blog.benstones.net

Do you ever go into Topman, see the adverts and models they use, and come away thinking - is it just me, or does everything look like it’s out of the 80s? Retro is still “in” so I’m told, which apparently means that development of fashion has somewhat ceased whilst we regenerate the styles of former years - ironic some would say.

Ironic? Or more new sincerity… the irony of retro isn’t really as ironic as it appears - there is some sincerity in the replication of former styles. Whilst you may look like a bit of an idiot if you do go into Topman and come out looking like Chesney Hawkes, in all seriousness the concept of retro-chic is the appreciation of styles gone by.

But what is this new sincerity business? Well it’s exactly that, the combination of irony and sincerity, whereby there is a lack of irony in something seriously ironic. Quite postmodern, no? In some respects new sincerity is really quite cynical, the ideas have been applied to all forms of art and media by a range of theorists.

Key theorists:
- Epstein, Mikhail (1999) “A Catalogue of New Poetries”
- Yurchak, Alexei (2008) “Post-Post-Communist Sincerity: Pioneers, Cosmonauts, and Other Soviet Heroes Born Today”
- Morris, Jason (2008) “The Time Between Time: Messianism & the Promise of a “New Sincerity,” Jacket 35