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News & ArtsMonday, July 19, 2010
Life / The Ladies Forever 21 is Officially the Trashiest Store in the Mall
Posted by Kelly O on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 4:10 PM
Um, Forever 21 has a new MATERNITY line? And launches stores in states with the highest rates for teen pregnancy?
Maternity Forever!
6
Mall stores aside, I am surprised I didn't get the memo that it's trashy to have kids. I hate kids! Why did no one tell me they had become gauche?!
7
Well, maternity is one time when you're definitely buying throw-away clothes, things you'll only wear for a few months and then never again, so the low-cost, low-quality cute as hell stuff they sell seems kind of perfect. Still can't get past the bible reference on their shopping bags.
9
I can't blame Forever21 for making a good business decision. They aren't the ones failing to teach students good sexual habits. They are just profiting off the failure of schools and parents.
10
Not any odder than the gayest weekly paper in the US publishing in the gayest city in the US...you go where the customers are.
12
Does Nick Rivers work there?
I'm guessing their clothes only last a few months anyhow, and it's cheap, so it makes sense to create a maternity line. Makes even more sense to sell them in the places with the highest rates of pregnancy in their demo (even though we're talking about entire states, 2 of which are our nation's most populous). Makes sense to me.
But I really just mean: Holy fuck that's awesomely trashy.
I'm guessing their clothes only last a few months anyhow, and it's cheap, so it makes sense to create a maternity line. Makes even more sense to sell them in the places with the highest rates of pregnancy in their demo (even though we're talking about entire states, 2 of which are our nation's most populous). Makes sense to me.
But I really just mean: Holy fuck that's awesomely trashy.
15
If it's the trashiest store in the mall, does this mean that I can finally go to Spencer's myself, and not have to send the Colonel?
16
I find satisfaction in the fact that i've never heard of this company and haven't been in a mall in years.
Thank you seattle for making this possible.
Thank you seattle for making this possible.
17
@13: I've honestly never understood John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."
Okay, 1) he's God. He can beget more sons if he wants. 2) His son died and moved in with him. If anything, it should be "For Jesus so loved the world that at 33, he moved back in with his dad, that whoever believes in him blah blah blah."
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."
Okay, 1) he's God. He can beget more sons if he wants. 2) His son died and moved in with him. If anything, it should be "For Jesus so loved the world that at 33, he moved back in with his dad, that whoever believes in him blah blah blah."
18
John 3:16 interests me as well. To read it prior to the Enlightenment ( prior to the 1600s) would have a richer deeper meaning.
The word we presently read as "believes" actually meant: beloved, to be committed to, to be in allegiance with, to be loyal to.
The words we presently read as "eternal life" actually meant: the life of the eon.
It is all rather intriguing, because it wasn't until the Reformation that the catholic (universal) church (especially those of the reformed tradition) started teaching that Christ died to pay the debt of the world's sin (Doctrine of Penal-Substitution), as we often hear it taught today. And that theory started developing in the 1000s with Anselm of Canterbury in his book "Cue Deus Homo?" and is known as the "Satisfaction Theory".
It's fascinating stuff. And, in my opinion, it gives John 3:16 a more meaningful way to be read.
The word we presently read as "believes" actually meant: beloved, to be committed to, to be in allegiance with, to be loyal to.
The words we presently read as "eternal life" actually meant: the life of the eon.
It is all rather intriguing, because it wasn't until the Reformation that the catholic (universal) church (especially those of the reformed tradition) started teaching that Christ died to pay the debt of the world's sin (Doctrine of Penal-Substitution), as we often hear it taught today. And that theory started developing in the 1000s with Anselm of Canterbury in his book "Cue Deus Homo?" and is known as the "Satisfaction Theory".
It's fascinating stuff. And, in my opinion, it gives John 3:16 a more meaningful way to be read.
20
I agree with #14. Once a teenager is pregnant--something that probably has very little to do with the stores where she bought her clothes previously--she still wants options in what she wears.
As a fat adult woman, I know that when I go into a mall, my options are Department Stores, and Lane Bryant. Also, ...oh, nope, that's all. Just one non-anchor store in the whole mall. It's go to be a mindfuck for a pregnant teenager to walk into a mall where previously, most of the stores had been tailored specifically to her, and find that her money's no good anymore.
This isn't about destigmatizing teen pregnancy--that's its own can of worms--but about minimizing one of the overlooked psychological barbs that comes along with being a pregnant teenager. And I know there's a certain amount of assumed privilege in the whole debate--at least she can afford clothes! why doesn't she buy an abortion instead! the baby won't be born dead if she wears maternity clothes from Target!--but really. Cut the poor preggers kid some slack, if there's slack to cut.
As a fat adult woman, I know that when I go into a mall, my options are Department Stores, and Lane Bryant. Also, ...oh, nope, that's all. Just one non-anchor store in the whole mall. It's go to be a mindfuck for a pregnant teenager to walk into a mall where previously, most of the stores had been tailored specifically to her, and find that her money's no good anymore.
This isn't about destigmatizing teen pregnancy--that's its own can of worms--but about minimizing one of the overlooked psychological barbs that comes along with being a pregnant teenager. And I know there's a certain amount of assumed privilege in the whole debate--at least she can afford clothes! why doesn't she buy an abortion instead! the baby won't be born dead if she wears maternity clothes from Target!--but really. Cut the poor preggers kid some slack, if there's slack to cut.
22
@20 is right: decrying this as a social ill is the same ridiculousness that people use to decry plus size stores or clothing lines (I read some things where people were really upset about the existence of Torrid and Forever 21's addition of a plus line which isn't even all that plus): the idea that the alternative of having to become a muumuu-clad shutin hiding one's face will shame the fatties into losing weight! Teens who become pregnant and carry those pregnancies to term are not going to hinge their decision whether to do so on finding maternity clothes at their favorite stores.
Kudos to Forever 21 for finding a market niche. That's good business sense. And I wasn't aware they were a religious company--how odd, even when I was a teen I thought their clothes were too revealing to wear in public.
Kudos to Forever 21 for finding a market niche. That's good business sense. And I wasn't aware they were a religious company--how odd, even when I was a teen I thought their clothes were too revealing to wear in public.
23
Yeah, I first saw this at BoingBoing and they tried to scream "controversy!" over this too, but it didn't fly with the commentators.
Being in Canada, I was completely unaware of the Biblical stuff, but is this so crazy? I know their main market is technically teen girls, but F21 has put out lines for men, children, as well as older women and plus-sized women. "Love21" is actually the same name as their older-women line, so it's not supposed to be lumped in with their teen wear.
Being in Canada, I was completely unaware of the Biblical stuff, but is this so crazy? I know their main market is technically teen girls, but F21 has put out lines for men, children, as well as older women and plus-sized women. "Love21" is actually the same name as their older-women line, so it's not supposed to be lumped in with their teen wear.
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