These things are a motherfucking abomination! Grown adults reverting back to the infantile comfort of those fucking baby sack things with no feet. God damn!

I was struck by how much these things resemble what Saudi women wear, minus the face covering.

Uh, Amanda, some of have our heaters turned way down this winter. Fuel hasn’t exactly gotten cheap even with the economy in the tank. A “blanket with sleeves” is pretty utilitarian for activities like reading books (or laptops) where arms can’t be covered under a conventional blanket.

Perhaps it’s the sense that you can have a Snuggie or a sex life, but you can’t have both.

I find your utter prejudice and bigotry disgusting!  Of course you can have a Suggie *and* a sex life!

Just not one that involves other people…

I have no doubt that they are marketed for remote control use, but I feel like they would be pretty good for reading on the couch. That’s when I really want to have my hands.

I can imagine using them on those couple of days every winter when it’s freezing and you’ve got nasty cold and all you want is tea and a good Laura Lippman novel and a warm blanket. Of course, I can also see the utility of crocs and flip flops, so YMMV.

Huh, I thought it would be at least 5 comments in before someone got defensive about Snuggie usage.  Like the Ugg boots!  This does nothing but further depress me.

Yeah, they are utilitarian.  There’s a stubborn streak of almost proud-to-look-stupid utilitarianism in American culture that Crocs epitomize.  It’s depressing to me, this blatant rejection of aesthetics, that often has more than a whiff of “pretty things are for pussies and libruls” to it in some cases, and in others, it’s a straight-up “why bother trying?” attitude.  I don’t like seeing how many people have just given up completely.  Like seeing someone wearing a denim jumper can put me off for a couple hours.

I’d love a snuggie. It could save me the indignity of wearing a bathrobe over my clothes and having my son’s double fleece car-and-truck print blanket draped over my shoulders. I’d still have to wear gloves to type.

My computer is in a drafty northern room. I’d prefer big fuzzy slipper-booties while wearing the snuggie. Comfort is all important.

I fall into the “why bother trying” attitude. After a certain point, there is no amount of prettying up that accomplishes anything, other than looking pathetic.

My main gripe about the Snuggie (and similar items) is that it’s basically the same thing as putting on a cardigan or fleece backwards.  I agree that having to slip your arm out of the comfort of a warm blanket obviously sucks, but do we really need a rather expensive single-use product which is a blanket with sleeves?  I mean, really, if you’re that cold, put on a goddamn sweater*...! 

Alternately, folks could do what I have done and learn to wear a shawl properly.  But I suppose that takes too much effort in sedentary ig’nant America…

* this especially bugs me for the parts of the commercial where a family is depicted wearing snuggies to do some sort of outdoor activity like a sporting event or bonfire—really, are we now officially too lazy for outerwear?

The tie-in between Snuggies and the “slumming” aspects of the RV-versus-trailer park is pretty strong. Both try to bring up images of casualness and a lack of pretension, though “a fear of refinement” is probably more apt of a description.

BTW, there’s a Snuggie pub crawl in the Lincoln Park (aka “home of douchebags and Trixies”) in April. I’m almost sad to have moved out of Chicago, as it may be worth watching ironically from afar.

Probably the thing left the most resonant impression on my when I visited Europe was how nicely dressed people were.  It was a bus tour and we made several stops at roadside stands.  There’d be entire families on outings and everyone, from the grandparents to toddlers, was nicely turned out.  Not formally dressed necessarily, but neat and stylish.  I did not see a single pair of sweatpants, unless the person was actually exercising.  (As I write this, I’m off to the hardware store.  In sweatpants.  And no, I wasn’t planning to work out.)

A “blanket with sleeves” is pretty utilitarian for activities like reading books (or laptops) where arms can’t be covered under a conventional blanket.

Yes, because a $69.99 single-use convenience item is TOTALLY within the means of people who can’t afford to heat their homes… 

You can buy an old parka at Salvation Army for under $10.  This was my go-to warm indoor clothing when I lived in an unheated home.

Something about people wearing sweatpants in public when they’re not working out rubs me the wrong way.

Yeah, I’d also like to have one of those.  I freeze practically all winter and it’s expensive to heat my old house, so the thermostat is usually turned down pretty low.  So all of us spend six months of the year wearing several layers of warm clothing inside the house during the winter—for instance, right now I’m wearing pajama pants, two shirts, wool socks, a sweater coat, and a blanket and I’m still cold.  My kids have a space heater in their room, but both of them are also wearing several layers of clothing, as is the husband on the couch with a blanket.  Something like that where I could stay covered up and still move around (hopefully the bottom is open?) would be wonderful.

I don’t like to surrender my dignity for very much, but its difficult to have dignity and look good while freezing.

I probably seem really chichi, since I wear real slippers, real pajamas, and a cardigan over the pajamas when it’s cold.

I find your utter prejudice and bigotry disgusting!  Of course you can have a Suggie *and* a sex life!

Just not one that involves other people…

Idea: Sleeved blanket with a hole in the crotch, maybe a sleeve pointing inward. So you don’t have to mess around with the blanket.

But, Ben D, I agree about the sweatpants thing.  It does bug me to see people out and about in public (not working out) wearing sweatpants.  It also drives me nuts when people show up to my class in their pajamas.  It’s college, not preschool and we don’t have jammie days.

Snuggies to football games also depresses me.  It makes me think about how we used to bring a big comforter to games in high school, and it was an opportunity to get away with cuddling a little in the stands.

In fact, one major advantage of the bathrobe is that it’s cinched at the waist, allowing one to poke groggily at a pan of scrambled eggs safely.

I’m pretty sure the people who buy Snuggies overlap heavily with the people who think heating things up in the microwave = cooking.

Something about people wearing sweatpants in public when they’re not working out rubs me the wrong way.

Yeah, it’s like jeans are too upscale or something.

The worst indicator of this attitude of pretending not to be pretentious by deliberately looking like shit is the scads of college girls around here who wear a sweatshirt, shorts or pajama bottoms, flip-flops and a full face of a make-up to class.

for instance, right now I’m wearing pajama pants, two shirts, wool socks, a sweater coat, and a blanket and I’m still cold.

You know that a Snuggie is just a blanket with sleeves, right?  I mean, it’s not a personal space heater.  If you’re cold in all those layers, a Snuggie isn’t going to do a whole lot.  You’d probably be better off buying a few sets of those high-performance longjohns.  Or, dare I say it, some Uggs.

I don’t know, I might actually buy one of the blankets-with-sleeves, assuming they come down to a reasonable price.  It gets really cold up here, and the only thing better than snuggling under a blanket with a good book and a mug of spiked hot chocolate is snuggling under a blanket with sleeves.  That way, you don’t have to rotate which arm is the one that freezes, or spill the hot chocolate all over the couch as you try to untwist your arm from the cocoon of blankets and accidentally knock it over.  (Okay, that last part might just be me.)

But then, as my sister can attest, I’ve never really cared all that much about my appearance.

I do not understand this angst. Why is not giving a shit how you look whilst in your own home reading/whatever (hell, maybe some people are doubling up under these things to have sex…they do it in furry costumes, after all) any of my beeswax?

I do not see bad fashion/regrettable but utilitarian garments as any sign of the apocalypse; if that were so, the world would have ended in the mid-to-late-70s.

Or perhaps it’s just fun to poke at those people…you know, the classless rubes! Haha! Crashing after a hard day working at Walmart for shit wages that don’t let them turn the heat up, wanting something warm! Oh, how we hate them and their tacky ways!

Oh wait.

I thought about it for a few minutes, and I have never seen a post by Amanda about clothes that wasn’t incredibly depressing. Yeah, I get it that you love you some indie fashion, but snuggie bashing? It’s a good idea that’s overpriced, waxing nostalgic about cuddling under comforters and talking about how you wear a cardigan on those oh so cold texan days doesn’t change that. Comparing it to a burka? What the hell? It’s blanket with sleeves, for use whenever you’d be wearing a blanket but want to use your hands.

Usually I just scroll past her fashion posts, but my god. The snuggie as a sign of the decline of western civilization. REALLY.

Amanda, in my day when we were in college, we looked like shit when we showed up to class because we were genuinely too tired/lazy/aesthetically maladjusted to look nice.

I have never owned a bathrobe, and my sleeping habits involve pajama pants with the option of a sweatshirt if I’m especially cold.

Also, aging with dignity is a concern. Middle age will be upon me before I know it, and I can either be a dignified middle aged man, or the guy who wears sweatpants and black socks with crocs.

The heating ducts in my house weren’t put in properly, and even if they were, the furnace is inadequate anyway. Considering that I have been known to need to wear a zip-up hoodie over a sweater, with thigh-high socks under my pants, AND huddle under a blanket in order to watch TV downstairs in the winter, I can see the appeal of a sleeved blanket. It’d stay on while I searched for the remote. It wouldn’t let in extra cold air while I changed the channel. I mean, shit, it’s not like I’d be going out in it. I’d just be lying around reading or watching television. But in the interest of being warmer while still getting a utilitarian blanket/wrap/thing, we got my mom one of these for Christmas (on sale). Since it functions as a regular blanket, too, it’s rather more useful. She uses it so she can knit while the house is unbearably cold.

I make some effort to be reasonably presentable when I leave the house, but damned if I’m going to worry about whether I look nice in my own fucking basement.

Em, as someone who works at home, I can testify that it really does demoralize you over time to quit caring about what you look like just because you’re at home.  I mean, obviously, you wear pajamas and no make-up, but it’s good for the self-esteem to treat yourself and the people around you as deserving of decent aesthetics.

Amanda, in my day when we were in college, we looked like shit when we showed up to class because we were genuinely too tired/lazy/aesthetically maladjusted to look nice.

Oh yeah, I get that’s the message they’re trying to convey—-too cool to care!—-but the full face of make-up betrays that.

Sorry, I don’t get the Snuggie hate.  If you don’t like it, don’t buy one. But for some people they are useful and not any uglier than a huge blanket.  My computer is in front of an old, unused door which gets wicked drafts underneath it. I am often in a robe over my clothes, knit boots, and a blanket over my legs—hardly aesthetically pleasing—and I could see something like this being pretty convenient since I need my arms free and I can’t afford the heating bill if I simply yield to aesthetics. You know what’s even less aesthetically pleasing? Sitting in a chair with multiple blankets—one for legs, one for over the shoulders, and constantly having to adjust one or the other while just trying to enjoy my damn book.  When you live in a place that does not get snow, finding a good shawl is nigh on impossible.

I’m actually surprised by the lack of imagination when it comes to the sexual possibilities: I rather like the idea that my mate could eat me out and I wouldn’t be shivering from the draft caused by his head lifting the blanket.  For me, cold is definitely a mood killer.

But I suppose we all have our “kids these days”/“it’s the downfall of civilization” rants.  Different strokes and all that.

Why is not giving a shit how you look whilst in your own home reading/whatever ... any of my beeswax?

It might just be that I’m a liberal coastal elite, but it really seems to me that good aesthetics make the world a much less depressing place to live.  I like feeling like I look good.  I like having nice things, especially nice things that are practical and useful. 

One of my favorite shitty service jobs was working in one of the gift shops at MoMA.  My first favorite thing about that job was having access to the museum and getting to look at some of the best art in the world on my coffee break, or on a spare evening or afternoon if I happened to be in the neighborhood.  My second favorite thing about that job was the fact that the employee cafeteria was furnished with high-end “design” furniture, had real art on the walls, and used “real” dishes, glasses, mugs, flatware, etc as opposed to disposables.  It really changed a wage-slave legally mandated “ah, well, I suppose we should let them not pass out from hunger” institution into a refreshing and nourishing activity. 

It’s hard to even be aware that this is a human need if you’ve been starved of it for so long, but aesthetics are important.  They just are.

Ker, I promise that I’m way too lazy to dress up to the nines every time I leave the house.  I live in T-shirts and jeans or boring V-neck sweaters in the winter.  I’m not a huge fashion snob. I usually don’t wear a lick of make-up and I wear a ponytail 99.9% of the time.  I’m just opposed to letting go of all dignity altogether.  The day I think I don’t deserve better than a sweatshirt is the day that I’ve given up on myself.

I can’t afford the heating bill if I simply yield to aesthetics.

You should look into investing in a cardigan sweater.  It’s basically a cheaper and better looking Snuggie, with the added benefit of having buttons or a zipper.

Aesthetics *are* important. I realized at a young age that it was never going to work to date a guy who had no art on his walls, or just had random shit he bought that he didn’t care about, for instance.  There’s something demoralizing about someone who doesn’t want to have a pleasant environment around, as if it doesn’t matter.

Snuggies to football games also depresses me.  It makes me think about how we used to bring a big comforter to games in high school, and it was an opportunity to get away with cuddling a little in the stands.

When I was in high school, we brought blankets to football games because it was below zero.

At least where I come from, looking fly and being as warm as possible are pretty much mutually exclusive. I’m tempted to buy a Snuggie myself, since last time I checked, sweaters don’t come in Full.

Thanks Opo, but I own several cardigans—love them in fact.  But a good cardigan does not solve the leg problem and with a marauding kidlet on the loose, having to constantly tug a blanket on my legs from sliding down is a real pain in the ass.  At least with a Snuggie, I wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Again, aesthetics are subective. What you find intolerably ugly in the Snuggie, I don’t see as any better or worse than most blankets.  And I’ve seen some damn ugly cardigans.

BTW, I absolutely adore these “frivolous” threads on a Sunday afternoon.

Meh. Bill Maher got his shorts in a knot over this, too, and I really don’t see why. It just seems like an inside-out bathrobe to me.

I’m not going to go out and buy one, mostly because my company just imposed a big pay cut and I’m cutting out purchases I don’t need. But I really don’t see the harm.

I’m actually surprised by the lack of imagination when it comes to the sexual possibilities: I rather like the idea that my mate could eat me out and I wouldn’t be shivering from the draft caused by his head lifting the blanket.  For me, cold is definitely a mood killer.

Perhaps I’m missing an important step, but why wouldn’t this work with a regular blanket. I think I’d want my partner’s hands inside with me.

I remember making one of these from a pattern in 1979.

Energy crisis?  Recession? Anyone.

What emjaybee said, what Kerlyssa said, what history_mom said (and others I’ve missed I’m sure). I really don’t get the scorn, about this or the Uggs.  Do all of us really have to look good according to other people’s standards (which may not correspond *at all* to our own) even when we’re sitting around the house being lazy?

Amanda, I understand that for people who work at home it’s important not to wear your pajamas around all day or you start feeling demoralized.  But the majority of people do not work at home, and when they come home after work they want to take off their uncomfortable work clothes and snuggle up under a blanket and be lazy.  I would also like to gently suggest that perhaps, as a Texan, you’re not understanding exactly how cold it can get and how important it can be to keep as much of you covered at once as possible, especially if you need to keep the thermostat down to save money.

Believe me, I totally get thinking these things (and Uggs) are silly, but judging other people (and mostly women, who I assume are the primary purchasers for these things, as they certainly are for Uggs) for wearing them, especially on aesthetic grounds, just rubs me the wrong way.

Nobody here seems to be hearing the fact that I actually used to live in a home that was not heated at all, and when that was the case I couldn’t NEARLY even close to afford a $70 item that only had one use (and plenty of restrictions on even that use, because they limit your mobility so severely). 

And in that situation I went one better than “blanket with sleeves”.  I went to a thrift store and spent a fraction of that money on a warm coat I could wear in the house.  I also improvised some hand warmers out of a felted-out old sweater.  I was warmly outfitted in a way that allowed me to cook dinner, do housework, move around easily, in addition to the sedentary uses of a Snuggie.  Though I will admit it wasn’t exactly runway material…

And, yes, this unheated house was in New York, in the winter, with subzero temperatures and blizzards and the whole nine yards.

For those who suggest, and I don’t disagree, that owning a Snuggie (especially at the prices they’re asking) should be a furtive, shame-tinged act, might I suggest combining a fluffy bathrobe with a blanket?  It works for me, and my reading/TV watching spot is a leather couch next to a drafty glass wall in an apartment that rarely gets above 65F in winter.  The combination addresses all issues - warmth, convenience, cost, and your choice of canoodling in singles or pairs.  Replace the bathrobe with jeans and a hoodie and you have the outdoor version.  Soon I will have the Kyso Snuggie Deluxe available - a fluffly bathrobe plus not one but TWO homemade blankets.  On that day, I will come back and sneer at all of you with a loungewear self-righteousness that will make Amanda’s original post seem downright kind.

As for the importance of aesthetics—I totally agree. But I don’t see why (a) people seem to feel like these things are empirically unaesthetic and nobody could possibly like the looks of them; and (b) you can’t fulfill that need for aesthetics by having a nice home with things in it that you find attractive, and by wearing clothes you think look good most of the time.  Why does aesthetics need to be an absolutely full-time endeavor?  Do I need to start wearing silk pajamas to bed instead of my ratty old band t-shirts?  I just don’t get it.

I’m not understanding why it is desperately important to keep one’s entire body under a blanket indoors when the heating isn’t cranked up to “Miami”.  I walk more than a mile every day in jeans and a coat, in freezing (or below) temperatures.  My legs are very rarely cold.  It has to be below zero outdoors before I even contemplate wearing tights under my pants or pulling out the long underwear.  Maybe it’s that extra layer of blubber?  Maybe I just have freakishly insensitive legs?

Don’t get me wrong, obviously everyone should have their own standard of what cold means, or what keeping warm is, or what part of their body feels cold the worst.  But nobody here is saying “the Snuggie should be taken off the market, nay, made illegal!”  Just that they’re ugly, impractical, and there are a lot of other ways to keep warm.  If the Snuggie is really the only solution for you, so be it.

Kyso, I think the point that some of us are arguing is that wearing a bathrobe with a blanket over you is no more aesthetically pleasing than a Snuggie.  It really doesn’t make a difference and all comes down to personal preference. 

Opo, now you are contradicting yourself.  First, you opposed Snuggies for aesthetic reasons, but now you just oppose it on principle, given your defense that you really do understand “cold” and fashioned what sounds to my ears as bag lady apparel.

Babieca:  And I like to grab things over my head when I’m about to come hard. {{shrugs}} I guess I never thought that there was one “right” way to be eaten out.

Yes, because a $69.99 single-use convenience item is TOTALLY within the means of people who can’t afford to heat their homes…

W…T ...F??? Opoponax???

The advertizement on the weather channel just told me that I could get TWO snuggies AND TWO BOOKLIGHTS for $19.99!

Or is this one of those special ultra-latte NYC grande venti snuggiletti especialle models you think are universally available?

I saw a Snuggie in person the other day. I can attest, they are 1000% uglier in real life than they look on TV. I think they covertly tailor the ones in the ads to look body conscious and form-fitting compared to the real product.

I loved the Juicy Couture-inspired tracksuit craze that took hold while I was in college. It was like if you bought a sufficiently expensive jogging suit, you were thereby buying the license to wear it on the street. I never owned the real thing, but I appreciated the trend-setters who made the velour tracksuit appropriate street wear for the first time since the 1970s. Then I moved to Brooklyn, where the trend never went extinct. I knew I’d found my spiritual home.

I’m just going to guess, perhaps wrongly, that many of the people who strongly object to the Snuggie have not lived for a significant period of time in a climate where it gets really cold in the winter.  Not just barely cold enough for water to freeze; not just 20 degrees, but below zero for days cold.  The kind of cold where you layer on the clothes and the wind still cuts you to the bone.  The kind of cold where the inside of your windows ice up, and even with saran wrap on your windows, the temperature indoors still feels 10 degrees colder than it does when the thermometer is at 15. 

I like looking at pretty things.  I like my things to be aesthetically pleasing.  And yet, when it gets to -20 with the north wind howling at 30 mph, I (and most of the people I know) don’t care what things look like, for the most part, as long as it will keep you warm.

I’ll willing concede that the Snuggie and related products are ugly, and if someone can find a way to make them more attractive without compromising their utility, I’d pay more for it.  But they’re still damned useful, especially for those of us in the frigid zone.

Opo, different people have different tolerances for cold regardless of their body size.  It also depends on where you grew up.  I grew up in SoCal, naturally run colder than pretty much everyone else, and so have little tolerance for cold.  I am most comfortable between 75-80 degrees, but I cannot afford $800/month electric bills (no, I am not exaggerating). So I pretty much wear blankets constantly—even in summer (where I live the summers average over 100 degrees every day). This is why the Snuggie doesn’t offend me.

Thedrymock: yes!

Damn you, Amanda;
Damn you!!!!
I have neither a SNUGGIE OR a SEX LIFE!!!
Why do you rub salt in my Esoteric wounds?
Hmmm?

