How Did Workwear Avoid “Class Appropriation” Battles?

I’m exhausted trying to stay on top of all the things I’m not allowed to wear, do, or eat anymore because the purity police might consider it cultural appropriation.

Fortunately, one group is still good with us being “inspired” by their style

And that’s blue-collar workers. Lately, I’ve seen authentic blue-collar workwear, e.g., Carhartt and Dickies, all gussied up and worn as fancy streetwear by people who I’m sure have never seen inside a toolbox. I know Virgil Abloh has deemed “streetwear” over, so this whole workwear appropriation thing may already be moot.

However, judging by all the stylish people I see still wearing it, I think it’s got a ways to go!

It is Curious that “class appropriation” hasn’t gained much traction

There were a few articles back in 2018 but it never went beyond a few pieces in Vice and a dust-up at Oberlin College where “Carhartt appropriation and Oberlin wealth” got a bit of play.

I believe it hasn’t become a hashtag issue because blue-collar workers wouldn’t support that kind of action. They would think it was stupid to go after somebody for wearing the same clothes they do.

But it is odd that urbanites and the college educated are so enamored of blue-collar workwear

First, what makes urban dwellers want to dress like blue-collar workers? Especially at a time when there is decided anti blue-collar sentiment in the country? Nobody wants to get into the trades anymore but everyone wants to dress like a construction worker. Go figure!

And we can’t get too far from politics these days so I must bring up that blue collar is generally more aligned with Trump, guns, hunting, meat-eating, and manspreading than the Dems’ “wokeness,” veganism, and #cancelculture.”

Second, I find it strange to see the most liberal and progressive celebrities, rappers, activists, Hollywood types, and even Presidents, adopt this quintessentially male, Midwestern, utilitarian workwear look as their own. It’s antithetical to most everything liberal group’s value and hold dear.

What do we think the appeal is? What does workwear signal? Hardworking? Down-to-earth? Salt of the earth? Authenticity? Toughness?

I don’t know but it does go deeper than fashion.

Stranger things have happened in these mixed-up times. In the meanwhile, the fine line between appreciation and appropriation gets ever blurrier.