reach and grow within our current society. You judge people based on their cloths and as a professional if you lack a certain value of clothing you could be out casted by our society. This leads to money being spent on clothing for appearance instead of actual needs. This in itself could lead back to the cycle of poor. So within our society this veil of fashion makes less aware of a glaring problem within our culture.