OK, it seems like there’s several different themes shaking out here:

1. Wearing these things as a sign of depression
2. Wearing these things as a practical way of keeping warm
3. Wearing these things as part of the overall de-prettifying and downfall of civilization.

Just because people who are depressed dress down, doesn’t mean all people who dress down are depressed. Or that it’s the clothes/snuggie causing the depression.

And just because people wear un-eyepleasing clothing in the name of comfort doesn’t mean that we, as a society, are devoid of any sense of aesthetics and doomed to live in ugliness.

MUCH more important to me here is class issues. Because I just finished rereading Nickel and Dimed, probably.

These kinds of products are aimed at lower income people and retirees, people who are trying to save by cutting down on heating bills, and who don’t have the resources and energy to care much about aesthetic anything. Who also may not want to spend money on a whole separate more stylish “lounging wardrobe” for when they get home from work, one that would be within whatever the acceptable parameters are for “aesthetics.” They probably do watch Friends and Rachal Ray.  So what?

Working from home and needing to not be a slouch to keep your spirits up is a different issue. I don’t think that applies to lots of the people who would actually buy these.

I guess I’m just nettled by attacking taste when taste is so clearly mostly a product of class. Ehrenreich talks about that a lot, about how dreamlike her “real life” full of taste and art and education was to her minimum-wage self, the one struggling to get enough protein to eat and a safe place to sleep every night. I’m all for attacking the root causes of prejudice, but the Snuggie ain’t it.

At most, you could say that it is a symptom of the current inequal setup where people’s indulgences are so limited that a blanket with sleeves is a welcome gift. But that’s just sad, not something to dump on them for.

Kyso, I think the point that some of us are arguing is that wearing a bathrobe with a blanket over you is no more aesthetically pleasing than a Snuggie. 

I don’t know - my blanket is made out of fleece-lined dismembered t-shirts and the bathrobe offers many exciting shoulder and/or cleavage baring opportunities, weather permitting.  Maybe you have to see me lounging in it to appreciate the awesome, but trust me when I tell you you’d totally want me.  I really think the combo beats the Snuggie on both functionality and sexiness. 

Plus if the Snuggie actually just a giant fleece smock, then the Kyso Snuggie Deluxe offers instant and complete front and back coverage, which is important for those of us who are too pansy to wait for our own asses to heat up our cold couches.

The advertizement on the weather channel just told me that I could get TWO snuggies AND TWO BOOKLIGHTS for $19.99!

The commercials I saw for them over the holidays were advertising them at the $70 price point, and the running joke amongst my friends who watch a lot more TV than I do is that they seem like they’d be a cool thing to have around on occasion if it weren’t for the fact that they cost as much as a winter coat.

Maybe they weren’t moving enough inventory and drastically lowered the price?  Maybe it’s Our Struggling Economy?  At $20 for 2, that’s not such a bad deal.  They’re still really, really ugly and impractical, though.

Kyso, I just totally spit coffee on my keyboard.  Y’know, I totally do want you now.

Uhmmm unless you bought it several sizes too large, Opo, what did you do for your legs?  That seems to be the problem with robes, too.  Getting them long enough and if you sit down, they open unless they’re an over the head long sweatshirt type. 

Personally, I use an extra long narrow afghan that drapes like a shawl, but comes down to the feet.

As for the jeans thing - sorry Amanda, but there are a number of backstrain issues that come from wearing jeans, esp. with belts.  Not to mention the tailbone embossing that occurs when they’re too tight.

Plus if the Snuggie actually just a giant fleece smock, then the Kyso Snuggie Deluxe offers instant and complete front and back coverage, which is important for those of us who are too pansy to wait for our own asses to heat up our cold couches.

Still not the same.

Frankly, a world where I can’t eat soup or drink hot chocolate while chin-deep in a blanket cocoon is not a world I want to be a part of.

But you can, Juan!  That’s the beauty of the KSD modular design!  Go get a robe and two blankets, see for yourself, and then when it works send me a check for $44.99 (OH residents add 6.75% sales tax).

It’s both-and. (I’ve been told it’s a “both/and” blog).

There’s something dreadfully sad and awful about the Snuggie AND…

...something grossly unkind and base in AM’s crafting two entire lengthy (& overwrought) disdain-laden paragraphs about them.

“I’m not a huge fashion snob.” No, but a maybe you’re a *little* one, sometimes, in a very annoying college-town-hipster kind of way. Keep telling yourself the giant Devo-themed tattoos on your arms are just to please yourself.

First, you opposed Snuggies for aesthetic reasons, but now you just oppose it on principle, given your defense that you really do understand “cold” and fashioned what sounds to my ears as bag lady apparel.

Actually, my first (and pretty much only) reason for hating the Snuggie is that they are pointless and impractical.  They’re a shawl for people who are too lazy to even bother to try to wear a shawl.

One thing that really fucking offends me is when relatively economically privileged people couch their lifestyle decisions in economics when it’s pretty obvious that they have no idea what it’s really like not to have very much money.  This “but what about people who can’t afford to heat their home!” thing goes hand in hand with “I can’t be vegetarian because it’s too expensive!” 

My frustration is with people who can’t just fucking own their choices.  If you want a snuggie because you grew up in SoCal and are cold-natured, or personally like the way they look, or your cult leader told you to, or maybe you just like ordering silly things off the TV, fine.  Whatever.  We’re all grownups here.  It’s the But What About Poor People?! stuff that bugs me.  If you can afford a Snuggie, you’re not poor.  If a thin velour blanket is enough to keep you warm around the house, you are probably paying your heating bills just fine.  If your local supermarket stocks Fakin Bacon and you’ve actually considered buying it, you have no idea what it’s like not to be able to afford meat.

Opo, what did you do for your legs? 

I wore pants, like most non-nudists tend to do around the house.

history_mom, we are on the same wavelength—that was exactly what I thought re: different cold tolerances.  I run cold too and end up wearing blankets all the time in the summer so the AC doesn’t freeze me out.  Plus, Opoponax, walking in the cold is very different from sitting around in it—I walk about 2 miles a day and usually end up in shirt-sleeves and sweating within five blocks, even if it’s in the low 50s (which is about as cold as it gets here in SoCal).  But at work, I’m cold if it gets under 75.  Which is why I also tend to think the snuggie isn’t all that impractical, even if it only works while you’re lazing around on the couch, since if you’re up and moving around to cook dinner or pick up the house or whatever, you’re not going to be as cold as if you’re sitting on the couch watching TV or reading a book, and therefore you’ll have less need to be completely covered.  Obviously sub-zero temperatures in your apartment would be a different story, but most people don’t have to deal with it being quite that cold inside, so I can see how this thing would be practical.

I loved the Juicy Couture-inspired tracksuit craze that took hold while I was in college. It was like if you bought a sufficiently expensive jogging suit, you were thereby buying the license to wear it on the street.

Around these inner-suburban parts, here in the nicer side of town, such sweatsuits were almost universally paired with high heels or high heeled boots.

I remember thinking “I don’t get it”.

there are a number of backstrain issues that come from wearing jeans, esp. with belts.

If you have a disability that prevents you from wearing any pants other than sweats, chances are we’re probably not talking about you. 

This goes hand in hand with the What About The Poor People fake piety - the What About The Disabled People fake piety.  I remember this coming up in a similar post about those evil cyborg bluetooth things a few months ago.  Yes, obviously people with disabilities, mobility issues, weight/body issues, etc. who NEED to wear whatever aesthetically unappealing clothing get a fucking pass.  Claiming that you wear bluetooth/snuggie/sweats/whatever in solidarity with people who have said issues is just dumb.

My dad has a snuggie, but he uses it as his computer.

But at work, I’m cold if it gets under 75.  Which is why I also tend to think the snuggie isn’t all that impractical

Oh, me too.  That’s why I keep a shawl in my desk drawer.  It takes about 5 minutes to figure out how to wrap one around your upper body so as to allow both full coverage and free arm movement.  You can probably even google image search under “shawl” and get some photo inspiration.

This goes hand in hand with the What About The Poor People fake piety

Wow, it’s like you honestly actually have no idea you’re talking to a number of Poor People right fucking now.

You think people are talking about solidarity with ‘them’? Nobody who can’t afford to pay their heating bills is reading and commenting here? Seriously? Jesus.

Snuggies are not a sign of the end of the downfall of civilization.

A 65-and-counting thread going in-depth on what other people drape over themselves when they’re reading or watching TV <u>is</u> a sign of the end of the downfall of civilization.

Amanda, I rarely get really annoyed with you, but this may be the first instance.

Let me put it bluntly: people from West Texas who now live in Austin do NOT get to write condescending little treatises on what people in cold climates put on to stay warm.  Or, more accurately, they can and obviously they have, but they make themselves look like jackasses in the process.

That’s why I keep a shawl in my desk drawer.

I also have a shawl-type thing that I wrap around my shoulders.  And arm-warmers.  And I keep a heavy sweater in my desk, too.  Sometimes I wear all three of those things at once.  But none of them keep my legs warm… thus the blanket.  A snuggie wouldn’t work at the office, where I have to look professional.  But at home, I can see how the snuggie might be more comfortable than some of the piecemeal solutions other people have suggested (and that I use at home).  It just sounds like a matter of personal choice to me.

I do understand what you’re saying about economic privilege, and I, for one, am economically privileged (and I also live in So Cal so never have to deal with freezing temps anyway). I apologize if I’ve said anything insensitive about poverty. I am not trying to hide behind people who are economically disadvantaged here—my argument in a nutshell is simply: why the judgment of people who are buying these things when they clearly think they’re practical and/or comfortable and/or economically sensible and/or nice-looking?  Why are so many people so interested in imposing their aesthetics or their own sense of what is practical for them personally onto other people?  I just genuinely don’t get the scorn or the outrage at the people buying these things.

man, just put a robe on, people. this is one of those silly things manufacturers convince people that they should have for no good reason. i

Ehrenreich talks about that a lot, about how dreamlike her “real life” full of taste and art and education was to her minimum-wage self, the one struggling to get enough protein to eat and a safe place to sleep every night. I’m all for attacking the root causes of prejudice, but the Snuggie ain’t it.

Except, of course, that people who have to worry about the most basic human needs like food and shelter don’t have fracking Snuggies.  Really.  They.  Just.  Don’t. 

Yes, obviously aesthetics are not our primary human need.  We need food, shelter, warmth, a place to poop, etc. first.  But they are an important need, and honestly once you get past the point of providing those primary needs, aesthetic needs are really not all that hard to satisfy if you put a minimal amount of effort into it.  You don’t need to have a Van Gogh over the fireplace or a closet full of Prada to satisfy an aesthetic need.  For me, it’s as simple as a real ceramic coffee mug at work.  A small brilliantly colored object.  My favorite pair of simple black Converse Chuck Taylors.  A perfect cannoli.  Not terribly inaccessible.

The WTF Blanket:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y

Opo—I am poor. Right now.  The cost of a Snuggie represents less than the amount I would save on ONE MONTH’S power bill if I could lower the thermostat by two degrees.  Most people I know who have a Snuggie (and love them) received them as gifts anyway.

So, it’s not fake posturing to suggest that it’s actually an economic choice to get a Snuggie.  It literally pays for itself immediately.

“A perfect cannoli.”

Nothing like a New Yorker rhapsodizing about cannoli.  Check her for the gun, before she leaves it.

I’m going to have to throw in support of Amanda here - I actually do live in a place that’s been well below freezing for most of the past three months and have scraped ice off the inside of my car windows.  I wear two pairs of socks indoors.  My windows are covered in plastic and I have worn a coat under my coat and still been cold.  It costs as much or more to heat my tiny two-bedroom apartment than my Snuggie-owning friend* spends on heating his condo, which is easily three times as big and is still so much warmer than my place.  And still I ridicule the Snuggie owners of my acquaintance because they’re just so fucking silly.  Does having the cold-weather dwelling cred but still sharing Amanda’s opinion of Snuggies make me better or worse than her?  This just seems like it’s turning into the sort of thread where we rank people from best to worst, and I’d like to know where I stand so I can update my CV.

*I also made fun of his ShamWOW!, which was kinda wow but not really.  ShamMEH! is more like it.

Wow, it’s like you honestly actually have no idea you’re talking to a number of Poor People right fucking now.

You think people are talking about solidarity with ‘them’? Nobody who can’t afford to pay their heating bills is reading and commenting here? Seriously? Jesus.

No, but people who think that a thin polyester blanket is going to make any real difference for someone who doesn’t have heat are not poor and are fooling themselves if they think that buying a Snuggie makes them one with the working man or whatever. 

If you read anything I’ve written, nowhere did I say that nobody who reads Pandagon is poor.  I said that nobody who thinks we should pretend Snuggies are cool because What About The Poor People can ever have actually had to figure out how to keep warm without heat when it’s -5 degrees outside.  I mean, shit, I think history_mom referred to what I wore to actually keep cold in an unheated home as “bag lady attire”...

keep warm.  that should be “keep warm”.  ugh.

i don’t get why some people are so defensive over a pointless waste of money. my ass wal-mart workers are gonna be buying this.

Does having the cold-weather dwelling cred but still sharing Amanda’s opinion of Snuggies make me better or worse than her?  This just seems like it’s turning into the sort of thread where we rank people from best to worst, and I’d like to know where I stand so I can update my CV.

(Shrugs.)  It gives you the cred to have a judgment.  Update your CV as follows:

“Shivers like a MF’g Canadian only when temperature drops below [and then insert your personal applicable temperature].”

I did refer to it that way to convey the improvisational nature of your clothing choices.  But you are also unfairly stereotyping that because most Pandagonians are well-educated it also means they are not currently poor.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

The snuggie makes me so happy to live in Southern California. At least until global warming really kicks in, the seas rise, and I start frying eggs on the pavement in February.  Until then, I’m really happy not to have the kind of cold concerns that would make this ugly thing look appealing.  We went five years without central heating once.  It was chilly in January, but not that chilly.

It literally pays for itself immediately.

You could do the same thing by putting on a sweater.  Or DIY-ing yourself some wrist warmers.  Or learning to wear a shawl.  Or just being OK with the fact that your arm is going to be a little cold for 2 seconds. 

If you want a Snuggie, that’s fine.  But don’t pretend that a Snuggie is the difference between freezing to death or not.

And snuggie opponents ignore all the reasons people give to wear them, because it’s so important to stamp out this affront to their fashion sense. FFS, it’s warm cheap clothing. This is exactly why I skip the music and fashion snob posts, because it brings out so many of the more unpleasant sides to people here, the sides that assume that the actual poor don’t post here and that actions that clash with their aesthetic inclinations are automatically invalid no matter how many times it is explained to them why a gods damned shawl doesn’t cut it.

Get over yourself and open your ears.

Wow.  Who knew that the Snuggie was the new uniform of the working class?  Dang, I missed that memo.

But don’t get me wrong—I love the Snuggie more than any of you.  Because the Snuggie gave us this.

Yeah, they are utilitarian.  There’s a stubborn streak of almost proud-to-look-stupid utilitarianism in American culture that Crocs epitomize.  It’s depressing to me, this blatant rejection of aesthetics, that often has more than a whiff of “pretty things are for pussies and libruls” to it in some cases, and in others, it’s a straight-up “why bother trying?” attitude.  I don’t like seeing how many people have just given up completely.  Like seeing someone wearing a denim jumper can put me off for a couple hours.
Amanda Marcotte on 03/01 at 02:41 PM

Proud to look stupid, no, proud to be rational enough to put function over often physically damaging fashion, yes.
Can one find fashionable but well-made comfortable shoes?  Yes, but not where most of us can afford to shop.

As for aesthetics being about “pretty” things, you’re really misunderstanding aesthetics, Amanda, which is about the beautiful, not the pretty.  Pretty is indicative of kitsch - which should be eschewed.

I just don’t really get this thread. I don’t think the Snuggie/Slanket/what-not is all that ugly. It doesn’t seem any uglier to me than an ordinary monotone blanket. What I’m getting from some of the comments is:

1) If you can afford a $15 armed blanket, you’re NOT poor! I know people WAY more poor than THAT! Shiver. I fucking DARE YOU.

2) I’m not a fashion elitist, or pretentious, but if you’d ever be caught dead in that, there is something wrong with you. By the way, wearing one makes you look pretentious. Sneer.

3) Surely, somewhere, there is something or some clothing combination that will do the same thing as the Snuggie - and rather than put down the $15, the only remotely respectable thing you can go do is search all of your local thrift stores and/or get a sewing machine NOW. Otherwise, a pox on your houses!

And I’m just sitting here, thinking… what? Why does it matter? Why would ownership of a Snuggie affect anyone’s perception of anyone else AT ALL?

I don’t get it. I really don’t.  Why do you have such a strong stake in other people’s choice to keep warm? Why is it so important to you that I get my wrists cold (FYI, I work from home on my computer, so it’s not a few seconds of cold)? A good Afghan can cost as much as a Snuggie if you aren’t lucky enough to inherit it from somewhere or don’t have easy access to a decent second hand store; a good cardigan or a couple of good cardigans would cost the same as a Snuggie.  It ALL costs money somewhere. So why is a Snuggie the sign of privilege?

I want one of those things.  It’s hard to knit while simultaneously balancing two blankets over your arms. 

I haven’t turned the heat on since I moved to Ohio.  Our utilities are part of our rent, and if we go over $100 for all utilities the whole month, we get cut off.  Some days it’s stifflingly hot in here because my neighbors think that the Fimbulvetr is upon us, and some days it’s so cold that I don’t leave the bed.  Count me as someone who would probably use this in bed under a lot of other covers.  This year we had a whole week where my husband and I both had to use individual “vellux” blankets under the sheets to keep warm enough.

When you think about it, $70 for one vs $100-150/month running the heat (for four months), the Snuggie seems like a better deal.  Plus you can probably sucker someone into getting it for you as a gift.

As for owing other people pleasing aesthetics, anyone who complains about my appearance can bite my fat ass.  I wasn’t put on this planet to decorate it, and I don’t owe anyone pretty.  Gee, isn’t that, like, a basic tenet of feminism or somethin?

but you are also unfairly stereotyping that because most Pandagonians are well-educated it also means they are not currently poor.

No, I’m not.  I’m saying that if “cold” to you is “when I slip my arm out of the blanket to change the channel”, you have no idea what it’s like not to have heat in the winter. 

I used to not have heat.  A Snuggie would have been practically useless.  What I wore to keep warm in the winter, you referred to as “bag lady clothes”.  And you’re acting like I’m the one with my class privilege showing.

Katie Joy: Apparently we had the same thoughts at almost the same time.

Ah, I see the J Train got there twenty minutes before I did.  I apologize.  I blame it on my Snuggie, which allows me to keep my arms free for blog commentin’ but makes me miss some comments here and there.

Snuggies, like sweat pants are for people who have given up on life. They’ve said, “Fuck it, I can’t be bothered to care anymore about the way I look or my self image. I’m going to wear this blanket, these stupid rubber shoes and shapeless pants. I May even stop showering and if anybody asks, I’ll say I’m conserving water! But no one will ask because I’ve given up the pretense of having a social life.”

I love the WTF commercial.  And for some reason, the fact that they only seem to be selling these things to white people was lost on me until I saw it with the new narration.  What’s up with that?  I’m beginning to think it really is a disturbing cult robe of some sort.

Why are people acting as though the snuggie is designed to replace central heating for poor people?  This object is being marketed to compulsive home shoppers, almost certainly of the middle-class varieties.  It’s fully open in the back.  You have to be sitting in order to have it work at all.  If you need to get up to go to the bathroom your snuggie has lost all effectiveness.  This is not an object designed for people who are actually cold.  It’s an object designed for people who are taste-impaired and unable to sew.

Sometimes you just need a period of time to not care how you look to other people.  Women especially often spend way too much of the day thinking about whether they look good enough.  What’s so wrong about not caring for a little while, especially in the privacy of your own home?

If you can afford a $15 armed blanket, you’re NOT poor! I know people WAY more poor than THAT! Shiver. I fucking DARE YOU.

My actual point is that if you want a Snuggie, you should get one and just fucking own it.  You should not pretend that you only got one in solidarity with poor people. 

Just like all these lefty lifestyle choices threads.  If you want to eat meat, you should own that and not pretend that you’re having filet mignon tonight in solidarity with all the folks who require halfway rotten fatty ground beef from the Dollar General in order to get enough protein to get out of bed in 3 hours and trudge back to their job behind the register at Walmart.  If you want to drive, you should own that and not pretend that you only bought an SUV because a lot of poor people out in the country don’t have access to reliable public transit or safe bike paths.

Just do what you fucking want to do, and deal with the fact that you’re doing it because it’s what works for you, not out of some kind of altruistic solidarity with the less fortunate.

(And, yes, Godless Heathen, I’ll admit that a Snuggie would rock when it’s even cold under the covers.)

