Today on my way to work, I noticed a few things that made me ask ‘why do people do that?’ and I decided to ask you since I couldn’t figure out the answer on my own. So here we go.
1) Why do so many women carry so many bags in the morning? Today on my walk to work I counted over 100 women who were carrying over 250 bags. Most carried at least a handbag and a tote bag. But some had a handbag, tote bag and a larger bag that was probably filled with other bags. Why? What are you carrying? Lunch? Computer? iPad? A stack of gold bars on your way to the Federal Reserve? What is in all those bags and do you really need to carry it around every day? I even noticed a few women who had coordinated all the bags to match their outfit. That’s a lot of bags to buy and have hanging around your house or apartment. Can’t you manage to fit everything into one bag? And if you can’t, doesn’t that tell you something? That maybe you’re carrying too much?
2) Why is it so hard to tie your sneakers? I passed at least 30 people on the street with their sneakers untied. Why? I can understand that they’re easier to get on and off. I can understand that it may look cool. But isn’t it really hard to walk? I know this has been going on for a long time. And it probably started as a fashion trend that has carried over way too long. But I watched the NCAA basketball tournament – and every player on the court had their basketball shoes tied. I even saw someone stop in mid-play to tied their shoes. But their player ‘wanna-be’ guys can’t tied their shoes to walk down the street. I’m assuming they do it to bother people like me. And they’re succeeding.
3) When did wearing jeans become a hardship? I hear this from my son all the time – and I’m noticing it more and more all over the place. When did wearing jeans become uncomfortable? When did sweatpants become the comfortable things to wear all the time? My son hates wearing jeans. He’d rather wear dress pants or sweat pants or just about anything else. I find myself having conversations like this:
Son: Do I have to wear jeans?
Me: Yes.
Son: Ugg, they’re so hard to move in.
Me: We’re going out to dinner, you can’t wear lounge pants or sweats.
Son: I don’t care.
Me: I do.
Has this generation rejected jeans as the fashion of the counter-culture? I hope not. I hope it just a passing thing. But my gut tells me it’s not.
4) When did the “Hunter” brand take over ownership of the ‘fashion rain boot’ category? Every time it rains in New York City they come out of the woodwork. Hundreds of women wearing Hunter rain boots in ever imaginable color, pattern and style. I even saw rain boots with a serious high heel on them. Has Hunter been around forever and I just didn’t notice since I’m not the target market? It this another trend that just hit the mass market in the past few years? When did rain boots become a fashion accessory? Or is this something that has been slowly happening over the past few years, and I didn’t notice until I bought a pair for my wife? I wish I bought stock in Hunter a few years ago.
5) When did the big ‘over the ear’ headphones take over the ‘cool’ headphone category? I have to admit, I hate wearing the white Apple ear buds, as they don’t really fit my ears. But I don’t think I’d really want to walk around the streets of New York wearing the big headphone either. Do they sound that much better? Is it just another ‘thing’? What’s the story about these?
I don’t know – these questions bother me. I like knowing what’s going on. What do you think? Or am I completely over thinking this? Please let me know.
3.4.12
From the desk of Rich Levy 
Q) When did the big ‘over the ear’ headphones take over the ‘cool’ headphone category?
A) When Dr. Dre and Monster collaborated on project called Beats By Dre. The cheapest pair goes for $199. Their trademark branding is that cord-like red wire that you see everywhere.
You’re on your own for 1-4.
Cheers
DJ
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Four “Cooling” Answers From a 22-Year-Old Woman
1) Most women carry at least one bag. We have essentials we must carry around (toiletries, feminine products, makeup, hair brush, etc.) and most clothes don’t have many pockets. Or it might be too tight to fit anything without looking like you’re carrying a concealed weapon. But if they are working women, such as myself, who hate commuting in heels, bring their lunch from home, and go to the gym after work, they need more space. The space is used to carry your heels, to carry your flats while you are wearing your heels, to carry your lunch, to carry your empty tupperware, to carry your gym clothes, etc. And some women might not like to have their lunch anywhere near their dirty gym sneakers. Or, more importantly, not have anything dirty in their $1000 designer bag. Hence the bag ladies you see around town. I don’t have a $1000 designer bag, so I tend to carry everything in one, mediocre, faux leather tote. I hope a brilliant designer figures out a way we can carry all of these things in one small bag.
2) I don’t tie my sneakers unless I’m in the gym. I don’t tie the laces on my combat boots either. It’s all for fashion’s sake. Untied = disheveled = cool. We want to be cool. Careless. So preoccupied by cool things that we don’t have time to tie our laces. Blame Run DMC for starting it all.
3) I don’t know about the jeans thing. I love my jeans. I think men might dislike jeans if they are too tight, as a lot of them are designed to be nowadays. We all know how men like to be free and untethered. But as a woman, all of my jeans have stretch and I love them.
4) I think it’s just a NYC thing. I would attribute this to the people who started the Ugg boots trend. NYC loves trends and labels. And if that brand is the “expert” in something (Hunter rain boots, Ugg shearling boots, Northface jackets, Nike sneakers, etc.) New Yorkers want it. If you ask me, they’re all a bunch of label something-that-rhymes-with-chores.
5) Big ‘over the ear’ headphones took over the ‘cool’ headphone category when Beats by Dr. Dre headphones came out. He is a master of audio and the quality of sound is much better than, well, anything else out there. Plus, they look cool and expensive. Headphones are a way to keep New Yorkers sane. If I leave my headphones at home, I feel naked and lost in this world. With headphones I can tune out the beggars, the loud obnoxious people on the train, the blaring traffic, just everything. It’s the same effect sunglasses have. why do people where them when the sun isn’t out? To tune out and look cool. I would also attribute this trend to what I said in Answer 2 and 4.
And that’s all I got.
🙂
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1. There are three types of women: those who carry shoes, those who carry books (or ipads/kindles, etc), and those who carry books and shoes. As long as all these women aren’t asking you to carry the totage — don’t sweat it.
2. It’s gotta be fashion — along the lines of other non-logicals like the boxer shorts riding higher than the jeans movement.
3. Denim is not a comfortable fabric and never was. We of a certain generation simply got used it. It’s familiar. And I think it’s very interesting there is a generation willing to question its comfort. Denim, for my age, is cultish. Remember claims of travelers from the west (in the neolithic 1970s) using Levi’s as currency in the former Soviet Union? True or not, denim felt like gold for several generations. It signifies “casual” and in old-school parlance, a hint of “I don’t care.” But comfortable? Let’s rethink.
4. I’ve had the same thought on Hunter. I covet them. I have ugly rain boots from Kmart because that was the store I was walking by during a downpour. But I’m a lazy shopper, unlike the cliche of my gender. Maybe shoe-carrying women have Hunter boots in one of those totes from Q1.
5. Where have you been RL? Big phones have been on the scene quite awhile. The husband, who knows things you wouldn’t expect him to know, says it started with Dr Dre and then amped by the fast followers at Skulcandy, where you too can get a pair of Ting Ting Aviators for $180. (NASDAQ: SKUL).
Back to work,
Janan
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1. You’ll never understand. Women love bags. You can be any weight.
2. I can’t bend down. Maybe they can’t, either.
3. Jeans are uncomfortable. Can we wear sweatpants to work?
4. They’re too hot. And again, I can’t bend down to take them off.
5. I don’t know the answer to this question. And anyway, you said 4 burning questions. This one doesn’t count.
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#5 made me laugh out loud. Thank you.
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The 2 times my sneakers were untied, I fell, that’s probably why I tie them.
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