‘Nothing New Under the Sun,’ No Matter the Trend

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

My sister used to call me the fashionista. I never dressed fancy or paid a lot for clothing. I loved scouting vintage stores and boutiques and browsing the latest trends in magazines, like every female, since the 1960s. I remember a girl in my grade school class who always matched. Her skirt matched her scarf tied in her perfect hair, and her outfit was always cute. Even her ankle socks matched. My outfits did not match.

The 60s, 70s, and 80s were interesting fashion-wise. Those fringed, bleached-out bell bottoms annoyed my aunt enough that she made me change for dinner out. But my denim platform shoes glittered up to emulate David Bowie and the added sequins down the hem of my jeans got me noticed in class when we relocated from Pittsburgh to a small town in Maryland for my dad's job on the B&O Railroad.

But this post is not exactly about that kind of fashion...

My neighbor (who rents) complains to me in a text that her pitiful raise has made her feel overworked and underappreciated. She works from home and feels her MBA degree in legal should offer more, including a better raise and respect. She's 55 and reviews contracts for her company. Her husband, currently unemployed, cannot find a job to meet his 64-year-old standards, a VP position or better. His job world has changed three times in 14 months.

I do not have the heart to tell them things have changed. They know—but I don't think the details of what they know have hit home. I can't tell my neighbor that young MBAs are graduating and would take a position for less pay with fewer benefits than she, nor can I break it to her husband that his age is no asset in his field. Software and artificial intelligence are ready and able to replace people like them.

Too young for benefits or retirement and too old to compete in the new world of AI, inflation, cutbacks and a lot of competition. I think of the movie Fun with Dick and Jane with Jim Carey (so funny), where he's holding out for a management or VP position. It's tough out there. I'm glad we are retired.

I browse the stock market button on my phone each morning. Layoffs, cutbacks, an Iran conflict with no resolution in sight, AI quickly redefining jobs and a changing work world rock the stocks daily, like a roller coaster ride at Six Flags. When Walmart is down and not meeting its forecast, you know things are tough. Changing out CEO's are the new fashion.

So the Fall catalogs are starting to show up in the mail, with clothes and decor noticeably costing more— Talbots, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road—but there is nothing new under the sun. The catalogs are even showcasing old inventory, old styles mixed with a message emphasizing novelty.

I always loved nice jackets and had (have) a purse fetish. These catalogs are displaying everything: bucket bags, suede, small zipped totes or big, square leather bags—all styles and shapes old and older. Shoes are ballet flats, pointed toe, rounded toe, and penny loafers. Fringed jeans, bell bottoms and straight-legged, leopard prints (back again!), florals, paisley and houndstooth scarves, sweaters and coats. Barn jackets, zip-up sweaters, cowl necks, trench coats and capes are all there again. I got the distinct vibe that the marketing is: "Just sell everything, get rid of it, make it look new. Old? Don't care, market the whole inventory as new. Clean out the stock, but it's all about to hit the fan and we need to sell it all and make money!"

So anything in your closet will work. Don't quit that crappy job with the lousy pay raise, watch funny movies with the talented Jim Carey, be thankful for everything as we ascend the coaster, and toast the wise King Solomon, who knew the truth all along: "There is nothing new under the sun."