No, I’m not.  I’m saying that if “cold” to you is “when I slip my arm out of the blanket to change the channel”, you have no idea what it’s like not to have heat in the winter.

Except that I didn’t fucking say that.  Yes, I was raised middle class (barely), I have a college and graduate education that have taken me 15 years to date to complete because I have had to work my way through, so I am perfectly aware of my privilege. But I am also dirt poor, unemployed (well, paid labor, I do work for a non-profit), in debt up to my eyeballs buying things like groceries on credit, and while I have never had to completely forego heat, I have often had the “privilege” to have the inside of my house colder than outside because we couldn’t afford to turn the heat on.

I want to know where anyone in this thread even said they had or were getting a snuggie, much less that they were doing it in solidarity with poor people.

The commercials I saw for them over the holidays were advertising them at the $70 price point, and the running joke amongst my friends who watch a lot more TV than I do is that they seem like they’d be a cool thing to have around on occasion if it weren’t for the fact that they cost as much as a winter coat.

Maybe they weren’t moving enough inventory and drastically lowered the price?  Maybe it’s Our Struggling Economy?  At $20 for 2, that’s not such a bad deal.  They’re still really, really ugly and impractical, though.
The Opoponax on 03/01 at 03:49 PM

Actually, if you go back and read the article closely, it’s two different brands with two weights of fleece - so the prices have some basis in reality. 

I have been in the paycheck to paycheck world, too.  But not everyone lives there all the time.  I recently bought some IKEA down comforters for the entire family.  Several hundred dollars total. 
Which would seem like an real splurge, except that is allows us to turn the nighttime heat down to 45-50, and since our local utility jsut raised prices, a long term bargain - we think we recoped the cost in @ 1-2 seasons.  Since the comforters will last a minimum of ten years - no brainer if you’ve got the cash to invest!!!! And it seems to have cut back on the family colds.

So environmentally, I’d argue that once you can afford it, you have a moral responsibility to spend to cut energy use. 

And if the Snuggie lets you do that…..

I imagine that merging this thread with the one at Shakesville about rare diseases and disorders could lead to some interesting stuff.  I quit reading in bed years ago when I realized it wasn’t worth letting my arms get so cold.  My fabulous circulation problems make it so that if I get cold, I don’t get warm - especially extremities.  When I first saw a commercial for the Snuggie, I thought “I have so wished for that!”  It’s not clothes, it’s a blanket.  Also, re: sweatpants in public, I was really excited when I was recovering from surgery and actually started having more than one day in a row when I wore pants with a button. 

Also, regarding blankets at football games, I remember when blanket was code for “hand job.”

Are poor people allowed to make some decisions based on aesthetic values?  Or do they just have to take the ugliest shit that the mail-order companies shill out?  I’m just checking.  I missed a couple of memos.  Also, do I need to post the results of my last tax return in order to form an opinion on the snuggie?  Or, as a member of the middle class, do I need to preface that all of my remarks are made to the middle classes alone?  Do we have no basis for cross comparison. 

I’m two paychecks from poor, like most of the middle classes.  If I get laid off next year, can I still say the snuggie is an ugly piece of shit?  Or will one be issued to me?  Will I suddenly find it appealing?  Is it like a magic trick?

My actual point is that if you want a Snuggie, you should get one and just fucking own it.  You should not pretend that you only got one in solidarity with poor people.

Just like all these lefty lifestyle choices threads.  If you want to eat meat, you should own that and not pretend that you’re having filet mignon tonight in solidarity with all the folks who require halfway rotten fatty ground beef from the Dollar General in order to get enough protein to get out of bed in 3 hours and trudge back to their job behind the register at Walmart.  If you want to drive, you should own that and not pretend that you only bought an SUV because a lot of poor people out in the country don’t have access to reliable public transit or safe bike paths.

Just do what you fucking want to do, and deal with the fact that you’re doing it because it’s what works for you, not out of some kind of altruistic solidarity with the less fortunate.

I just don’t get the comparison. There are good reasons to not eat meat or not drive an SUV. I’m sure virtually anyone reading Pandagon could list them off, so I’m not even going to bother. I can’t think of a good reason not to wear a Snuggie (in other words, I can’t think of any reason why owning one would have a negative impact on anyone or any ideal worth preserving, which can’t be said of your other examples).

And I don’t think anyone wears a Snuggie because they want to be cool like all the other poor people (?). I think it’s because they wear a lot of extra clothes/blankets around the house anyway - probably because they live somewhere where fuel costs are high and the weather is chilly - and the idea of an armed blanket is appealing.

And snuggie opponents ignore all the reasons people give to wear them, because it’s so important to stamp out this affront to their fashion sense. FFS, it’s warm cheap clothing.

The thing is, it’s not even clothing. It’s a fucking blanket<i>. When I’m at my parents’ house, I chill on the couch with a blanket with freakin’ Sesame Street characters on them. I mean, who cares.

If people were wearing these things out to the grocery store, looking like they were about to send Zod to the Phantom Zone, then I would be hating. But c’mon. <i>Blanket.

...sweat pants are for people who have given up on life. They’ve said, “Fuck it, I can’t be bothered to care anymore about the way I look or my self image…”

Wow. Pretty much every woman I went to law school with lived in their sweatpants (welcome to the late 1980s), and, so far as I know, none of them has rolled over and died, and we’re coming up to our 20th Reunion.

Maybe I should wear a snuggie!

As much as I’d like to continue this discussion, I have to go do revisions.  While my wrists are cold.  I will be wishing for a Snuggie and revel in the idea that if I had one I could piss off the aesthetes and make people think I’m really just another depressed member of the middle class all at the same time. Whee!

If you have a disability that prevents you from wearing any pants other than sweats, chances are we’re probably not talking about you.

This goes hand in hand with the What About The Poor People fake piety - the What About The Disabled People fake piety.  I remember this coming up in a similar post about those evil cyborg bluetooth things a few months ago.  Yes, obviously people with disabilities, mobility issues, weight/body issues, etc. who NEED to wear whatever aesthetically unappealing clothing get a fucking pass.  Claiming that you wear bluetooth/snuggie/sweats/whatever in solidarity with people who have said issues is just dumb.
The Opoponax on 03/01 at 04:09 PM

Don’t mean to pick on you Opo, just clarifying, I’m not talking official disability here.  I’m talking common sense.  Jeans weren’t designed for slouching on a couch, and originally weren’t designed for women.  The strong material worked great for those saddle(good posture) sitting narrow hipped no assed cowboys riding through rough terrain.  Couch slouch, and they gap at the back while putting unnecessary pressure on the abdomen.  (Call my avoidance of jean lounging a preventive measure - just like I wouldn’t feel compelled to do a June Cleaver and vacuum in pearls and heels.)  Not to mention what rivets do to my aesthetically pleasing furniture.  Going out - different story.

I want to know where anyone in this thread even said they had or were getting a snuggie, much less that they were doing it in solidarity with poor people.

This is the comment that started it, for me:

Uh, Amanda, some of have our heaters turned way down this winter…

Which implies that anyone who thinks Snuggies are lame is an evil classist who is so wealthy that they’ve never experienced discomfort due to a cold house.  And probably wants poor people to freeze to death.

Please conform and confirm.  Thank you.

You know, those of us who live in cold climates (you know, actually north of the Arctic circle) have a general classification for people who get overly concerned about how they look as opposed to keeping warm.  We call them “corpses”.  Also “fox food”, “bear snacks” and “future anthropological discovery”.

My mother has had something like that (that she made herself) for years.  She loves it for sitting down and knitting while watching TV or listening to the radio.  It gets a bit chilly, she tosses it on without needing to go get extra clothes, it warms up, she takes it off without needing to worry about putting clothes away.

I really don’t get the scorn, about this or the Uggs.  Do all of us really have to look good according to other people’s standards (which may not correspond *at all* to our own) even when we’re sitting around the house being lazy?

I was unaware that making fun of stuff was mandating it by law.

God, even though it’s fun to write these goofy posts, it’s really depressing seeing how defensive people get about what is essentially harmless.

And believe me; I’m never, ever, ever going to buy that this atrocity only exists because the poor people in really cold climates have no other option.

If that was true, after all, they wouldn’t sell in Texas.  Yet, they do.  So clearly, it’s not pure necessity that sells this.

Same with Ugg boots.  If in fact they were the only decent boots that anyone managed to invent—-which I would indeed find surprising—-that doesn’t explain why people wear them where you don’t really need boots at all.

I can’t think of a good reason not to wear a Snuggie

A love of beauty.  Which is the problem I’m getting at—-in this country, we’ve reached a point where beauty itself is treated as suspect.

But I think there is a certain virtue in warm clothing that allows you to stay mobile. You just get colder if you stay still.
purpleshoes on 03/01 at 04:48 P

Unfortunately, it’s rather impossible to perform my actual work (academe) when moving around- try focusing on primary source readings, grading papers, etc while running in place (and wearing reading glasses).

Personally, I’m waiting for someone to sell a home version of the treadmill or stationary bike that one doctor rigged up - w/computer/desk.  Then I want it hooked up to generate electricity to power said computer - now that would be useful.

Wow, what a popular thread! Anyway, I wouldn’t have one of those Snuggies because I cannot stand unnatural fibers against my skin; and at $15, I’m pretty certain that if someone smokes in a Snuggie they are liable to torch themselves if a stray ash lands on it.

And I know everyone hates Crocs, they aren’t pretty, but if you have fibromyalgia like I do, they are the one kind of shoe that doesn’t hurt like the devil when you have a flare up. And for those with cold feet, you cannot beat the Crocs Mammoth. I have two pair.

But you won’t find me in a Snuggie.

</i>If that was true, after all, they wouldn’t sell in Texas. <i>

Or SoCal, where, as I said, I once went five years without heat.  Clearly these are cult robes.  The commercial is fronting some sinister plot, probably involving the formation of an army of robed isolationist nuts intent on destroying the federal government.  Forewarned is forearmed.  When these people march down my street I’ll be waiting for them in my Obama cardigan.

I can’t think of a good reason not to wear a Snuggie

A love of beauty.  Which is the problem I’m getting at—-in this country, we’ve reached a point where beauty itself is treated as suspect.

I just don’t get that! What is intrinsically ugly about it? I have several blankets that looks virtually identical to a Snuggie, minus the arms. Is it, in and of itself, more attractive to be covered in a normal blanket with sweatshirt sleeves sticking out the sides? I just don’t think it’s even remotely possible to attach the existence of this product to a War on All Things Beautiful.

Phylosypher—a good down comforter is a really, really different thing from a Snuggie.  Especially because if you have a down comforter, you can snuggle up with it on the couch, and get two different uses out of it.  A snuggie doesn’t have that level of flexibility, and other items like a blanket, a sweater, a robe, a shawl, etc. do everything a snuggie does without requiring you to shell out for yet another single-use gadget.

A very large part of my ridicule of the snuggie is that it does exactly one thing, and it does that thing pretty much just as well as a whole host of other things you probably already have around the house.

Keep telling yourself the giant Devo-themed tattoos on your arms are just to please yourself.

Gosh, I never did.  I like other people, though, and enjoy my interactions with them.  I like looking good for other people, and like it when they return the favor. 

But your point is an interesting insight into why this stuff bothers me so much.  It feels connected to SUVs in that same way.  It’s not the item specifically, but a cavalcade of American consumerism that points to how isolated we are from each other and the world, how we pull into ourselves and quit caring.  I don’t actually blame people for this—-corporations have built our society to be precisely this isolating.  Our society has been built to encourage people to go to work, go home, watch TV and try to minimize their outside life.  There’s something about the aesthetics and marketing of this item that is strongly evocative of that.

cannot stand unnatural fibers against my skin…

About goddamned time this thread turned kinky.

It’s ugly in the same way that that microfleece is ugly.  If you disagree, well, I don’t know what to say.  You’re not budging me on it, sorry.  I will maintain that wood paneling is ugly, microfleece is ugly, and so are slouchy boots.  Perms were ugly, and people who went with that trend—-especially if they added the sprayed-up bangs—-lived to regret it.  But no, I can’t prove that perms are ugly with empirical research.

To be honest, if I had any skill with a sewing machine, I would take my favorite fluffy bathrobe and add another two or three feet to it. Just long enough to touch the ground, so it would cover my ankles.

I’ll admit, I LOVE my lazy Sundays. I wear mismatched pajamas and ski socks and my ridiculous pink-fluff robe. It’s not an attack on beauty or human interaction, it’s not a character flaw, it’s my day of Godless rest.

Nothin’ wrong with it. Nothin’ wrong with the Snuggie, either.

I will say Snuggies are very devo.  I hope Mark Mothersbaugh wears one when he plays Booji Boy sometimes.

I will say, that if the snuggie was really about completely giving up they would make it with a small zipper in front, so men could pee in it without taking it off.  The fact that the zipper has not yet been added means there is hope for humanity.

I can’t think of a good reason not to wear a Snuggie

A love of beauty.  Which is the problem I’m getting at—-in this country, we’ve reached a point where beauty itself is treated as suspect.
Amanda Marcotte on 03/01 at 05:35 PM

Now you’re confusing beauty with glamour, Amanda.  And since glamour is generally associated with woman/Eve - there’s your connection.  Seriously, there’s an excellent essay titled Beauty, Glamour and Kitsch.  (Google it - it comes up as a read in a book preview). 

But I’m not getting why the Snuggie is aesthetically ugly.  Color, ok, nice drape - at least in the photos.  No silly adornment/kitsch on it, e.g. ruffles, slogans.  Seems almost toga like.  I understand the impracticality for getting up and doing something - but that’s the advertising, not the thing itself.

i’ve noticed an annoying trend of Opoponax always using herself as the marker for what’s normal and okay. about everything. all the way back to saying that anyone who would think to take BC for cramps is crazy because SHE never had cramps that bad, or that teenagers who didn’t have the means or motive to drive to another town to get condoms are stupid. your standards for what is good and normal are not everyone’s. so please, for god’s sake, get over yourself. that’s all i have to say about this.

SUV’s aren’t a problem because of the aesthetics, they’re a problem because of their mileage. Are snuggies destroying the ozone? Hastening peak oil? No, they offend Amanda’s fashion sense. My god, a national problem. Personally, I find your fashion sense doesn’t jibe with mine at all, but I don’t feel a need to tell you what to wear or impute nationwide psychological trends based on it.

I spent half a decade never being warm in new England winters. I’d have killed for one of these, and that it offends the delicate sensibilities of fashion snobs really is a plus. You don’t define beauty, Amanda, you just define the boundaries of your clique.

says eileen:

“Why are people acting as though the snuggie is designed to replace central heating for poor people?  This object is being marketed to compulsive home shoppers, almost certainly of the middle-class varieties.”

THANK YOU. this is how i see it. throwing $70 at something that isn’t all that innovative, because it was marketed to you. there are simpler, cheaper options, and this is about as worthy of vociferous defense as any other thing you’ll see on an informercial. it’s just SILLY.

I will maintain that wood paneling is ugly… and so are slouchy boots.

I like some wood paneling, and also enjoy slouchy boots.  I had a pair for a while that were like this great hybrid between Mad Max and something a pirate would wear.  They were Teh Roxxors. 

But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that some people wear slouchy boots because we have stubby legs and fat ankles and other boots are hard to fit, so therefore if you hate slouchy boots you are LOOKSIST!!!!!111!!1!!!!.  I just like them (and the fat ankles thing).  And that’s OK.  We can have different likes and dislikes.  Thin Ankle Supremacist!

And the built-in toilet? How does that work?

I agree with those who have suggested it’s a pretty obscure ( and inconsequential) topic.

Where is this 70$ stuff coming from? 20 bucks for two snuggies last I saw.

Opo - do you have children or pets?  I’m guessing not.  I live ruralish - livestock, indoo/outdoor small animals small house, back door near couch - where I often work and eat when I’m really busy. There is NO WAY IN HELL my good down is coming downstairs.  On a practical level, it would take years off it to have to wash it to make it tolerably clean to sleep under.

I have blankets on just about every chair/couch in the house in winter (mostly handmade by moi often from recycled yarns).  We’re a family of readers, and it’s nice to read all in one room- or watch a movie, etc.  Sometimes the kids use a study buddy and a blanket on the floor, and, while I agree with the poster who didn’t like synthetics, they are eminently more washable than wool (which I’m allergic to) or silks, that other great natural warmer. 

So I guess a lot of it is how you’ve arranged your life and family adjustments.  I mean, under your rubric, I should be environmentally guilty for having multiple blankets, while I’m feeling environmentally morally praiseworthy for using blankets instead of burning fossil fuels, thus having a Snuggie as one of my blankets would be OK - though I might try to make one instead of buy it.

It’s an oversized robe.  Big fucking deal.  It’s not an assault on the very concept of aesthetics.  It’s not upper or lower class.  It’s a blanket.  You don’t like it?  Fine.  But don’t pretend that standing on your soapbox and denouncing anyone who’d stoop to using a blanket you don’t like as the super-depressed who’ve given up on life and shouldn’t be invading your precious eyespace is anything other than snobbish assholery.

It’s a big robe.  Jesus Christ, it ain’t gonna hurt you.  Nobody using one gives half a shit about your aesthetic preferences.  They care about having a blanket that covers their arms while they read or watch TV.

Frankly, if you’re the type who’d get antsy while home alone reading because you don’t think you’re looking good enough, you have a problem.  You, not Gramma Millie who just wants to stay cozy while watching her stories.

I own a snuggie. You see, I wear a blanket around the house all the time. Right now it’s a pink blanket. So my mother thinks ‘hey, let’s give shannon a snuggie!’ and she did. It cost $15. I can’t refuse a mother’s love.

all the way back to saying that anyone who would think to take BC for cramps is crazy because SHE never had cramps that bad

I said this?  Really?  Based on personal issues with hormonal BC which I will not share here, I HIGHLY doubt that’s what I said.  I’m prepared to eat my words if you can quote me on that, though.  We’ve all said stupid shit we probably didn’t entirely mean on the internet.

teenagers who didn’t have the means or motive to drive to another town to get condoms are stupid.

Re the means to drive to another town, what I said was that my friends and I, who had to drive to another town to buy condoms because we would be recognized if we went the nearby drugstore, still by and large were able to have safe sex.  Maybe we were just masters of our own hormones, I dunno.  Unprotected sex is still stupid.  We do not have an inalienable right to be considered intelligent people who made good choices.

I never said that people who don’t have access to condoms are stupid.  Ever.  EVER.

Opoponax - I don’t see how weirdnoise’s comment could be read as saying that s/he is going to go out and buy a snuggie in solidarity for the poor. It just sounds like s/he thinks it might be practical in her/his situation.  (Sorry about the awkward pronouns, I haven’t come around to a good way of doing gender-neutral yet.)

Amanda: </i>I was unaware that making fun of stuff was mandating it by law.</i>
No, but judging people for their aesthetic choices—especially with regard to what they decide to wear, and especially when the group of people you’re judging is going to be made up of a lot more women than men—is not exactly a feminist act.  I’m just sayin’.  How is it wrong to judge women for, say, not shaving their legs (for which the argument is also an aesthetic one) and okay to judge them for their loungewear?  All I’ve been saying is I don’t understand the vitriol against this particular personal choice.  I feel like there’s something going on that I’m entirely missing.

Same with Ugg boots.  If in fact they were the only decent boots that anyone managed to invent—-which I would indeed find surprising—-that doesn’t explain why people wear them where you don’t really need boots at all.
Because people like them?  They’re very comfortable?  They find them aesthetically appealing?  They actually are practical in that climate, despite appearances?  Those are my reasons.  What’s the problem with that?  Why are we even talking about this?

I do have to agree that the snuggie looks like a cult robe, though.

mean, under your rubric, I should be environmentally guilty for having multiple blankets,

What?

Huh?

All I said was that a Snuggie has only one use, while blankets have many uses.  This annoys me.  Other people probably friggen love single-use gadgets.  Whatever. 

Have as many blankets as you want.  Or don’t.  Whatever.  Seriously.

pajama pants, two shirts, wool socks, a sweater coat, and a blanket and I’m still cold.

You might try covering your head, the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the human body, and the only area of the body aside from your hands that you haven’t mentioned with any significant cover.

You might try covering your head

If we added a Jayne cap to the above-mentioned list would we be creating an affront or an adorable ensemble?

Since I’ve lived in Phoenix I’ve discovered that flowy cotton skirts and sundresses are a godsend in the hot weather.  I can be comfy and still look presentable.  I much prefer them to shorts. 

As for jeans, I can’t even imagine how I tolerated them before the 2% stretch came along.  They can’t be more than 2% lycra or spandex or they fit weird.

