Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Canadian Independent Music and its Influence on Street Fashion in Toronto


 At my day job, I'm fortunate enough to meet a lot of new people all the time. My particular circumstance for the past few months has been that I have seen my place of work go through almost a complete turnover of employees. That means meeting and having to get to know new people very frequently, which of course results in the development of methods of approaching certain individuals with whom you take an interest. Are you from Toronto? Did you go to University? Do you have a boyfriend, etc... One of my favourites, due to the response's ability to speak volumes about the speaker who has unintentionally offered such information is, “So, what music do you listen to?”

The twentieth century made this possible. There are currently two types of people who can be immediately categorized based on their responses to the previously stated question. There are music lovers and there are other people... and if you're a music lover, you know exactly what I mean. If you're a music lover, you've spent many good hours of your life with headphones on, pressing them into your ears to make it even louder than it already is, blaring out of the ipod, cellphone, laptop, walkman, stereo, 8-track, whatever. You're open to hearing the most experimental of genres, and you have a deep appreciation for the classics from ages of the past. There are of course many sub-types under the category of music lover, but if you happen to be one, and you meet another, you know that you understand each other on some level as a result. It's quite the fantastic thing about our generation's interpretation of the music industry.

The Canadian music scene has, in the past ten years been so impressive in quality and quantity that it has managed, in the opinion of many, to out-do their American counterparts. I'm obviously not talking about Nickleback or Celine Dion... everyone knows that's mainstream bullshit created by an American audience who can't get the image of Canadian culture being nothing more than old men “rockstars” with terrible style and bad facial hair. It's barely even worth mentioning in Canada because we're so embarrassed of our unfortunate association with this horrifying image. *Sigh*

Since I moved to Toronto last January, I've been engulfed in the shockingly impressive underground music scene which not only exists here, but in the other major cities like Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Windsor was different. Windsor is the type of city that has its own little scene that is completely contained within the city limits. The music was fantastic, but it didn't have the potential for national exposure like some of the artists I've met and seen in Toronto.

So what kind of influence foes this have on the way people dress? Off the top of my head right now I can think of at least ten of my male friends who all dress exactly the same. Though it's kind of funny, I have to ask myself why this happens. What is it about these people that makes them all dress and act in similar ways?

As I walk down the crowded downtown streets of Toronto I look around at a sea of skinny jeans, cardigans and, now that it's winter, pea coats, and scarves, I wonder what's coming next and what all of these same people will be wearing five years from now.  

Until then!

V