"The End of Fashion"

Terri Agins of The Wall Street Journal wrote "The End of Fashion" in 1999.  Her book explains in detail the changes in the clothing worn by most Americans.  If you have purchased clothing in the past two decades you understand what I am writing about. The fabric is thinner, the construction worse and the fit .......well, I don't think I can call it "fit." It turns out that manufacturers try to fit as many different body shapes as possible. So if you think a garment could benefit from some darts for shaping you are absolutely right. There is no argument that the quality of clothing has been suffering for a long time.  If you cannot afford designer clothing then finding a good tailor or seamstress is the answer.  No one looks attractive in a top that looks like a tent or pants that bunch up in all the wrong places.  The other day I saw a young woman who apparently didn't know that you can have pants hemmed at the dry cleaners. Her slacks were 2-3 inches too long and she had been walking on the excess fabric for so long that it was filthy and tattered. The seams were coming undone and the look was anything but professional.  Had she been in a big box store I wouldn't have noticed but she was selling cell phones. I wonder if her boss noticed?  With good jobs so hard to find I think appearance matters more than ever.  No one will notice if clothes fit well because of skillful altering but they will always notice when nothing has been done.