Don’t get, well, pissy, Opo.  Seriously I understand and at times envy the type of simplicity you’re touting.  Back when I was single, the less the better - need to move - great, load up the hatchback.  Then along came family and, well suddenly you find that other people have rights to their space and their stuff and you have lots more stuff.

I generally love multi-use, so I agree that buying a Snuggie in addition to the other blankets seems wastefully consumerist.  But, if one is replacing or buying a needed couch blanket anyway, then yeah, why not if it will suit.

Seriously I understand and at times envy the type of simplicity you’re touting.  Back when I was single, the less the better - need to move - great, load up the hatchback.

My issue with the snuggie is that the snuggie has one one potential use, whereas blankets, sweaters, shawls, scarves, etc have lots of potential uses (again, the number of these items you deem it necessary to obtain is immaterial).  Even if you take the example of a hat:  I can wear a hat outside if it’s cold.  I can also wear a hat inside if I’m still cold.  I can even wear the same hat if it’s not very cold, but I just want to make a fashion statement.  I can also use the hat to hide a bad haircut.  That’s 4 times the uses of a Snuggie, right there.  Without even getting to the silly stuff like cutting a hole in the hat and using it as a tea cozy, or felting the hat and turning it into a change purse.

I’m going to start a start an informercial selling hats:  Four Times As Useful As Anything Else* You Will See On TV, Guaranteed!

*FINE PRINT:  Does Not Include Other Hats.

I think the existence of this thread says more about Americans than that blanket ever could.

My god, a national problem.

If it clarifies, just because I post on something doesn’t mean I think it’s a national problem.  I think the larger culture that gives birth to stuff like this is, sure.  If the Snuggie existed in a culture that wasn’t already geared towards punishing aesthetics and rewarding mediocrity, then I wouldn’t probably think it was anything but odd.  But in our culture, government funding for the arts is suspect.  The hostility towards aesthetics, up to and including the belief that taking the time to make things look nice is slightly immoral, is exactly why the right has been so successful at cutting arts funding, music lessons in public schools, etc.  Truly interesting fashions in music, film, and fashion are co-opted by corporate America and drained of their spirit.  The powers that be benefit if the public has their standards lowered.

This is why FDR’s administration included arts funding.  It’s not strictly practical, and you can’t “prove” beauty with evidence, but he and his were right—-there’s a self-esteem value to it that can’t be provided with anything else. 

When I lived by myself, it became all too easy to skip shaving, wear ugly underwear, eat microwave food, and drink wine out of a plastic cup when I was home by myself for a night.  I found that putting out a little more effort to do things right made me a lot happier, though.

I lived by myself, it became all too easy to skip shaving

Oooh!  Oooooh!  Let’s start a shaving flamewar!  C’mon, y’all know you want to…

You might try covering your head, the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the human body, and the only area of the body aside from your hands that you haven’t mentioned with any significant cover.

That was me.  And I do actually have a kelley green and white wool hat that I love (got it in Ireland a few years back) and wear just about everywhere in fall, winter, and spring and that I’ve been known to wear inside the house sometimes.  The husband makes fun of me for it, as he is never as cold as I am, but it is warm.

Well, I like shaving. Obviously, if it’s not your thing, then keep your hair.  I think women look fine with lots of hair.  But it wasn’t the shaving that was the issue.  It’s the skipping. 

But yeah, I found that I like myself a little better if I wear nice underwear even if I’m not getting laid.

Oh dear, here comes Sophistblaterba to take every last comment out of context, promote her own issues, and lecture all us unwashed peons who just have to listen to her/him.

blah

in our culture, government funding for the arts is suspect.  The hostility towards aesthetics, up to and including the belief that taking the time to make things look nice is slightly immoral, is exactly why the right has been so successful at cutting arts funding, music lessons in public schools, etc.  Truly interesting fashions in music, film, and fashion are co-opted by corporate America and drained of their spirit.  The powers that be benefit if the public has their standards lowered.

I would guess that this much is uncontroversial here.

I was being silly with the desire for a shaving flamewar.  Though I am curious as to how shaving/not will be justified as the CORRECT choice based on class/ability/environmental/whatever issues.  C’mon guys, let’s get self righteous!

Good underwear, though, I agree.  And drinking out of real glassware.  I am still really bad about cooking real food just for myself.  I’m keeping my slouchy boots, though, SO THERE!

I wax at home, which is why I am better than most if not all of you.  Sometimes I use the more expensive hemp-scented wax, because it reflects my values.

I’m sure not-shaving is more environmental, because it’s less resource-intensive.

Most women I’ve met who don’t shave are snappy dressers with good taste in music, for what it’s worth.

So, how about Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of health and human services?

My issue with the snuggie is that the snuggie has one one potential use, whereas blankets, sweaters, shawls, scarves, etc have lots of potential uses (again, the number of these items you deem it necessary to obtain is immaterial).

That’s not entirely true.  For example, you could use a snuggie as a part of your druid costume this Halloween.  Leave it on the floor for your playful kittens, it’s at least twice as much fun!  Cut it into oil rags for the garage.  Tear it into strips and fashion it into a rope to escape from a second floor window.  The possibilities are endless!

Well, on the bright side, the Snuggie is likely to die out completely in the USA by 2100…

I’ve started to love cooking for myself.  I can be experimental and I’ll always forgive my own mistakes.  I get nervous when I’m cooking for others so it’s nice to have a few trial runs before I unveil a new dish on them. 

I’m keeping my Clark’s flip flops.  They are perfectly molded to my feet and have good traction on the bottom.  While looking decent with a sundress.

Kyso, just FYI but while I don’t usually shave (TOTP!!11!1!!!!!!!), when I am shamed into hair removal by EVIL MEN, I generally prefer to pluck each individual leg hair.  With my teeth.  While contorted into the Vrischikasana yoga pose.

Because not only does it reflect my values, but it also means I’m better than you.

From the sound of things, many commenters here need to give up on snuggies or any other conventional means of staying warm, go gut a tauntaun and crawl in until april.

The entire New York Times is incredibly depressing. My household used to get it daily, and was soon submerged in newspapers because we also get the local Washington Post. For a while the OpEds were a double dose of infuriating neoconservatives.

Now, however, the lifestyle model of the Times (adopted somewhere around the time they brough in color pictures) is imploding. Article after article by and about whining Manhattanites no longer able to afford their definition of cool. Fashion stylists keeping up their pose with increasing desperation: soon the only people who want to wear this stuff will be good-looking teens on the brink of juvie from too many shoplifting episodes, or (a few years later in their lives) porn stars.

I’m just surprised that the NYT in its present state of self-pity didn’t write an article about the stylish interiors of customized coffins.

I would argue that some of the fault for cutting of arts funding or interest in aesthetics (two sections of which I’m currently teaching) is the relativism indoctrinated at a very early age in our public ed system.  While it is a good thing that “I like it, you don’t, therefore I kill you” is not a good thing, we’ve gone way to far the other way: ” I like it, you don’t, who gives a fuck, and it’s not even worth thinking let alone bothering to articulate why I like it cause I just do” leads to apathy about art-period.  ANd some of that relativism did come from the left, particularly the post modern pushing left..

Op, I can shape my eyebrows using nothing but the psychic energy generated by my smug belief in my own superiority.  My bikini line is crafted by small-time local artisans to whom I pay better than union rates.

And organic.  It’s all organic, of course.

If what I said wasn’t too clear, the Snuggle article is yet another example of the NYT lifestyle coverage’s increasing self-pity en route to the aforesaid coffins. This is not an objective view of Snuggles but is probably how these type of New Yorkers regard them (wealthy stylesetters who can no longer afford to be early adopters of the expensive—the type who bought iPhones when they cost $500). We’ll probably also see an article about dirty underwear.

I probably wouldn’t buy a Snugglie, but then again, I seldom lie on the couch. When I have to waste time in front of a glowing screen, it’s the screen of my computer. I just pull on extra raggedy-ass sweaters, of which I have many. Sometimes I even wear a hat in the house, usually one made of — gasp!!! — polarfleece. Which I adore, because it feels good.

My fat ass is parked at the computer in a pair of track pants that have seen better days. So has my sweatshirt. I am wearing a nice bra, but then again, it’s supportive. Glad to know, Keith, that I’ve just given up on life, fuck you very much.

And, yeah, I go out like this, in sneakers, as often as I can get away with. The world is lucky I remember to run a brush through my hair before I walk out. I can’t be bothered to primp every time I walk out the door. Ben D., you can deal, and so can everybody else.

There are actually lots of nice pictures and knick-knacks up on the walls here, and I’ve got some really cute pieces of furniture that are practical as well. But I guess my schlumpy wardrobe cancels that all out. Amanda says so!

Gah. Your tastes aren’t sacrosanct, be they in clothing or food or especially music. (I’d rather listen to my bluegrass collection than to most of the stuff you post about on Fridays.) I’m with Kerlyssa, History Mom, Jrod, Seeker, etc. in this thread.

And with Pam. If I had the money for a pair of Crocs, I’d get me some. And wear them out as often as possible, so I could savor the delicious tears of the pissy little fashion slaves who whine about them all over the internet.

Hmph.  Well at least my pits are Fair Trade. 

I also support a village of disabled Hazara refugee widows outside Peshawar in exchange for regular eyebrow threading services.  Which I commute to by bike, of course.  I still haven’t figured out whether I’m liberating them or oppressing them by forbidding them to wear burqas during the process.  I’m considering bringing them all Snuggies next time I go.

Harrumph!  I invite endangered hair eating insects to swarm my legs and organically remove any unwanted hair from my personal ecosystem while enriching their diet.

Nobody here seems to be hearing the fact that I actually used to live in a home that was not heated at all, and when that was the case I couldn’t NEARLY even close to afford a $70 item that only had one use (and plenty of restrictions on even that use, because they limit your mobility so severely).

They really don’t cost $70, though. I know that dropping that in the middle of the discussion is not entirely unlike the whole “now that we’ve established you’d do it for $1,000,000 we’re just haggling over the price” smartassery, but really, snuggies cost no more than and often less than a typical blanket ($15, generally, although much more for the slanket, which appears to me to be made of higher-end material) and are not single-use items, or so I learned when our electricity went out for two days and I slept in it.

My older son really wants a snuggie.

My older son wants me to teach him to sew.

We have a likely snow day tomorrow and I have a new sewing machine, and a bunch of polarfleece stashed away in the attic.

I think somebody is going to learn to so some very long, simple seams in some very forgiving material.

On the aesthetic front…  I had a friend who fell on very hard times, and was struggling to make ends meet.  She had another friend who looked around her house and advised her to sell the two nice pieces of furniture she owned in order to make a payment on some bill or another.  The pieces were heirlooms, and worth several thousand dollars, but not enough to make a permanent difference in the woman’s life.  She couldn’t have been free of any one bill from the money raised on the sale of her only nice pieces of furniture.

Understandably, she was reticent to sell and it was driving her other friend crazy.  I said that she shouldn’t sell them unless she just couldn’t keep them anymore.  If she had no home to store them in, that would be one thing, but so long as she had a place for them, and loved them, and they made her life more beautiful, and happier as a result, then she should keep them.  The money she could have raised by selling would have been gone in less than a month, and her situation would not have changed.  So why not keep some beauty for herself, and keep the things that remind her of the life she was working toward?

The friend cut off ties with her when it became clear that she wouldn’t sell the items.  The reasoning was that she obviously wasn’t really motivated to help herself.  The flaw in that reasoning was an assumption that beauty was not necessary, or that there was an income-level you could fall below that meant that you didn’t get to have it anymore.  You lost your rights to beauty.  You didn’t deserve it somehow.  It goes with the reasoning that poor people can’t really be poor if they still have a TV, if they still have blankets and jackets, if they can turn on a heater.  If you haven’t passed an extreme threshhold of misery you aren’t deserving of consideration, for some reason. 

And fuck that.  Even though I still insist that these items are intended for taste-impaired middle-class folk, the idea that poor people don’t care how they live or look, or don’t have an opinion on the subject is…  odd.  Distasteful to me.  Even if you’ve had to turn off your thermostat this winter, you still have the option and right to disdain ugly crap.  Or not.  So this really isn’t a class war issue, unless someone wants to suggest that ugly velour cult robes are all that the poor really deserve.  If nobody is saying that, then I’m all for an intensive discussion on the value of beauty for everyone, and the problems that arise from taking away lovely things (like homemade blankets or sweaters) and replacing them with crappy merchandise.  Because you are Poor now, and that is how the Poor should behave.

I’ve seen beautiful things in thrift stores, and I’ve seen crap.  Everybody is making these choices, and the decision to remove beauty from your life is one that is deserving of consideration.  Aesthetic pleasure is not owned by any one class, and the only people who would say it is are the manufacturers who make sure that inexpensive things are as ugly as possible.  They are saying that they hate bargain-shoppers.  Why can’t we point that out?

The only problem I have with your argument, Eileen, is the idea that the snuggie is objectively ugly, or at least objectively ugly enough to overcome its objective utility.

Nobody in Particular, I don’t think my tastes are sacrosanct.  Loudly stated, perhaps, but not sacrosanct.

The rest of your comment gets at what I’m saying.  People have made a moral fetish out of looking like they don’t care.  It’s almost become mandatory for some people to dress badly, because otherwise you are saying that you care about what others think, and that’s shallow.  Or community-oriented and cheerful, if you look at it from my perspective.

I’ve seen beautiful things in thrift stores

Shhhhhh!  Don’t tell people that!  It’s bad enough with the hipsters stealing all the good t-shirts…

Wow, Eileen, that story is sad.  And I agree—-there’s a depressing tendency to make a moral fetish out of scrubbing beauty from life.  It’s part of the larger American puritanical streak, I’m sure.

To put it another way, I don’t believe that wearing the snuggie is the aesthetic equivalent of wearing ugly underwear when you’re not getting laid, or drinking out of plastic cups when it’s just you. If you DON’T wear a snuggie, you’re going to wear warm clothes or a blanket, or be cold. None of the above are particularly attractive to the point where it’s worth it to force one of the choices. If it’s between wearing a snuggie and a cashmere sweater, yeah, okay, I see the argument about making yourself feel like you have physical, aesthetic worth. But generally speaking that’s not the choice people are making. Most of the time the choice is hoodie, piled-on down (or blankets which look basically the same as the snuggie), or snuggie, and none is being chosen for their hawtness.

I don’t know.  I think hoodies are cool-looking.  I like my Ramones hoodie a lot.  On the right people, it looks awesome.

In fact, it makes me extremely happy that my toss-it-on-when-cold item is Ramones propaganda.  Why have a boring hoodie?  It’s like when I realized that a pretty coffee cup cost as much as a plain one, and makes my morning that much nice.

Same thing is true of the Snuggie, goddamnit.

That was in response to “On the right people, it looks awesome.”

My problem with Snuggies is that they’re sorta dumb IMHO.  A nice quilt or a poncho or a fuzzy bathrobe like the one my apprentice gave me for Christmas works for me, and I live in Massachusetts.

OTOH, Uggs may be ugly but they sure look comfortable, and I’m old enough that most of the time comfort wins out over style.  I *wish* I could wear really kick-ass boots on a regular basis, but alas, I really can’t afford the services of a podiatrist or a chiropractor.

None of the above are particularly attractive to the point where it’s worth it to force one of the choices.

If the Snuggie came in hundreds of different colors, patterns, and designs, sure. 

I like that, if I’m chilly, I have the choice of various things, in various colors, fabrics, styles, etc. - some of which I made myself or which I have other personal value attached to - to put on to remedy that situation. 

I guess other people would pick royal blue fleece every time, and that’s cool, I guess.

If you can’t afford the medical care, you really want to get away from Uggs, though.  They offer really bad support, from what I understand, and have a mega ankle-rolling issue.  Ironically, one of the best pairs of boots for your foot support are also nice-looking and cheaper than Uggs—-good, old-fashioned Doc Martens.

The rest of your comment gets at what I’m saying.  People have made a moral fetish out of looking like they don’t care.  It’s almost become mandatory for some people to dress badly, because otherwise you are saying that you care about what others think, and that’s shallow.  Or community-oriented and cheerful, if you look at it from my perspective.

Hmmm. Ok. But… when someone wears clothing item X, can you really know for certain that they are wearing it out of apathy?  I’ll venture a guess that some people are doing just that, and that there are also some who might find item X aesthetically pleasing. You mentioned that when you wear something that you like, it makes you feel good. I’ll go out on a limb and say that there are some people who are cheerful when they wear something you personally find unpleasing. They still value aesthetics, there just happens to be a mismatch in what different people like.

If the Snuggie came in hundreds of different colors, patterns, and designs, sure.

Well, mine’s purple with red sleeves, and is in fact one of my many options. We also have a yellow blanket with ladybugs on it that my wife gets made when I try to borrow. And a down comforter. Plus a fleece comforter. And a superman blanket I sometimes steal from my son. But the funny thing is, the snuggie is the one that keeps me the warmest while working at the computer.

I don’t really get the product (I have a bathrobe and blanket, and when it’s really cold I combine them…), but I think ultra-utilitarian clothing or other basic use-objects, especially for informal home use, are worthy of a vigorous defense. We’d have a lot less collective back pain and a fair bit more money if we’d be ultra-utiliarian about footwear, for instance.

But there’s nothing fundamentally anti-aesthetic about embracing some of these things. I have a very old, ugly easy chair in which I read aesthetically pleasing books and listen to great music. I even wear a ten year old shapeless worn out pair of sweats at the same time; more money for good food. Aesthetics are crucial to my quality of life, which isn’t inconsistent with having some function-over-form objects in my life. (and things I wear and sit on seem like a good place for a few function over form objects; comfort is like aesthetics part of a good life, and I’ve never really been able to get the aesthetics of fashion and furniture anyway).

Gets *mad when I try to borrow…

Maybe, Ben.  I also don’t know that we’re really on planet Earth and not the projections from the imagination of an interplanetary rodent.  I can’t know for sure, it’s true.  But it would be impossible, really, to do anything if you had to know for sure instead of just work with available evidence to make a pretty good and usually accurate guess.

djw, it’s only anti-aesthetic when the item is question is aggressively ugly, almost as if to flatter the owner with how little they give a shit anymore about aesthetics.

Or, to say, I think a lot of ugly, utilitarian products are deliberately ugly in order to sell themselves as more utilitarian.  I say we should defy this.  Things can be attractive and functional!  The old-fashioned blanket still works.

Amanda, I think sometimes people wear boring, un-aesthetically pleasing things not because they’re intent on scrubbing beauty from life in pursuit of some crypto-puritanical ideal, but simply because they’re not aesthetically invested in that particular area of life. I doubt you would have this kind of reaction to people who had ugly but functional, say, cookware. I happen to have a very nice and aesthetically pleasing cookware, and cheap, boring, ugly shoes. Other people flip this around. Nobody (or at least no one I know) aestheticizes every area of consumptive behavior.

DJW, I don’t at all think that we have to be aesthetically conscious of every little thing all the time.  But just because I sometimes like to read pulpy page-turners or listen to silly pop, that doesn’t mean that great music and literature are overrated and people who like them are just a bunch of pretentious snobs.  Do I sometimes run down to the corner bodega in yoga pants and a ratty old t-shirt with paint splatters on it?  Yes.  Does that mean people out on the street who’ve obviously made an effort with their appearance are a bunch of shallow fashionistas?  No. 

Also, I think consumer choices are a big part of it.  Speaking purely personally, I like to remind myself when I’m shopping that I should only buy something if I really, really love it.  Taking aesthetic control is a really easy way for me to combat consumerism and overspending.  That might not be the same for everyone, obviously.

didn’t see your last posts at 8:20. I see now your target is more narrow than I originally read. I guess I see the snuggie as more agressively goofy than agressively ugly, but perhaps that’s a distinction without a difference in this case.

Also, I think consumer choices are a big part of it.  Speaking purely personally, I like to remind myself when I’m shopping that I should only buy something if I really, really love it.  Taking aesthetic control is a really easy way for me to combat consumerism and overspending.  That might not be the same for everyone, obviously.

This might be the best argument against the Snuggie. While I do seem to find it amusing on a campy level, I do have a feeling that it is probably not as helpful in real life as the commercial makes it seem, and that it is almost certainly more expensive than advertised (most TV advertised products that offer free bonuses charge surprisingly high shipping and handling charges. I don’t know what the price is for the whole “2 Snuggie, 2 Reading Lamp” package is, but I’ll bet it’s high enough that I don’t want to know the real price!)

Shorter Amanda to me: “You just say you don’t care about what other people think. You actually do; you just pretend you don’t because it gives you a sense of moral superiority.”

Well, gee, thank you so much for reading my mind and telling me about it!

