The sad boyz meme spiraled out of control a little bit ago to the point where the big homie Moy had to come through and put the kibosh on the whole thing. Even so, some clothing brands continue to explicitly channel the meme that is sadness in their collections. German brand FUN TIME used it as the theme for its F/W 14 collection, dubbing it "Super Sad Teens." Right, so there's a lot to unpack here. The mostly cotton basics line takes an interesting approach this season, focusing on the general malaise that comes along with our dramatic teenage years, when life should be easy, but isn't for some reason (read: hormones). We all experienced them and FUN TIME wants us to remember each instance of soul-crushing shame. The items themselves are nothing too crazy and some of the printing is actually attractive. I particularly like the black on black "Lonely Hearts Club" bomber jacket.
However, FUN TIME describes its collections word-for-word as this (taken from the email we received accompanying the lookbook): "FUN TIME plays with gangster, hip-hop and ghetto aesthetics and takes us back to our youth in the 90s. The collections deal with the dilemma of growing up in a prosperous home, but wanting to be like the gangsters from the ghetto, they deal with the problem of not having money to go on a vacation, or with the feeling of being lost that you felt as a lovesick teenager." OK then. I have some quibbles with that and I'm sure many of you do as well. That description definitely rides the thin, controversial line of cultural appropriation. As much as I watched 106 & Park back in the day, I'm not sure it's a good move co-opting the "gangsters of the ghetto" as your inspiration, no matter what the intent. Honestly, I'm not sure the brand pulled it off, despite liking a few of the pieces. Is it too much? Am I reading too far into things? Did something get lost in the German translation? I look forward to hearing from all our resident scholars in the comments.
