In their
song “Thrift Shop,” artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rap about how wearing
vintage clothes is the latest trend in fashion.
At one point in the song they say, “No, for real, ask your grandpa: can
I have his hand-me-downs?” This line is
the title for Mireille Silcoff’s latest article in the New York Times Magazine in which she describes “how old got cool.” Throughout the text, Silcoff writes of a
newfound respect and interest many young adults show in the elderly generation.
Initially,
Silcoff establishes a light and humorous tone by listing examples of how fashion
companies are utilizing elderly models to market new product lines. For example, she describes a photo in a
fashion catalogue titled “Advanced Style” in which there is “a 100-year-old
woman holding a seasoned ostrich purse in one hand and a walking stick in
another; her facial expression suggests a certain curiosity as to why in God’s name
this boychik with the digital camera wants so much to taker her picture.” Silcoff recognizes that the topic she is
discussing naturally lends itself to jokes and so she entertains the audience
by making sarcastic remarks about the younger generation and the so-called “hipster”
lifestyle. Interestingly enough, she
also includes a graph below the text that indicates the number of mentions of
Betty White in the New York Times by decade.
Not only does the graph reveal the resurgent popularity of a White as a
result of this fascination with the elderly, but it also adds to the overall
appearance of the text as well.
Silcoff
does an excellent job of being humorous yet insightful. Even though she pokes fun at some of the
latest fashion trends, she ultimately argues that this new respect for our
elders is well-deserved.
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