Let me spell it out for you, since you seem to be unable to fathom that other people’s wardrobe motivations might differ from your own: I honestly couldn’t care less what people think of what I wear. I don’t dress down simply to flout the rules of society, any more than I don’t go skiing because I want to annoy people who like to ski. Fashion does not interest me any more than skiing does.

Do you have any idea how much you sound like the fundies who claim that atheists really do believe in gawd, and are just rebelling against him out of anger?

Jesus christ, some people Just. Don’t. Care. We’re not defensive because we really do care; we’re defensive because we’re tired of getting shit from the fashion-obsessed. And, no, I don’t think that liking fashion makes you shallow. Whinging about how other people don’t share your liking for it, however, makes you obnoxious. So much so that, yes, I would wear Crocs just to spite local people who thought the way you do.

Well, I know people who are simple dressers who don’t look bad or stupid.  T-shirt, jeans, neat, clean, but unadorned is a good look.  Yeah, what my narrower target is is the aggressive, proud mediocrity that is shot throughout our culture for no other reason than caring too much is seen as suspect.  I’m fond of comfy jammies, but given the choice between classy-looking ones that are flattering and gaudy ones covered with polar bears or something childish like that, I’m going to go for the first.  Sometimes holding it together takes more work, but sometimes people seem to be aggressively de-evolving.

But yeah, the white T-shirt/jeans look really flatters a lot of people.

I don’t get that from your post, Nobody.  It seems that you care that other people know that you don’t care.  Which is its own form of caring.  And I see it everywhere, and it gets really comical, like the girls on campus who wear make-up and jammies to class, like I said.  They don’t want to put their unadorned face out there, but they want to make sure that you know that they’re too cool to bother putting on jeans.

(in a shameless bid to extend the life of this thread and a really famous one on Punkass Blog…)

Hey, I wonder what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie think about the Snuggie?  Do you think Brad and Jennifer Aniston would have stayed together if the Snuggie had been available when they were having difficulties?  And how about Angelina’s troubled relationship with her father Jon Voight. might the Snugglie have repaired their differences?...

I do think that it’s a tragedy that U.S. culture thinks things like art, music, and literature are frivolous, and enforces that opinion by cutting educational programs and public funding for the arts.  As an English student, I think literature especially is vital to getting people to be more open to others, more compassionate and more engaged in the world around them.  I really believe you can see the results of this devaluation of art in the increasing selfishness and insularity of life in the U.S.

On the other hand, I do think there’s still a lot of aesthetic sensibility at the level of individual choices about what to buy or wear.  How many people choose their cell phones based on aesthetics at least as much as functionality?  Their clothes, their furniture, their cars?  I’m interested in how this plays out, because I think aesthetics are still valued, they’ve just been diverted into consumerism.  I’m not sure I see much deliberate uglifying.  For instance, I don’t know what’s going on with Crocs, but I suspect it’s more an attempt to draw attention to the brand than a deliberate effort to make the shoes look functional rather than attractive.  And I’m not at all sure that it isn’t a good thing that something that (reportedly) is very comfortable is coming to be seen as stylish.  Aesthetics can change, and I think especially in the area of women’s footwear, ought to.

Only somebody who did not live in a cold climate could hate polar fleece.

Remember all those people who helped you thaw your car out, Amanda?  Told you how to get the ice off?  We all know what that fleece is all about.

Well, if it was a choice between beautiful or being warm, I might be conflicted—but I’m not going to acheive the one, so I might as well shoot for the other.

People having a different aesthetic sense than you is really on par with saying what if the universe was imagined in the brain of a rodent? Really, Amanda? It’s that hard for you to comprehend that people might have different values?

Re: college girls coming to class in makeup and pajama pants—I spend a lot of time on a college campus where a lot of girls do this kind of thing, and the way I read it is just that they know they can get away with wearing whatever is most comfortable, so some days they do.  Most days they wear the jeans-and-a-t-shirt thing, but some days they’re feeling lazy and it’s kind of awesome that you can get away with wearing your pajama pants to class in college if you feel like it, because there is probably no other time in life when you can do something like that.  But makeup you can’t get away without, because makeup is about your face—you have to make sure *you* look good even if your clothes don’t.

They go so well with one of KFC’s “Famous Bowls”.
Also sitting alone in your basement at three in the morning listening to This Mortal Coil’s “It’ll End in Tears” album.
Sorry couldn’t resist the Patton Oswalt reference!

I can see the appeal as my heating bill for my tiny, horribly insulated (as structures are in the PNW) apartment from Dec. 17 to Feb 17th is about $150.00. :(

I do believe that arguments about how beautiful the Snuggie is come not from a genuine belief, but a place of defensiveness.  The first time I saw one, I was strongly reminded of the people in “Wall-E”, and I suspect I’m not the only one.

It the pajamas thing was strictly about comfort and not about sending a signal, then they would put on jeans and shoes.  Why do I say?  Pajamas are actually much less comfortable out and about than jeans and real shoes.  You shuffle along and you look really miserable and sometimes cold in jammies. 

It’s really okay that we’re pack animals and always communicating/interacting with others.  I’m more than a little alarmed at how shamed people are by the idea that they may change their behavior depending on its influence on others’ perceptions of them.  The irony is that we’re such social animals that people go out of their way to signal that they don’t care, which of course means they care enough to send that signal.

I suspect it’s more an attempt to draw attention to the brand than a deliberate effort to make the shoes look functional rather than attractive.

Why not draw attention to the brand with a design that looks really cool?

I pretty exclusively wear 2 brands of sneakers.  Because they look awesome and I love them, and there are so many sneakers on the market that I might as well pick some totally rad ones for myself.  I mean, with all that choice, why wear something ugly?

With Crocs, I get the sense that people think the opposite*.  Something like “ZOMG so many kinds of shoes, however will I narrow it down and pick something?! Oh, hey, it’s those shoes everyone else has.  Sweet!  Problem solved!”  Especially when it intersects with individuals who for whatever reason feel guilt or shame at the idea of actually taking the time to evaluate something aesthetically.  I think this also relates to the fact that for half the population in our culture, it’s basically forbidden to admit you think about sartorial aesthetics.  Crocs are a great way to say “I’m a totally normal heterosexual man who doesn’t know or care about clothes in any way whatsoever and never ever thinks about any of this stuff!  Really!  Just look at my feet!”

* I mean people who consciously choose to wear Crocs, and NOT people for whom Crocs are the only brand of shoe that conforms to whatever comfort/mobility/fit needs in a way that is accessible to them.

From the sound of things, many commenters here need to give up on snuggies or any other conventional means of staying warm, go gut a tauntaun and crawl in until april.
Indy on 03/01 at 07:06 PM

Thanks for this Indy.  It made reading 160+ comments worthwhile.  You know gutted tauntaun is totally the next Ugg boot fashion in SoCal.  We just need some footage of people failing to properly use snuggies.  Then we can show them how easy it is to warm yourself in dead fantasy creatures! 

Seriously though, the thing I find depressing is the begin of the snuggie ad that shows how difficult blankets are.  I mean, it’s not just difficult to remove your arms from under them; they show them as difficult to place over your legs.  It reminds me of an ad for electric scissors I saw once that started with demonstrating how difficult it is to cut paper with scissors. 

Also since that Ugg boots post I haven’t been able to leave my apartment (which is in freaking sunny warm LA) without seeing more then one woman wearing those hideous shoes.  I can understand wearing them in the frozen north.  But this is not the frozen north.

I find pajamas or sweats waaaay more comfortable than jeans, which dig into my waist and generally feel constricting.  Here in SoCal, cold is hardly ever an issue, and if it is I think the girl in question would probably wear sweats instead of light pj pants. And I can’t speak for when this happens in other parts of the country, but I definitely have days when I’d choose the comfort of sweats/pj pants over warmth and just wear a bigger sweatshirt or something.  The girls here don’t look miserable or uncomfortable at all when they do it.  Are you talking about slippers when you say they shuffle along?  Yeah, slippers would definitely be uncomfortable to wear around, but I don’t see that, I see flip flops or Uggs with the pj pants.  Like I said, it might be different here than other places.

Also, Ker, I was trying to point out that exploiting the fact that aesthetic judgments are unprovable to intimidate someone out of expressing an opinion is a cheap shot.  You could argue that I can’t prove that “Crime and Punishment” is a better book than “The Da Vinci Code” using the same methods being used by Snuggie-defenders here.  It’s true.  I can’t find a scientific proof that “Crime and Punishment” is absolutely the better book.  You could chalk it up to aesthetic differences that are all equal.  But when I put it that way, you begin to see how it’s a problematic assertion that’s not about illuminating but shutting down exploration into aesthetics, and feeding right into the celebration of mediocrity that is so bothersome in this country.

The rodent thing was just trying to say it in a funny way.

Seriously though, the thing I find depressing is the begin of the snuggie ad that shows how difficult blankets are.  I mean, it’s not just difficult to remove your arms from under them; they show them as difficult to place over your legs.  It reminds me of an ad for electric scissors I saw once that started with demonstrating how difficult it is to cut paper with scissors.

Everything is Terrible (or a site like that) needs to make a reel of all the “frustrated” faces that the actors make. That would make my year worthwhile.
There’s also the fake SNL “jar glove” commerical showing the worst case scenario of opening a hard to open jar.. (http://www.hulu.com/watch/34460/saturday-night-live-jar-glove)

* I mean people who consciously choose to wear Crocs, and NOT people for whom Crocs are the only brand of shoe that conforms to whatever comfort/mobility/fit needs in a way that is accessible to them.

Heh. It’s as though you were reading my most knee-jerky, defensive mind even though I would never have actually said anything because I recognized it as knee-jerk defensiveness! Good job. Although I like Keens better, now.

I see the slipper thing all the time.  And I can’t help but think that sitting in thin pajama pants in class has got to make you feel weird. But yeah, I will never buy that someone who puts on a full face of make-up isn’t trying to craft an image consciously.  The pajamas/make-up thing is the natural result of intense beauty standards plus the urge not to look like you’re trying too hard.

Why not draw attention to the brand with a design that looks really cool?

Because it wouldn’t be controversial.   I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people about how ugly the things are.  It’s great publicity.

Yeah, there definitely are a lot of people who wear any particular thing because lots of other people are wearing it.  I do think that’s a big part of the popularity of something like Crocs.  But I also think that things like Uggs and Crocs wouldn’t *stay* so popular for so long if there wasn’t some appeal to them—whether it’s aesthetics or comfort or whatever.

I’m a bit on the conservative side when it comes to my day-to-day habits, so the idea that my normal blankets just aren’t good enough just doesn’t resonate with me, and the idea that the snuggie is that thing you never knew you needed until you got one just doesn’t seem believable.

My life is fine, really. I don’t need a blanket with sleeves, thanks.

As far as fleece, I think it’s awesome, but, like track suits, it only makes sense to wear if you’re actually outside doing something while wearing it.

I live in a cold climate, in a cold house, and I’m stingy with the heating oil. While I can see the practicality of something like a Snuggie (for reading—it’s not like a remote can’t poke out from under the blanket when you need to change channels on those really cold days)—I would never buy one. If I had a friend over and they saw it lying in a heap next to the couch, I might die of embarrassment*. 

I do try to keep pretty laid back about heat-related stuff though. People with health problems (diabetes, etc) of which I imagine I’ll be one in a few years definitely have a lower tolerance for the cold than I do… and I *have* known the joy of trying to read a book in a frigid room and wishing I could keep my arms under the blankets while I read. But then I just put on warmer clothing.

*And this is coming from the chick who accidentally serenaded party chat with “Livin’ on a Prayer” a couple of weeks back. My embarrassment-as-cause-of-death threshold is pretty high.

I think the storage issues of the Snuggie are what bother me, too.  A regular, attractive blanket seems much easier to fold up and put on the end of a bed.

Seriously, we just got one of these from a friend at our ranch house in rural western Washington state, Cascade foothills, and our household of gamer geeks thinks it’s the best thing ever.  You can fit a PS3 or 360 controller into those sleeves, or sit at your PC and be WARM.  It’s COLD up here, Amanda.  I know that in Austin you don’t ever have, you know, weather.  But I have pictures of a foot of snow in the process of falling this December, and the computer room is the coldest in the house.

But yeah, I will never buy that someone who puts on a full face of make-up isn’t trying to craft an image consciously.

I don’t know… I would say for me, wearing makeup every day is a semi-conscious thing at most.  It’s just part of my normal routine and if I *don’t* wear it, I feel naked and uncomfortable.  I think that’s probably the case for most women who wear makeup every day.  A girl who puts on a full face of makeup is certainly trying to craft an image as an attractive girl, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s something she consciously thought about that particular morning and considered in relation to what she was wearing.  I think it’s more likely to be that she feels there’s a difference between making sure *she* (i.e. her face, her body) looks good and making sure her *clothes* look good… and that the world she’s trying to look good for (the college campus) perceives the same difference and will forgive sartorial laziness but not laziness about one’s body.  I mean, I’m sure there are some girls who do this for the reasons you’re saying, I just think it’s probably not most of them.

The slipper thing is ridiculous and probably uncomfortable, I agree.  But I would still tend to think it’s more that they’re excited to be able to get away with something like that than trying to craft an image of unconcern.  That’s certainly why I wore weird things as a college kid.

I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people about how ugly the things are.  It’s great publicity.

Yeah, that’s definitely the first thing I think after a nice session of Croc bashing—I gotta go out and get me some of those!

Again, this works in the sense that almost half of our culture’s population is very visibly forbidden from looking as thought they put any thought into what they look like, at all.  Which means you’ve got this huge customer base that needs to go out and find the stupidest shoes they possibly can, so as to prove that they practically have no idea what a shoe even is.  It’s almost like the Croc company specifically designed something to fit this social trope.

Amanda Marcotte:  I realized at a young age that it was never going to work to date a guy who had no art on his walls

Agreed, Amanda… Why, the next thing you know, that young man might not be related to anyone in the Hamptons or Westfordshire! The very nerve! Gracious.

Personally, when I’m passing around the port and roquefort in my snuggie, I have to wonder about these poor plebes who lack art on their walls. Simply shameful.

I have to admit I’m starting to get a little desensitized to the Uggs, though.  They’ve been around for so damn long now they’re starting to look normal to me.  And really warm. 

I’m pretty sure Uggs were designed as a cruel joke a la The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Again, this works in the sense that almost half of our culture’s population is very visibly forbidden from looking as thought they put any thought into what they look like, at all.

The thing is that if you’re doing this with shoes, it’s not as though there’s any shortage of plain, black shoes available from Payless.

I presume that Crocs are actually very, very comfortable, just like people say, and they can serve the same function as waterproof sandals. I don’t think people are making some kind of anti-fashion statement by purchasing them.

Personally, when I’m passing around the port and roquefort in my snuggie, I have to wonder about these poor plebes who lack art on their walls.

Amanda was making the precise opposite point—having art on your walls is so cheap and easy and accessible that someone who doesn’t simply doesn’t care and doesn’t think about it.

Gavel, art=just even decent posters.  Really, snow white walls are so institutional. 

What I want is someone to angrily defend Rachel Ray and “Friends”.  Why don’t they get any defenders, with all things being equal?

Agreed, Amanda… Why, the next thing you know, that young man might not be related to anyone in the Hamptons or Westfordshire! The very nerve! Gracious.

Um - do you think she was talking about originals?

Yeah, that’s definitely the first thing I think after a nice session of Croc bashing—I gotta go out and get me some of those!

Ha… yeah, publicity is weird.  But there’s no way they would have sold as much as they have if people weren’t talking about them all the time.  A lot of people will come around to something if they just see it often enough—either because lots of other people are doing it or because their perception of it changes over time.  I’ve found myself wearing things I had hated a year or two before, until they grew on me.  Not that that will ever ever ever happen to me with Crocs, ever, in a million years.

I actually don’t see a lot of men wearing Crocs… but then I don’t see a lot of people wearing Crocs at all, so for all I know most of their customers are men.  I tend to think the shoes are kind of feminine looking, if only because they attract so much attention, and men aren’t supposed to attract attention to what they’re wearing.  But it’s true, my boyfriend buys one pair of shoes every year or two and intentionally looks for the most “endearingly ugly” ones he can find.  I doubt Crocs would ever qualify as “endearing” (to him), but still.  What is so wrong with a nice pair of monkstraps?

Ah there we go. Late again.

Thanks, Tyro, exactly.

Oh, I think people wear Crocs as a fashion statement. It’s like stirrup pants.  There’s many, many trends that people grab onto without stopping to think about how they’ll want to burn all photographs of themselves in a few years when they realize how silly it looks.

I have to admit I’m starting to get a little desensitized to the Uggs, though.

Yes, Opoponax, come over to the dark side!  Your feet will be so toasty…

My response to this thread is the same one I had to the original NYT article: Why no love for the Cuddle Wrap (a blanket with a couple of zippers/snaps so you can turn into sort of a big kimono)?? Picked one up for my wife a couple Xmases ago and she LOVES it.

Way more practical than these stupid sleeveblankets—number one, it has a BACK. Number two, it’s just a blanket with a couple of zippers along the edge, so when you take it off it becomes a plain old throw and self-appointed aesthetinistas won’t give you shit if they see it.

Why, the next thing you know, that young man might not be related to anyone in the Hamptons or Westfordshire! The very nerve! Gracious.

I know, I mean, what with ironic velvet Elvis paintings consistently selling in the $10 mil range at Sotheby’s…

Seriously?  I know very few people with NOTHING on the walls.  Not a family snapshot in a prefab frame?  Not a rock poster, or a bulletin board for interesting ephemera, or something you painted for that one art class you had to take in high school?

Granted, I’m an artsy person, but I agree with Amanda.  Someone with nothing visually or aesthetically oriented in their whole apartment squicks me out.  It’s kind of like people who don’t have books.

I think the storage issues of the Snuggie are what bother me, too.  A regular, attractive blanket seems much easier to fold up and put on the end of a bed.

...Just fold it so the sleeves are on the inside.

I guess this is the crux of it. What is an attractive blanket? I always thought a big, monochromatic square of fabric was enough. Apparently there’s a whole other level of bedspread that makes my blue comforters look like dish rags.

Honestly, how fashion-forward does a blanket need to be?

The Snuggie makes you look like a monk. Personally, I find the fashion posts fun. The music posts I skip, since music was one of the things my emotionally-abusive ex-boyfriend used to torture me with.

What I want is someone to angrily defend Rachel Ray and “Friends”.  Why don’t they get any defenders, with all things being equal?

Rachel Ray has shown me how to prepare numerous tasty meals in under 30 minutes. I can’t believe you would hate on somebody who provides such a valuable service to this overworked nation. Clearly, you are speaking from a position of privilege, as somebody who doesn’t have to work 3 jobs and thus has ample time for meal preparation.

Is that good enough? I can keep going.

Juan, I think the ideal in blankets is simplicity.  My beloved blanket I’m using now is just cream-colored with a simple weave.  I’m very pro-classic in blanket design.

I don’t own a Snuggie.  I own something better - a handmade wraparound blanket with sleeves and a pocket to jam my feet into so I can stay warm while I work.  (I work all three jobs from home.)  Because when I’m working 92 hours in a week?  I don’t give a SHIT about aesthetics.  I just want to keep my RA ridden ass warm while I work myself into a stupor.  My MIL made a gorgeous purple fleecy blankie thing that matches my hair, and I love it.

I don’t get the Crocs hate either.  I bought a summer pair to slog around the garden in, and loved the comfort.  I was sad when winter came.  Then I strained my plantar fascia in bellydance class just before Christmas and aggravated the injury at New Year’s.  My doc prescribed (!!!!!) a pair of Crocs for their support and stability.  I thought he was nuts, but the insurance company paid for a pair of black Mammoths.  They’re ugly as shit, but my foot is healed and I can walk (and dance!) without crying, so I don’t care if they make small children run screaming.  I’ll happily jam a sharp stick into the eye of anyone trying to take them away from me.

This thread is why the Internet was invented.

Since it still seems to be going strong, I’ll throw in my two cents.

I see these things the same way I see instant oatmeal and pre-washed, bagged salad. There’s nothing particularly inconvenient about the original. It’s not like it’s hard or time-consuming to make oatmeal (and nobody start in about steel cut blah blah blah - I’m talking Quaker Oats here) or extremely difficult to rinse and dry lettuce leaves. And it’s not like you can’t wrap a blanket around you in such a way that your arms still stick out (tossed around the back, like a giant shawl). But someone way smarter than me realized there was a way to solve a problem that didn’t really exist and lo’ ... the market proves them right.

I’m not indifferent to your aesthetic argument even when applied in the home. Just tonight, I put some rice I reheated in the microwave in a nice bowl to put on the table instead of serving it from the tupperware, even though I’ve just turned one dish into two that will need to be washed. Man does not live by bread alone and all that.

But I just don’t buy that the snuggie really fits in this category. Full disclosure: I do not own one and had never even heard of it until today. But I have an ugly (and I mean, God, it’s ugly) baby blue fleece bath robe that was a gift from my grandmother-in-law. I don’t have another robe and sometimes it’s chilly and I just like to throw it on and curl up. I’m at home. I’m not imposing my ugly bathrobe on anyone other than myself and my immediate family. It doesn’t mean I don’t care or I’m not getting any or I’ve been swallowed up the maw of Wal-Mart. It doesn’t mean anything. Like Auguste said, what you have to compare this to is other things worn around the house when it’s cold, and it’s not really objectively worse from an aesthetic standpoint than wearing a blanket or an old bathrobe.

And seriously ... when you talk about “not skipping shaving,” are you saying that you shave every day? Like every day no matter what? For real?

Well, I think that’s the nut. I own a pair of crocs which are strictly for gardening/mucking because you can wash them off with a hose when you’re done. We recently went on vacation to the beach and DAMMIT I wish I’d brought them while gingerly stepping around the rocky shoreline. It sucked, but a friend called a “No Crocs” rule on the vacation. But wearing Crocs while walking around downtown or as anything other than a foam-rubber flip-flop for a car-ride over to a friend’s place with a no-shoe-indoors policy? Why?

Ugg boots appear to have no practical purpose at all, so I’m with you in solidarity on that one. Not waterproof, bad ankle support, incredibly hot, and not particularly attractive.

I don’t understand Snuggies for lying on a couch watching TV. Blankets work great for that. I can understand if you read a lot of books and your house is cold, but seriously, is that the target audience? Most people who can read can figure out how to put on a comfy sweatshirt or flannel jammies to keep the arms warm while reading. And I *really* doubt that the target consumer of the snuggie would even begin to consider the “storage” implications of the product. You can fold up a blanket and drape it over the back of your couch as a sort of poor-man’s antimacassar. I don’t think a Snuggie has that sort of versatility. I wouldn’t begrudge a shut-in her snuggie, but I honestly don’t know why they’re selling as well as they do. Maybe they’re the new Chia-Pet—the gag gift everyone’s giving each other when they can’t think of a real present to bestow.

This.

I’m not imposing my ugly bathrobe on anyone other than myself and my immediate family.

The people you love most in the world?!  I’m reminded of the old saying about how sex is dirty and you should save it for someone you love, except backwards.  One reason I dumped my tattered old, ugly blanket was that imposing its hideousness on Marc seemed unfair. 

I’m mostly kidding, but I do think there’s value in questioning the idea that the more strange someone is to you, the more courtesy and aesthetics they deserve.  Claiming the guest towels for yourself can be very empowering.

And seriously ... when you talk about “not skipping shaving,” are you saying that you shave every day? Like every day no matter what? For real?

God no.  But if I’ve got some gritty stubble going on and I’m not going to see anyone, I will still shave my legs.  Because I probably get more out of having smooth legs than pretty much anyone else.

Because the last time I shaved my legs I was really drunk and I took a chunk out of my heel, and I think it was a sign or something.

I took a chunk out of my heel once when shaving. In a totally unrelated, first Chicago winter period of my life, I tried not shaving, but I got sick of my socks pulling my leg hair. Yeah, that’s totally why I shave. Nothing to do with conventional beauty standards. I ain’t owning shit!

God no.  But if I’ve got some gritty stubble going on and I’m not going to see anyone, I will still shave my legs.  Because I probably get more out of having smooth legs than pretty much anyone else.

So I cross-posted with you and I’m intent on keeping this shaving theme alive. I feel better now. Yeah, I’ll shave when it gets itchy/stubbly, even if I’m not planning on wearing a skirt that day. Though sometimes I feel like I wasted shaving if I shave and then wear pants.

I do believe you once made a reference to the granny panties you wear when you have your period, so as long as you look like crap sometimes, I can handle us drawing the line at different places.

I think the entire concept of the Snuggie is pretty silly, because it’s a bathrobe worn backwards. I mean, get an oversize bathrobe and wear it backwards.

But the hate on people who wear things that Amanda, or Opoponax, or anyone else, thinks are ugly is really depressing. Like the bit about sweatpants. I wear sweatpants in public because jeans are not comfortable and haven’t been since I was a teenager. And you know what? I really don’t give a shit what you think about my aesthetic choices, because I don’t dress to please you… I dress for comfort or I dress to please myself, and why is there fashion policing going on on a feminist web site?

Deep, deep down inside, under the layers of feminist theory you’ve studied and the news and analysis you read and your understanding of yourself as a strong and actualized person, I can’t help but think that any woman who flips out over what other people are wearing has a frightened little girl inside who’s worried about what Heather will think about what she’s wearing to middle school.

The Snuggie is kind of ridiculous because it’s a product that already existed, and anyone with imagination could have had a Snuggie anytime they wanted just by thinking outside the box and coming up with the idea of wearing their bathrobe backwards… not because anyone thinks it is ugly. It is not for your aesthetic appreciation, it is to keep people warm and comfy, and if it makes them warm and comfy, then who gives a flying fuck if it’s ugly? This is the *exact* same philosophy that keeps women having to wear makeup and high heels and shit.

I can tolerate Amanda’s posing as the Grand High Poobah Of Good Music better than I can tolerate her being Officer Marcotte of the Fashion Police, because at least the whole “the music I like is better than the shitty music you like!”, while still annoying, doesn’t play into the fundamental forces that degrade feminism and drive women to harm themselves in the name of being attractive… whereas fashion policing does. Asking why someone wears a thing you think is ugly, or worse, coming up with stereotypes or fantasizing about what people think or feel in a degrading way because they wear something you think is ugly, is different from online misogynists dissing women for what they wear how?

And not everyone feels good about themselves just because they are wearing uncomfortable, aesthetically pleasing clothing. Personally I felt like shit the whole time I was in high school and had to wear dress code approved, professional-wear-like, uncomfortable but aesthetically pleasing clothes every day, and I felt great when I could go to college and wear sweatpants when I felt like it.

I think it really depends on how fast your hair grows, though.  I used to get away with shaving the pits every other day, and now it’s like an every day thing.  Bummer. 

I did used to have granny panties for my period.  A couple months ago, in one of my routine frenzies to shrink the amount of sheer crap I have around here, though, I threw out all underwear I don’t like on the grounds that my drawer was getting hard to close and I had to buy new bras.  In a strong sense, I’m with Opop on this one—-having high aesthetic standards perversely means that I have less shit around the house.  Reducing my underwear drawer just to ones I like a lot is one example.

Dressing fashionably rather than comfortably around the house for your boyfriend is empowering now. Pod person alert.

Deep, deep down inside, under the layers of feminist theory you’ve studied and the news and analysis you read and your understanding of yourself as a strong and actualized person, I can’t help but think that any woman who flips out over what other people are wearing has a frightened little girl inside who’s worried about what Heather will think about what she’s wearing to middle school.

Ah, this is where you’re mistaken.  I don’t actually flip out.  There is no anger here.  I’m just deeply interested in the forces that lead people to actually not only pride themselves on not giving a shit about aesthetics, but to go out of their way to show others how little they care.  You might think it’s a Heathers thing, but I feel this way about all sorts of enforced mediocrity.  There’s a real fear in our culture of bucking the mediocrity rules aesthetic. It’s just as easy to put on a shirt that fits as one that doesn’t, but you see so much of the latter from people who seem downright determined to look shabby.  It costs as much to see a good movie as a bad one, but shitty films do so well.  A Britney Spears album costs no less than a Neko Case one, but the latter means staking yourself out as someone who thinks they’re better than everyone else, which means that babbits will call you a hipster.  If that’s fine with you—-and it is for me—-then that’s no price to pay.  But clearly it is for others.

So I live in this apartment where the walls are some sort of hybrid of plaster and concrete, or something, so (a) it’s a huge effort just to bang a nail in to hang a picture and (b) when you get the nail in, chunks of the wall start coming loose.

I have similar wall issues, but I still have a few things up, as well as plenty of other signs of aesthetic life around the apartment.  I often put things on bookshelves or lean them up against stuff. 

For a while I had this massive plan to have this big gallery-style Wall Of Art in the living room, but the stupid plaster got the best of me.  Now I have like 15 framed pieces hiding behind the couch.  Boo.  I also brought a bunch of art back from India I don’t want to get framed because I know I’m not going to hang it in this apartment anytime soon. 

You people with your fancy newfangled drywall?  No excuse!

Ker, I think your mistake is thinking that looking good and being comfortable are mutually exclusive categories.  I strongly disagree.

In fact, I think that’s one reason items like the Snuggie are so aggressively ugly.  They’re trying to seem comfortable by being ugly, and exploiting the ridiculous American fetish for believing that beauty and practicality are mutually exclusive, that form and function are opposed.  Right now I’m wearing a black cardigan, well-fitting yoga pants, and a red tank top. It looks nice and it’s oh-so-comfy.  Probably more comfy than baggy flannel pajamas with pictures of dogs all over them.

Also, I’m alone.  So I’m looking decent in my jammies for myself.  Who is, I’ve learned, the only person I should care about?  Ironically, if I do care about myself, it’s important to look good for others, because that’s the only way I can convince them they should look good for me. I do like to look at a nice-looking man.

I love the red Snuggies.  They come in handy for the Satanic cult meetings on those cold winter nights.

I got sick of my socks pulling my leg hair.

Seriously.  I tend to not shave, and I’ve always wondered how men put up with this.  I mean, I put up with it by preferring knee socks, but I think that’s probably not the most popular option.  Do you dudes just go through life with your socks just tugging away at your leg hair?  Or what?  You’d think that, having a whole patriarchy to look out for you, y’all would have come up with some sock elastic that doesn’t pull at your leg hair so annoyingly…

On the feminist policing thing, I really do think it’s important to separate a genuine appreciation for beauty from the beauty standards of our culture that are often not beautiful at all.  I can think of a number of feminist women I know who buck beauty standards but are very attentive to the way they look and are beautiful.  By caring about aesthetics, they develop a personal style that is a point of resistance to patriarchal beauty standards.  Think of someone like Rachel Maddow or Sinead O’Connor—-clearly rejecting patriarchal beauty standards, but possessing a definite sense of style.

For people in wheelchairs, the Snuggle is actually an effective alternative to the housecoat or pajama pants. It can be easily pulled over the arms and partially tucked ‘round back.

Alas, many specialized garments are butt-ugly – far worse, in some cases, than the Snuggle could ever be.

I’m with you on that, Laura.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a thin woman, but I tend to look and feel much more comfortable in baggy pajama pants - especially when paired with a top that is form-fitting without choking the life out of me.  My usual around-the-house gear is pajama pants and a tank top.  It works.  ::shrugs::

And I tend to wear whatever I feel looks good and feels good at the moment.  If I have to spend more than fifteen minutes getting dressed and getting ready (including things like makeup, which I seldom wear, and doing my hair) and I’m not going to Rocky Horror (which is work the garter belt, thigh-highs, and other pain-in-the-ass shit, not to mention the makeup), fuck it; it’s not worth my time.

Do you dudes just go through life with your socks just tugging away at your leg hair?

I started dating my now-husband during the hairy leg stage and asked him about this. According to him, yes, they just put up with it. And speaking of saving my best look for the people I love the most, I always thought the fact that he never said word one about my hairy legs was one indication he might be a keeper.

I have a boyfriend who doesn’t care much about leg hair, either, and it’s very difficult sometimes for me to process that his not caring about my fitting patriarchal standards of appearance doesn’t mean he doesn’t care how I look - it just means that he has a different idea of what beauty is.  Sometimes, perversely, I feel unattractive because he doesn’t notice or care when it’s pointed out to him that I’ve gone to that effort, whenever, really, it’s more just that he thinks I’m beautiful whether I do it or not.

Patriarchy is whack.

LauraB, the kind that are a little low-waisted tend to avoid the wedgie problem.

“God, I don’t understand why you all get so defensive when I attack you and call you morons.  Geez.” 

I didn’t even know what a Snuggie was until my mom brought them up last night, so I was surprised to see this post this morning ...

For whatever reason, no one in this country can figure out how to insulate walls.  So while it doesn’t get much below freezing in winter (one or two degrees below), the temperature inside is never that far off from the temperature outside.  I have the heater set to 80 so it’s about 56 in here.  On a good day it might get up to 60.  That’s still pretty cold.  So I’m always wearing thick pajamas and slippers with a blanket tossed over my legs and another one wrapped over my shoulders.

So I can see where a Snuggie would be useful.  I layer quite a bit but I’m hardly ever warm enough, and then once I take my arms out of the blanket, they get cold and stiff.  Actually, I’d improve upon the Snuggie and add fingerless gloves to the sleeves. 

Why would I give a crap what someone else thinks about how I look in my own home?  No one else lives here.  My entire apartment is 10 feet by 10 feet, so I don’t exactly walk around very much.  I spend a great deal of time sitting here at my computer—why not be warm while I do it?  I don’t get why someone would make a big deal about what other people choose to do to stay warm.  Some of us are more sensitive to cold than others.  I think a Snuggie sounds like a great idea.  Don’t like them?  Don’t buy one.  If my mom sends me one, I certainly won’t complain.  (Well, except for the fact that winter is almost over.)

On artless walls: I love photography and digital cameras have made it possible for me to inexpensively indulge this hobby in a way I couldn’t when I used print film. The downside is that I don’t have the money to buy frames for my photographs (and oddly, it’s not that easy to find good frames at my local secondhand stores), so they either collect in boxes or remain displayed only on the Internet.  Often, empty walls are a sign that someone does not really consider the place they reside “home” (like an apartment or other rented abode) or don’t want to risk their deposit because they left “holes” in the wall when they moved out. It doesn’t mean they don’t value aesthetics, appreciate art, or anything else.

Here’s my thing about aesthetics: I think that beauty is important and having beauty in one’s life is necessary, whether it’s good literature, quality art, or clothes one finds appealing. I find no reason that beauty and utility cannot coexist. But I also understand that life can’t only be about aesthetics, that sometimes we have to disregard beauty in order to focus on something more important. It strikes me as deeply unhealthy to tell people that, even in private moments and around people who presumably like them for who they are, people need to be aware of their physical presentation at all times.  If dressing nice makes you feel good, then do it. I agree that even when you work from home, getting “dressed” is important as a mental exercise.  But don’t condemn or deride people for wanting to just be comfortable.  There is nothing I like more after working a long day then getting out of my nice clothes and into some plain sweat pants, an ugly flannel (a child of grunge ‘til the end apparently), thick socks, and knit boots.  A Snuggie may not be an essential item, or the only item that fulfills a particular purpose, or even the most useful for that purpose, but the level of angst is just…odd.

And I only shave my legs about 3-4 times per year.  Clearly, I am just trying to impress everyone with how little I care rather than just being lucky I have fine, blonde leg hair.

This is the *exact* same philosophy that keeps women having to wear makeup and high heels and shit.

No, it’s not.

I don’t wear makeup.  Ever.  Evereverever.  Hate Makeup.  For Real. 

Heels, pretty much ditto.

I also almost exclusively wear clothes that I find comfortable, practical, and easy to move around in.

I still like to look good, still squee over finding the perfect t-shirt/sneakers/hoodie/cocktail dress, still like the outside of me to match the inside of me (and the inside of me is generally having a pretty goddamn good time).

I still think Uggs are dumb looking on aesthetic grounds.  And leggings ARE NOT PANTS.  And various other opinions about what people wear that has NOTHING TO DO with wanting to oppress people or cause them pain.  I try not to judge people or cut folks down for what is obviously just a difference in taste.  Or let issues about weight, gender expression, class, race, ability, and the like get all twisted around in whether I think someone looks good or not.  But, guys, Uggs are funny looking.  Leggings are not pants.  And such as.

Humans adorn ourselves.  We always have.  For hundreds of thousands of years.  It’s one of the most fundamental things about us, one of the things that make us who we are as a species.  That’s nevereverever going to stop, no matter how much you insist that it’s wrong and everyone should just wear mumus.

Amanda, am I really understanding you right that you’re saying there’s a massive cultural movement to intentionally go see bad movies and listen to bad music because otherwise people will make fun of them for being hipsters?  If I’m understanding that right, then wow.  Why is it not possible that people just don’t share the same aesthetic tastes you do?  I am a huge movie/music/literature snob myself, but I would never imagine that most people who liked bad or mediocre things were doing it solely in order to avoid stepping out of line in front of Big Brother.  I figure if they say they like something, they do like it.  I may think it’s a shame they’re not educated to like better things, but I don’t think they’re lying to me.

[And for the record, I feel like I should say, because this is the first post I’ve commented on at length, that I’ve been reading the blog and lurking for years and I almost always love your posts and find them very insightful.  I just tend to react more when someone says something I disagree with.]

Sometimes, perversely, I feel unattractive because he doesn’t notice or care when it’s pointed out to him that I’ve gone to that effort, whenever, really, it’s more just that he thinks I’m beautiful whether I do it or not.

I remember a friend recounting her boyfriend’s reaction when she showed him the nice stuff we got on our annual post-Christmas sale Victoria’s Secret shopping trip.

“Those will look good on my floor.”

Seriously, I’ve never found any kind of connection between what I wear, over my underwear or under my clothes or to bed, and whether I get laid. I like nice bras, but I can’t wear non-cotton underwear on any kind of regular basis (for what I hope will be self-evident reasons), so I don’t bother with matching sets or any of that.

I happen to be a fan of bare, white/off white walls for all sorts of reasons, but oh well.

Also, ignoring aesthetics can be a way to deal with our consumer culture.  Everything is sold (partly) on aesthetic appeal, whether you think the snuggie is deliberately unattractive or you think the models in the commercials are being posed to show it well.

Devil’s, I certainly can see the function for people who are disabled.  In fact, I’d probably go further and say that what makes me sad is that a lot of stuff made for people who have illness or disabilities suffers from the problem Eileen singled out—-this tendency to force people who have disadvantages to think they’re less deserving of beauty.  I never understood, for instance, why so much medical equipment has to be butt-ugly.  My breathing machine I had to use when I was a kid, for instance, could have easily been designed to be sleek and pretty and less demoralizing. 

This is something someone should start a company specializing in—-taking necessary treatments and devices for disabled and/or sick people and making them more attractive.  I’m sure some of that is already being done, but we need more.

Why would I give a crap what someone else thinks about how I look in my own home?

I’ve maintained throughout this thread that the number one person that you should do nice things for is yourself.  It’s really freeing to start caring about niceties for no other person than yourself, which I discovered when I lived at home.  Sitting in my balcony garden with my decent jammies, pretty coffee cup, and plant collection was a real pleasure.  Yeah, other people didn’t see the tableau, but like I said, I use the guest towels myself.

And, see, Chingona, it’s so hilarious, because there’s this part of me that says, “So why don’t you want me to wear expensive, uncomfortable clothing?  Don’t you think I’m hot?”

And then I just kind of kick myself in the face and say, “He thinks you’re hotter in nothing at all, idiot.”

Seriously, it’s just so stupid that women, especially women who aren’t hugely interested in fashion (and I am, but only on very low levels, and wear simple clothing) taught to invest ourselves into this bullshit and then we’re disappointed whenever we find someone who wants us as our low-maintenance selves.

“What?  You don’t WANT me to wear high heels and a pushup bra and get liposuction and a nose job?  Don’t you think I’m pretty?  Don’t you value me?”

This has been on my mind a lot lately and it staggers me how stupid it is.  Am I the only one here?

don’t want to risk their deposit because they left “holes” in the wall when they moved out.

Putty.  Coat of paint (which is going to need to happen whether you put holes in the wall or not).  Done.

Ohnoes Holes In The Wall! is the dumbest excuse not to hang art EVER.

And like we’ve already said, even if you have crappy walls that are difficult to get an ook hook into, you can still make some sort of effort to put some kind of aesthetic sensibility into your space.  Put a picture of your mom or a kitten on the fridge, buy an interesting lamp, it’s not really that hard.  (Ummm, unless you are blind.  Blind people obviously get a pass here.)

dry, I don’t think that it’s intentional.  But yeah, there’s a strong anti-intellectual streak in this country that extends into an anti-beauty streak.  Big fucking time.  In fact, the tendency I decry showed up in this very thread, with someone trying to intimidate me with hipster-shaming because I think Snuggies are ugly.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think it’s weird that people are really questioning the reality of babbitry.  The reality of babbitry is not controversial, and has a long history.  The post below this about well-off Americans who embrace NASCAR, Harleys, redneck jokes, and shitty country western wasn’t controversial like this, because that’s the sort of babbitry we’ve all grown accustomed to shunning.  I would have thought the Snuggie is an obvious example of the same kind of babbitry, but I guess not.  The same fears of bohemians, and the same running towards the comfort of bad casseroles, easy listening, and lowbrow, unfunny comedies has been around since for fucking ever.  We wouldn’t have “Leave It To Beaver” or “Friends” without it.

Ummm, unless you are blind.  Blind people obviously get a pass here.

Have you ever been to a home where only blind people live?  There is an asthetic ... it just isn’t visual.

Do you dudes just go through life with your socks just tugging away at your leg hair?

Tugging out toe hair is worse.  The leg hair is no problem.

Putty costs money. Paint costs money. Buying sheets of sandpaper costs money. Puttying, sanding, and repainting take time.  And some people aren’t particularly handy.  And some people don’t know how to properly hang art and end up doing more damage to the walls than they’re skilled to correct.

I, personally, don’t mind going in after and patching it up and have at every place I’ve lived.  But please stop being so fucking condescending. Not everyone appreciates wall art or want to invest the effort to put it up. It does not mean they have no aesthetic sense or that their life is gray and dull. Please.

The post below this about well-off Americans who embrace NASCAR, Harleys, redneck jokes, and shitty country western wasn’t controversial like this, because that’s the sort of babbitry we’ve all grown accustomed to shunning.

But surely you’re not suggesting that us lefties only like what we like because we actually like it, as opposed to what we think it says about us that we like it?

I hardly notice the appearance of my residence enough to clean it, much less decorate it.  It doesn’t mean I have no sense of beauty - it means that I am pretty oblivious to my surroundings.

Ms Kate, I feel like if I were blind, I would want lots of good textures.  However, I would hope folks gave me the benefit of the doubt about not hanging purely visual stuff like prints/photos/paintings.

OK, you all get to share my pain as I grade essays on this topic .  The article is by Kathleen Higgins, It’s titled Beauty, Glamour and Kitsch and it’s in a book titled “Beauty Matters” which is available on line.  Enjoy!

I bet Tim DeLaughter wears one.

Putty costs money. Paint costs money. Buying sheets of sandpaper costs money. Puttying, sanding, and repainting take time.  And some people aren’t particularly handy.  And some people don’t know how to properly hang art and end up doing more damage to the walls than they’re skilled to correct.

Well, OK.  Lean it against something, or put your art on a shelf, or only hang one thing in the whole place.  Go in a different direction, like maybe some interesting furniture or a rug or an afghan on the couch.  A tchotschke.  Stuff on the fridge.  An interesting pattern in some sort of textile somewhere.  It freaks me out when I go into someone’s home and everything is purely utilitarian with not an aesthetic flourish to be seen.  The fact that this is a controversial statement strikes me as extremely bizarre.

chin, I’m a pretty firm believer that humans are pack animals, yeah.  And there’s a strength in that, if you come at it from the right angle.  There’s a sense that real beauty, especially if it’s contemporary and lively, threatens the corporate order.  You see, for instance, how graffiti got treated like it was a vile threat to social order instead of as a genuine attempt to prettify urban landscapes and give them a sense of identity. People who stand up and demand a right to beauty and aesthetics in their own lives, especially if it’s not bland and corporatized, generally get treated like a threat.  There’s an enforced ugliness in a lot of fundie culture that I find fascinating, as well.  So when I see aggressively bland and ugly products, especially of the “as seen on TV!” sort, I feel the hand tightening around our throat.  We deserve better.  There’s rebellious potential in demanding more. 

There’s some humor in all this—-my house is, as usual, a bit of a mess.  I didn’t make the bed or wipe down the counters.  But it’s not neatness I’m after, personally. I like it when it’s clean, but a bit of clutter doesn’t bother me near as much as, say, ugly furniture.  It’s so sad and pointless to make ugly things.

I think the storage issues of the Snuggie are what bother me, too.  A regular, attractive blanket seems much easier to fold up and put on the end of a bed.

...Just fold it so the sleeves are on the inside.

I guess this is the crux of it. What is an attractive blanket? I always thought a big, monochromatic square of fabric was enough. Apparently there’s a whole other level of bedspread that makes my blue comforters look like dish rags.

Honestly, how fashion-forward does a blanket need to be?
Juan Stoppable on 03/01 at 09:33 PM

Well, there you go - folding a blanket - how kitschy and iconic of the neatness values of our society.  Do you iron the sheets, too?  really, a true aesthete knows you artfully drape the blanket over the back of the chair or couch or foot of bed.  Think French chic flair.

OTOH, Uggs may be ugly but they sure look comfortable, and I’m old enough that most of the time comfort wins out over style.  I *wish* I could wear really kick-ass boots on a regular basis, but alas, I really can’t afford the services of a podiatrist or a chiropractor.

Well I hate to bring this back to my personal problem, but I have big calves so most boots that go above the ankle, including Uggs, are out for me.  That includes Doc Martens, though I do have a nice pair of ankle-boots from them.  But never my calf and a stylish, or cool-and-comfy higher length shall meet.

I will add that I think there’s a change in the air.  Washington D.C. has always had a “First, don’t look like you know how to dress yourself” rule of political pandering through looking like you dress in the dark. But Nancy Pelosi and the Obamas generally look really stylish, and it doesn’t hurt their credibility at all with the public.  Perhaps that era is over?  Clinton deliberately shifted from dressing in very standard but stylish black pantsuits to dressing more like a high school principal when she was running for President, and she lost to someone who doesn’t pander with his clothes like that.

I’m not sure you understood my point. Or maybe you did and I’m not understanding your response.

I’m seeking reassurance that you understand that lefties do this, too. That our tastes and our sense of aesthetics and our hobbies and all that jazz are shaped by our sense of identity and the image of ourselves that we want to project into the world, just as much as someone who likes NASCAR or Harleys.

Phyl, I’d probably do that if draping it over the couch isn’t just ceding complete control of my blanket to the cats.

thedrymock, Amanda is mining a vein that was first discovered by H.L. Mencken over 80 years ago:

On certain levels of the American race, indeed, there seems to be a positive libido for the ugly, as on other and less Christian levels there is a libido for the beautiful. It is impossible to put down the wallpaper that defaces the average American home of the lower middle class to mere inadvertence, or to the obscene humor of the manufacturers. Such ghastly designs, it must be obvious, give a genuine delight to a certain type of mind. They meet, in some unfathomable way, its obscure and unintelligible demands. They caress it as “The Palms” caresses it, or the art of the movie, or jazz. The taste for them is as enigmatical and yet as common as the taste for dogmatic theology and the poetry of Edgar A. Guest.

Thus I suspect (though confessedly without knowing) that the vast majority of the honest folk of Westmoreland county, and especially the 100% Americans among them, actually admire the houses they live in, and are proud of them. For the same money they could get vastly better ones, but they prefer what they have got. Certainly there was no pressure upon the Veterans of Foreign Wars to choose the dreadful edifice that bears their banner, for there are plenty of vacant buildings along the track-side, and some of them are appreciably better. They might, indeed, have built a better one their own. But they chose that clapboarded horror with their eyes open, and having chosen it, they let it mellow into its present shocking depravity. They like it as it is: beside it, the Parthenon would no doubt offend them. In precisely the same way the authors of the rattrap stadium that I have mentioned made a deliberate choice. After painfully designing and erecting it, they made it perfect in their own sight by putting a completely impossible pent-house, painted a staring yellow, on top of it. The effect is that of a fat woman with a black eye. It is that of a Presbyterian grinning. But they like it.

I hardly notice the appearance of my residence enough to clean it, much less decorate it.  It doesn’t mean I have no sense of beauty - it means that I am pretty oblivious to my surroundings.

I always notice my surroundings, but I’m far too intimidated by decorating and taste and what-not to even attempt to beautify my own place.  I picture someone like Amanda ripping my efforts to shreds.  Calling it “kitsch” or “mainstream” or something like that.  Meh.  My sister is really good at it.  If I ever make enough money I’ll have her give me a makeover.

GO look at a new subdivision - ask yourself why all the houses are some shade of greige outside and white inside.
It’s because we have no confidence in our taste - which may not be apparent when we’re making purchases or $14-70 blankies, but really shows when it thousands of $.  Most people are insecure sheeple at heart - denizens of this blog excepted of course..

Ah sorry I wasn’t clear, chin.  I got that you were being funny and I agree with you.  I just went off on a rant. 

You’re right—-I think left, right, whatever—-we try to project an image to others and also to ourselves so that we have a grasp on self-identity that draws, as it must, on the world around us.  (Just like you think in the language you speak, which is “other people’s”, for those who get hung up on the idea that there’s something wrong with being so intertwined with others.)  I often think individuality and group dynamics are simply treated by people as opposing forces, and to be an individual, we feel that we have to reject treating others like their opinion or influence matters.  But I think that individuality is actually improved with a nuanced understanding of group dynamics.  That’s why graffiti is a perfect example—-by prizing a sense of community identity and ownership over public spaces, graffiti artists found their own voices. 

This precisely why I think that the enforced mediocrity of our culture is so alarming.  It’s about disconnecting us from our lines of communication with others and perversely, it shuts down individual expression, which flourishes better if you actually have people that you are communicating your identity to.

Which is why it’s so laughable to me when someone tries to shame me, for instance, for having tattoos, which is So Conformist To Evil Hipster Culture.  Actually, by playing into an existing cultural narrative, I have an opportunity to express myself that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  Yes, there’s competition, but in the right circumstances, competition encourages creative self-expression and improved work. That’s why so much great music comes out of scenes.  It probably feels very Heathers at time, for instance, to be someone that’s trying to make a name for yourself in the 70s punk scene in NYC or the 90s grunge scene in Seattle, but that increased pressure meant more fascinating, raw work from people who had to lay it all out on the line.

Well, OK.  Lean it against something, or put your art on a shelf, or only hang one thing in the whole place.  Go in a different direction, like maybe some interesting furniture or a rug or an afghan on the couch.  A tchotschke.  Stuff on the fridge.  An interesting pattern in some sort of textile somewhere.  It freaks me out when I go into someone’s home and everything is purely utilitarian with not an aesthetic flourish to be seen.  The fact that this is a controversial statement strikes me as extremely bizarre.
The Opoponax on 03/01 at 11:46 PM

Really?  Realllly?  I love that clean spartan look, like a dining room with nothign but a phenomenal designer modern sleek tbale and chairs and lighting (mine would be a copy, but I would imagine that a person who bought a designer one wouldn’t necessarily be aesthetically dead,  The table is the sculptural art in the room.  Ditto for some couches - like the “Lips couch” though now it’s been so copied it’s kitschy.

I’m seeking reassurance that you understand that lefties do this, too. That our tastes and our sense of aesthetics and our hobbies and all that jazz are shaped by our sense of identity and the image of ourselves that we want to project into the world, just as much as someone who likes NASCAR or Harleys.

Which is why “Stuff White People Like” is so insightful.  Especially when they make cracks about “the wrong kind of white people”.

What I want is someone to angrily defend Rachel Ray and “Friends”. 

I don’t see how anyone can defend Rachel Ray after that notorious Muslim scarf ad, which was objectively pro-terror.  But your snarky crack about “Friends” demonstrates once again that beneath the layers of feminist theory, Austin hipsterdom, and Insufferable Music Snobbery, there’s a frightened little girl inside who’s afraid to encounter real Americans with simple pleasures, who like to relax with pleasant, cheerful TV fare like “Friends” or “Everybody Loves Raymond” after a hard day of working at inconceivably backbreaking jobs that hipsters like you can only sneer at.

There, I did my part.  Now let’s take this thread to a thousand!  Oh yes, and people who wear sweatpants in airports should be put on a national “no-fly” list.

Phyl, I think that look is great if done right.  But minimalism is perversely harder than a lot of other approaches.  You really have to have a flair for it.  Many try, few succeed. 

Of course, I tend to think that about everything.  Every genre, every style can be awesome in the hands of someone who really goes after it.  Like people who say they hate country music as a genre?  Just aren’t listening to the good stuff. 

Shabby chic might be the exception.  I can’t tell good from bad in that style, and it always leaves me cold.

The table is the sculptural art in the room.

Yes, this is fine.  This is NOT what I’m talking about. 

It’s the dining room with white walls and nothing in it but an ugly ersatz table and exactly matching ugly ersatz chairs that freaks me out. 

The only thing worse is empty bookshelves.  Often seen in the same homes as the empty rooms with nothing but ugly cookie cutter furniture.  Why did you buy a bookshelf if you don’t have any books or tschotskes or photos or anything to put on it?

But minimalism is perversely harder than a lot of other approaches.

It’s also a lot more expensive because you have to buy that one sculptural piece that completely owns the room.  And you usually don’t find those at Big Lots.  It’s much more affordable to have an aesthetically interesting home if you’re willing to hang a picture or paint a wall.

Donna, I’m sure a lot of people would find my taste ridiculous.  Color everywhere.  But I figure if you dig in and really go for it, that’s 95% of the battle.  I see a lot of people’s stuff that’s not my taste at all, but I really admire their style.

It’s because we have no confidence in our taste - which may not be apparent when we’re making purchases or $14-70 blankies, but really shows when it thousands of $.  Most people are insecure sheeple at heart - denizens of this blog excepted of course.

Actually, these types of threads just reinforce the idea that my tastes will never be considered acceptable by those who fancy themselves aesthetes. I long ago gave up trying to get involved in music discussions because I got tired of having to defend why the music I liked was not sufficiently obscure.  I long ago stopped talking about fashion because I couldn’t afford to shop at vintage stores or the hippie stores or the Hot Topics (eye roll) and I rather liked my Old Navy sweaters.  I stay away from talking about movies because insufferable movie snobbery is just as rampant as insufferable music snobbery. I don’t talk about interior design because every piece of furniture I’ve ever owned was inherited and so I’ve never had an opportunity to really “decorate”.  Until 4 years ago my apartment had a 1970s rust/gold/brown floral couch, a gray with sage/lavender striped couch,  two sage wing-backed chairs, and two faux-wood dark brown coffee tables. These were all complimented by the half-dozen quilts I inherited from my mother and other assorted blankets.  I never bothered much with the walls (I only hung two paintings that are family heirlooms), because I never expected to stay long.  When you cannot afford to even buy from a secondhand store, you learn to appreciate other kinds of aesthetics. You also learn that some people will look for any excuse to call your taste “pedestrian” or “mediocre” or “conformist” or “consumerist.”

I’ve never had an opportunity to really “decorate”.  Until 4 years ago my apartment had a 1970s rust/gold/brown floral couch, a gray with sage/lavender striped couch, two sage wing-backed chairs, and two faux-wood dark brown coffee tables. These were all complimented by the half-dozen quilts I inherited from my mother and other assorted blankets.  I never bothered much with the walls (I only hung two paintings that are family heirlooms), because I never expected to stay long.

That sounds really lovely and inviting to me, and I’m a huge movie/music snob. It doesn’t all have to go together. (Actually, I can never really feel relaxed and comfortable in a room in which the furniture matches or fields too carefully put together. Cozy, mismatched worn furniture that’s been haphazardly acquired over the years. I think it’s because the of the friends I grew up with, those whose parents’ houses were like this were painfully uptight and snobbish, and those whose furniture/space was casual were casual, and so I persist with this probably unfair association)

I’m far too intimidated by decorating and taste and what-not to even attempt to beautify my own place.

Then use the resources of your public library and/or the Internets in an attempt to educate yourself about those matters, and then you’ll be ahead of the folks who go for the “Laura
Ashley” or “Martha Stewart” look because of their lack of trust in their own taste.

My noble spouse, Illocano Avenger, had no training in aesthetics, no art history class like I had at the Harvard of the Midwest, but she was secure enough in her taste to pick out a print of this for our living room.

What’s happened to the American spirit of “Do it yourself”?

History Mom, refusing to talk about music or movies because other people have strong and specialized opinions sounds really insecure.  Movie and music conversations are absolutely the most fun I have with acquaintances.  Generally, people who care passionately about music or movies are not assholes and therefore not insufferable, whether they’re snobs or not. 

What do you talk about?  You’ve kind of just said, “I hate to talk about things that other people care about and I purposely surround myself with ugliness.”  That can’t possibly be true.  If you were going for a universally unattractive personality, you’ve succeeded there.  Some of it must be hyperbole.  Do you also sit in the dark because you don’t have track lighting?

Ooooh Monet. That’s original and daring.

/snark

History_mom, I think a big distinction that you’re not picking up on is the difference between enjoying things aesthetically for yourself, and making yourself/your home/your taste over to please someone else.  I really don’t give a shit what most other people think of the way I dress or how my apartment is “decorated”.  I didn’t buy a chair for $5 at a garage sale and refinish it in hopes that other people would like it.  I did it because I knew I would like it.  If what you see when you come to my house is a pile of garage sale trash, that’s your problem. 

I have a lot of really snobby coworkers, and sometimes one of them will say something crappy about something I like (usually not in that particular context, just offering up their opinion in the abstract).  Whatever.  They don’t have to live at my house or wear my clothes or listen to my music.  The important thing is that the things I bring into my life make me happy, not that they keep up some sort of appearances for others.

Joking aside, I really like that one, DAGCM. I don’t actually think I’d seen it before, embarassingly enough.

Opoponax, if you’ll notice I was responding to a very particular comment.  I was suggesting that the reason a lot of people may not feel confident enough to really discover their own aesthetic preferences and decorate accordingly is because of self-appointed guardians of good taste constantly deriding what others like in front of them.  It becomes easier to just go with the current trends or just not put much effort into your decisions.

Eileen, why thank you for completely misreading me and insulting me on top of it; I do so love being called universally unattractive by a complete stranger.  I don’t engage in those discussions with specific types of people. I often talk movies, music, art, photography, and literature with my friends because they DON’T behave like this. I will listen to/read opinions of the snobs, but I don’t share my own opinions anymore because I learned the hard way that I really don’t a) need their approval of my tastes, and b) to be made to feel like shit for not having their “refined” tastes.  I’ve been mercilessly mocked for my tastes and it sucks because being mercilessly mocked for anything sucks. Trying to defend my tastes to the snobs became an exercise in insecurity; stopping the conversations was actually me saying “fuck it, I like what I like and I am open to new suggestions, but I am not going to stop liking what I like because of other people’s opinions.”

Just reread your comment, and you pretty much said that you never talked about music, movies, or fashion full-stop, but if you’d like to add that your refusal is only in the presence of people you mysteriously dislike it certainly makes me feel better.  Thank you.

I’m now wondering if I misread even further, and have failed to realize that “The Snobs” is actually an organized group of some sort.  Maybe a band?  And they’ve treated you poorly in the past?  That would make more sense too.

Oooh, maybe it’s an underground cult of aesthetes whose mission is actually to promote mediocrity with their merciless mockery of the uninitiated.

there’s a strong anti-intellectual streak in this country that extends into an anti-beauty streak.  Big fucking time.

Oh, I totally agree.  I guess my problem with what you’ve been saying is that I feel like you’re making absolute assertions of what counts and what doesn’t count as aesthetically attractive and suggesting that anyone who goes against those judgments is either an anti-intellectual/anti-beautyist [oh, whatever] or a victim of anti-intellectual/anti-beautyists.  I wear and like Uggs, and I actually enjoyed Friends (though I wouldn’t consider it high art or anything).  I’ve also read and loved every Henry James novel in existence (except for The Princess Casamassima, that one was kind of mediocre) and Remembrance of Things Past.  I just think it’s possible for people to legitimately have different taste in these matters, and that’s okay, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a person who buys a snuggie is a philistine.  I really do think it’s possible to see some of these things as valuable and not just junk forced on us by a culture that hates beauty.

That’s original and daring.

Except that I didn’t attribute either quality to the work in question.

She didn’t need the approval of anyone such as the ghost of Sir Kenneth Clark, Auguste, or myself to confirm her in her judgment of a piece by an artist she never heard of before seeing the print.

Your snark is weak, old man.

Hey, I wonder if anyone has thought to make snuggies out of terrycloth?  I could market them to folk in sunny climates who find beach towels awkward, or elitist, or just too difficult to use.  I’ll also develop a line of snuggie lingerie, using the snuggie format but all in some kind of hot pink mesh.  Unisex, of course. 

I think I’m on my way to my first million with this one.

The reason you might not have seen it is that it’s at the Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum, one wouldn’t think of Providence, R.I. as a place to find a Monet on display in a museum.

You know, I actually agree with Amanda that Snuggies are ugly. I personally have other ways of keeping warm while the thermostat stays cooled down, clothing Amanda would undoubtedly find less offensive. But I was bemused at her level of offense for these sleeved blanket thingies. They’re harmless. If they weren’t so flimsy they’d be pretty utilitarian, and unless someone actually were insane enough to wear them in public no one ever has to know.

Read on, Dark Avenger, read on. I was doing an imitation of someone who actually is pretentious enough to disapprove of Monet due to relative ubiquitousness. I mean, yeah, I could definitely envision that attitude so well that it’s hard to unequivocally assert that I don’t actually feel that way, but my feeling is that I don’t actually feel that way, and actually have been looking up some possible sources for the purchase of self-same piece of art.

Also, I don’t know who Sir Kenneth Clark is. Okay, now I do.

I can sometimes be flip about people with overly ubiquitous prints on the wall, but whatever.  I’m a snob.  The important thing is that the person who put the print there actually likes it and didn’t pick it out because it’s A Big Famous Important Painting they heard people are supposed to like. 

Which, BTW, that particular Monet is not overly ubiquitous, by any means.  One of my favorite way to be non-cliched is to find a less famous thing in exactly that vein.

he important thing is that the person who put the print there actually likes it and didn’t pick it out because it’s A Big Famous Important Painting they heard people are supposed to like.

The Opoponax on 03/02 at 08:22 AM

Egad, Nooooooooo!  as that’ll get you right to lots of Euwwww, ICK!!!! Thomas Kincaid!

I hate Kincaid (and things of that ilk), but if someone wants to have that in their home, they’re welcome to it.  I’d probably object if I had to live there, but thus far I have never lived with or sincerely considered living with anyone who liked Kincaid.

Actually, my ex-stepmother is into that sort of thing, and she’s an absolute doll.  But at this point it’s looking less and less like I will ever have to live in her home.  So, y’know, whatever.

Then why say that that’s the important thing?  Especially in a thread that talks about Americans lack of aesthetics - what is more indicative of a lack of taste - a bare wall or one with Thomas Kincaid?

The Opoponax: I think a big distinction that you’re not picking up on is the difference between enjoying things aesthetically for yourself, and making yourself/your home/your taste over to please someone else.  I really don’t give a shit what most other people think of the way I dress or how my apartment is “decorated”.

Amanda on the other hand, refuses to date a guy whose apartment isn’t decorated to her standards.

I have a lot of really snobby coworkers, and sometimes one of them will say something crappy about something I like

Something like, “it’s the dining room with white walls and nothing in it but an ugly ersatz table and exactly matching ugly ersatz chairs that freaks me out,” perhaps?

I’m not interested in Snuggies, but what’s wrong with fanny packs?

I grew up in inland Maine, and yes, I know cold.  My parents were stingy and the insulation sucked.  And my first, middle, and last thought upon seeing a Snuggie commercial was, “Goddamn, that is really fucking stupid.”  I do own and love a velvet Elvis, though, so my opinion is worth even less than a shitty fleece wizard robe.

what is more indicative of a lack of taste - a bare wall or one with Thomas Kincaid?

It depends on the reason for the bare wall, and whether we’re using “bare wall” as a synecdoche for “total lack of decor”. 

Something like, “it’s the dining room with white walls and nothing in it but an ugly ersatz table and exactly matching ugly ersatz chairs that freaks me out,” perhaps?

I honestly cannot fracking believe that there really exist human beings who firmly believe that it’s just totally normal and fine and nothing is lacking in a person’s life when they inhabit a space that they have not so much as hung a family snapshot in (or contributed anything else that exhibits their personal taste in any way).  When they have NOTHING at all but the most barely functional objects in their home, and zero personality or sense of “this is a good place I enjoy spending time”. 

Shit, my workspace has more personality than that, and I’m in an open-plan bullpen on a boring gray formica desk with an imac that matches every other imac in the room, cradled in a nest of snaking cords connected to peripherals.  I’ve still managed to pin up a couple photos on my bulletin board and pick a nice color of post-it notes.

what is more indicative of a lack of taste - a bare wall or one with Thomas Kincaid?

Hard to say, really. One of the features of what Amanda derides as “babbitry” is a feeling that one needs to have something that one is aesthetically interested in. In the worst form, this will be something like collector’s plates or miniature porcelain cows or Thomas Kincaid paintings. The more middlebrow version is a Monet print.

In both cases, at least the person is trying (I admit, have poor taste in art, and I put it on my walls!). By contrast, the snuggie is saying, “I just don’t care anymore.”

I honestly cannot fracking believe that there really exist human beings who firmly believe that it’s just totally normal and fine and nothing is lacking in a person’s life when they inhabit a space that they have not so much as hung a family snapshot in (or contributed anything else that exhibits their personal taste in any way).  When they have NOTHING at all but the most barely functional objects in their home, and zero personality or sense of “this is a good place I enjoy spending time”.

Frankly, I don’t make sweeping statements about people I’ve never met simply because they fail to exhibit aesthetic preferences in a way easily accessible and interpretable by me. In particular, I avoid making derogatory and condescending judgments simply because I don’t like their chairs.

If I really need to spell out an easy example for you, consider the person who has no art, because their walls are lined with bookshelves… or consider the person who has no visual art, but a multi-thousand disc music collection. But I would venture to guess that in the case of the latter, you’d criticize the lack of vinyl?

Word, Theaetetus.  I live in iTunes.

But I was bemused at her level of offense for these sleeved blanket thingies.

You know, this response really shows why people got so upset.  They didn’t realize that this was supposed to be funny, that I was using a literary technique called hyperbole for comic effect.  It makes one wonder if I was a man if that would be easier to pick up on, due to the stereotyping of women as so deadly serious all the time.  A stereotype, ironically, that doesn’t apply to me, since even stuff I take deadly serious I tend to make jokes about.

You know, this response really shows why people got so upset. They didn’t realize that this was supposed to be funny, that I was using a literary technique called hyperbole for comic effect.  It makes one wonder if I was a man if that would be easier to pick up on, due to the stereotyping of women as so deadly serious all the time.

I think you could have played the “sorry guys, this was meant to be hyperbole” card effectively yesterday, but not after 300-odd posts, including such gems as “the day I think I don’t deserve better than a sweatshirt is the day that I’ve given up on myself.”

This strikes me as a “if anyone was offended by my entirely not-offensive statements, I’m truly sorry for your misinterpretation, which probably stemmed from your defensiveness about your personal inadequacies” statement.

They didn’t realize that this was supposed to be funny, that I was using a literary technique called hyperbole for comic effect.

Or maybe it wasn’t particularly funny, and just came off as typical hipster disdain and snobbery that leaves many of us cold.  So shrug, admit it doesn’t appeal to everyone, and move on.  Or you could, you know, just say that if we don’t like it that just means we don’t get it because we aren’t as awesome as you.  It seems to work for right wingers.

I’ve never met simply because they fail to exhibit aesthetic preferences in a way easily accessible and interpretable by me.

Well put, Theaetesus. I’ve known people who surround themselves with pretty things almost entirely because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do, but have no aesthetic lives to speak of. And I’ve met people with fascinating and original tastes who can’t be bothered to decorate a house or anything. You have to get to know (some) people to get to know their aesthetic lives.

Amanda, I thought the snuggie=no sex life line was kind of a giveaway.

Frankly, I don’t make sweeping statements about people I’ve never met simply because they fail to exhibit aesthetic preferences in a way easily accessible and interpretable by me.

Frankly, I feel that if I’ve been inside someone’s home, I probably have met them (in at least a certain capacity; this might be different if I were a mormon missionary or an exterminator).  And, yeah, the few homes I’ve been in where there was nothing at all that said “A human being lives here” have caused me to wonder about the person who inhabits said home. 

simply because I don’t like their chairs.

I get the sense from this that you haven’t read anything I’ve actually written in this thread.  Because what I haven’t said was “If I don’t share your taste, you are subhuman.” 

If I really need to spell out an easy example for you, consider the person who has no art, because their walls are lined with bookshelves…

So?  And?  Just because someone owns books doesn’t give them a pass on “soulless drone who can’t be bothered to so much as put a picture of their mom on the fridge”.  I mean, nice that they read, but that’s neither here nor there.  Same for music. 

Music actually tends to be my aesthetic blindspot.  I don’t don’t really know much about music, don’t have impeccable taste, don’t follow the latest bands unless they happen to cross my path.  I own maybe 50 CD’s, maybe 5-10 gigs of music on iTunes.  But I still have SOME music.  I can still listen to music without wincing.  There are bands I like, songs that resonate with me.  If I throw a dinner party, I will find something to put on (a good third of the tracks will probably be sucky or inappropriate to the gathering at hand, but still).  I go to a concert or gig occasionally, usually at the recommendation of friends or if a friend is playing.  I don’t live a life completely starved of auditory stimulation. 

Just as most people who don’t really “get” decorating have some semblance of something that implies they have visual/tactile tastes in some regard.  I don’t care if you have a Kincaid lithograph in the dining room, or a lamp in the shape of a football, or a pink chintz couch - you’ve expressed some kind of aesthetic taste.  People who have not tend to really stand out.  In a way that is not necessarily good.

Or maybe it wasn’t particularly funny, and just came off as typical hipster disdain and snobbery that leaves many of us cold.

Or it could be a floor wax and a dessert topping! It was both funny and reflexive of an understandable need to mock the concept of a snuggie and our American habit for buying dumb things that make us look stupid.

I don’t know; all of this obsession over other people’s domiciles (and I know it’s on this thread, but that implies a lot of thought about it to me) seems to just reek of Sensing preference, which is all well and good, and is a strong majority in the human population.

However, not everyone is that invested in their surroundings.  Perhaps you’re neglecting to notice that people who do not decorate might have a rich tapestry of an inner world?  It just seems silly to me to think that someone’s surroundings says that much about them, whenever sometimes spartan surroundings simply denote someone who is too busy internally to notice the external.  You think that people like that are depriving themselves of stimulation, where people who are like that might think that you are shallow because you’re so invested in externals.  That doesn’t make either of you right; that means that you have completely different perceptions of the physical world.

Yeah Tyro, but it’s just the reverse of the whole “latte democrat” disdain, which I find equally noncompelling.  Glad you liked it, but…not for me. I like the Snuggie commercials though, because the ones in red look like Satanists relaxing about the house after a long day of blood sacrifices to the Dark Lord.

On the one hand, I agree with the point that the anti-intellectual streak in this country spills over into anti-aestheticism. On the other hand, a lot of art really does suck. There’s no getting around that.

Who. Gives. A shit.

If you want a damn Snuggie, get a damn Snuggie.  If you don’t want a Snuggie, don’t get one.  If you think the Snuggie is ugly, fine.  I don’t see how it’s uglier than a blanket and sweatshirt or other such combination.  It is definitely not a sign of the downfall of civilization.  But whatever.

As for all this arguing about how poor is poor, get a fucking life.  You can’t judge a person’s situation until you know them.  If I’ve ever thought about buying fake meat, I’m not poor?  Whatever.  Last year 3 of us were living on less than 20k a year and we cut expenses back so we could eat better because it was important to us.  We cut corners on all kinds of things so we could get our niece school clothes, because her parents couldn’t afford them.  We drive 4 hours round trip each week so she can spend the weekend with us, where she has friends and her own room; but our sheets and blankets have been torn and repaired countless times, my shoes are literally wearing through, and I rent textbooks instead of buying them.  It’s about priorities, and I’m happy we can give her what she needs.

I live with three other people, and I just realized how very, very much I would love to live in an apartment with nothing but functional objects.  Oh, and books, and cats.
Nobody ever told me that the worst problem with other people is the sheer amount of crap they haul around with them.

We get it, The Opoponax. No one should do anything you don’t think is cool. They should all wear fucking coats in their houses rather than purchase or accept one of these items, because you think wearing a winter parka is somhow more aesthetically pleasing and “practical” than something designed for people to wear indoors.

Seriously. “Get a parka!” “Get a cardigan!” “Get a winter coat!” “Get a shawl!”

They got a Snuggie. Get over it.

You know, this response really shows why people got so upset. They didn’t realize that this was supposed to be funny, that I was using a literary technique called hyperbole for comic effect.  It makes one wonder if I was a man if that would be easier to pick up on, due to the stereotyping of women as so deadly serious all the time.

That’s the excuse a**holes give about misogynist jokes.  “I was just joking, and if you don’t get the joke, you just don’t have a sense of humor.” 

There are plenty of funny things in this world that don’t involve insulting other people.  Not finding insults funny doesn’t mean that you don’t have a sense of humor, it just means that your sense of humor also has a humane set of boundaries.  (For example this is funny, without a drop of insult:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ehlw_phys )

We know you think you’re being funny - we just recognize that you’re actually being unkind.

When you post something like this, you *know* that some of the regular readers here will own, and like, the item you’re “joking” about, putting them squarely in the category of people you’re mocking.  And it isn’t reasonable at all to be unkind to someone, and expect them to find unkindness aimed right at them to be funny. 

You might get away with it with someone you know well, in a private joke, but making the mockery public changes the dynamic.

This has been one of the most hilarious comments threads I’ve read in a long time.  Somehow a rant about a silly product has devolved into anti-poor, anti-feminist, anti-cold climate and anti-people looking like tools if they damn well want to wank.  If people can find a practical purpose for the Snuggie and don’t care how they look in it, fabulous, rock on.  It doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a ridiculous looking item marketed by advertisers who think that people are morons.  Most of those “not sold in stores” products are, such as the Big City Slider (“It’s hard cooking tiny hamburgers!”) and the Pasta Express (“Cooking spaghetti is so complicated and you might burn yourself!”).  There’s a difference between “convenience” and “helplessness.”

No one is saying that Snuggies absolutely shouldn’t be bought or worn by anyone.  But, again, they look ridiculous.  I don’t see why that’s something that needs to be greeted with defensiveness.  If I posted an angry comment every time I read a post where someone says something nasty about something or someone I like or find perfectly reasonable, I’d never stop typing.  Right now, because U2 is coming out with a new album, so I’ve been reading a whole bunch of posts slamming them and fans such as myself who supposedly embrace mediocrity by continuing to listen to them.  It’d be a waste of time to come storming in and accuse them all of being elitist hipsters.  It’s certainly not going to change their opinion, and I doubt Amanda is going to suddenly say “You know what, you’re right, Snuggies are a fine invention, let me get one in mint color.”

My lunch break is almost over, and I only got through about 20% of the posts. It’s been fun, but there’s something that hasn’t been pointed out:  Everyone is in on the joke.

Did anyone bother to read the NYT article?

“We were definitely in on the joke,” he said. “Do we expect a family to wear these to a football game? No.”

I looked at the page for the Snuggie Pub Crawl, and it’s clear they know how ridiculous everyone will look.

A friend of mine in Facebook has a 40 photo essay called “Cult of the Snuggie”, where he got people around his office at the Heritage Foundation to wear it.  Say what you will, but a picture of an unsmiling Grover Norquist in a Snuggie is pretty fucking hilarious.

So, at the very least, I’d say there’s a level of irony that a broad base of the populace gets.  I think this is where some classism in the product exists:  If you don’t have the education to comprehend irony, you’re not the target audience.

Thinking about it further, I guess this is implied in Amanda’s lament:  People who are educated enough to know it’s ridiculous buy it anyway as an act of defiance.  I dunno, I think there’s something liberating in embracing the absurd.  Yes, by blanketing ads all over the airwaves, it’s less individualistic than pseudo-clever marketing, and shelling out $70 would be less “embracing” then “getting suckered”, but even Amanda has admitted that they’re Devo, and as we’ve seen the price has been dropping very quickly for the low end ones.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get one for a buck at a Salvation Army in a couple of years.

Mm, mint.

You youngsters are so spoiled.  When I first got married, we didn’t have access to Target or Ikea or anything with any style that didn’t cost so much that we could not afford it.  Stuff at the salvation army or at Goodwill was the same crap everybody’s aunt was offering: pseudocolonial wood based things with turned spindles for garnish and butt ugly upholstry.  New upholstry or even slip covers were out of my budget range - we just threw blankets over it - all of it - and table cloths too.

This post and the entire thread makes me hate humanity.

Look, some people just don’t value the same things you do. You put a high value on aesthetics in all parts of life? Cool, good for you. Now here’s the part where you realize that not all people are you, nor should they conform to your standards. I sit here writing you a post dressed in a pair of sweatpants, ratty t-shirt, fuzzy socks, a robe, and gasp! Ugly underwear! I’m not aiming for the downfall of taste and beauty, I just like to pamper myself with warm, comfortable things. Deal.

I understand funny and hyperbole. I also understand a level of snobbishness so high I’d break my neck trying to see it. Whoever made the WTF Blanket video somehow managed to do it without sounding like a complete snot.

Snuggies are ugly, but I like them a million times better than you right now.

I also understand a level of snobbishness so high I’d break my neck trying to see it.

To a degree, that’s the point. This is something so bizarre that it’s the sort of thing you can be a huge snob about without being an asshole. If you’re going to mock people who have and enjoy, say, Thomas Kincaid paintings or neo-pop-country music or berber carpeting or ranch homes, then you are being an assholish snob, because those things are all part of public everyday life enjoyed by people just trying to get by. Find a stupid item that’s the answer to a question no one asked and has already enjoyed some public mockery on the Tonight Show, and bringing out your inner snob is a-ok.

I don’t really care about fashion, so I have no real opinion on the blanket thingy—I wouldn’t buy one, but would probably use it if someone got it for me. Considering that the Greeks and Romans basically wore sacks and sandals, I don’t think that automatically makes me part of the anti-art crowd.

Look, don’t be a jerk just because your house is warm enough. After all, you can get these for less than $10 if you shop around and they’re warmer than anything other than an extra large bathrobe on backwards. Plus they’re perfect for gaming. BUT if you’re too cool for a blanket with sleeves then you’re definitely a snotty loser who is too cool for gaming beyond futzing around with a Wii. (This is not to knock the Wii, I’m just making a point about “casual” v. “serious” gaming, which tends to divide along the lines of the Wii v. every other system in our current generation of consoles. Let’s face it—- the Wii is the new VCR.)

Well Amanda, not to be condescending as only we older people can be, but you’re really coming off as an INSUFFERABLE bore and snob. Have you read C. S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters?” I’m not Christian or even theist, but I still got a huge charge out of Uncle Screwtape’s advice to his nephew Wormwood that one of the most important tasks of a demon is making sure people don’t ever properly enjoy themselves — that they always have a nagging feeling they’re doing it ‘wrong’ — that their honest response to pleasure is somehow uncool, and that somewhere, people are wearing the right clothes, listening to the right music, eating the right food.

Anyway, the sleeved blanket is a really old idea for anyone who camps — the sleeved sleeping bag has been around forever, and its adaption to home life causes not a quiver of moral consternation for me.

http://www.surplusandadventure.com/shopscr1753.html

Oh, I must pick a bone with those who scoff at synthetics—sorry, but my Velux blanket from Costco is the best winter blanket I have ever owned: it weighs almost nothing, it breathes, and you wash it in the washer—no dry clean. compare that to down, which I hd for years, holds odors, clumps, requires special care… no contest.

My main objection to the Snuggie is that it’s a poorly-designed ripoff. These products are really only suitable for lying supine on a couch. You can’t sit up straight because they’re backless. You can’t stand or walk because they’re about 7 feet long and drag on the ground, and backless. If you reach for a snack on the coffee table, you’ll drag your winglike sleeve through the onion dip.

If it’s so cold in your house that you can’t extend your uncovered arm to change the channel, why on earth would you want a garment that you have to take off before you can walk to the bathroom or answer the doorbell? Why not have an oversized polar fleece robe that you can slip on over whatever you’re wearing?

I’d like to make an argument for Amanda to stick to her guns, on this and all other issues of taste-making.

I don’t have much of an opinion on the Snuggie, and whenever Amanda writes on fashion it largely passes me by.  But when she writes so stridently on music and what it says about those who enjoy particular artists or genres, she makes me flinch every time.  My musical tastes are woefully underdeveloped and have been for as long as I can remember.  I was ashamed of this, of course, but as I got older there were fewer opportunities for my musical ignorance to result in social awkwardness, and if I didn’t quite become self-satisfied with my miniscule horizons, I at least forgot to care.

Pandagon was the first place I encountered a Friday Random Ten post, and I still remember the dislocation I felt when I realized that people had enough different music on their iPods (or what have you) that a random sampling of ten tracks would be interesting or worth sharing.  That a progressive and inclusive a writer as Amanda could summon the dudgeon to write sweepingly and dismissively in defense of a hierarchy of musical taste provoked a wave of shame and nostalgia, like discovering a grade school that still practiced corporal punishment.

This is something of a miracle.  Although Amanda will never meet me nor survey my nerdy accretion of music, so long as she insists that her appreciation of music makes her rich, I shall never forget that I am poor, for which I am geniunely grateful.

I like to lounge around the house in a tuxedo. When it’s cold I just throw a fur on.

Poor, and uncool people suck.