Tasteless Fancy Dress Outfits

[anotheoldgit]

We had two discussions earlier this month one which I entered myself asking are Golliwogs racist, and another entered by another ABer regarding tasteless fancy dress outfits, to which I contributed to this post, with the following:

/// Surely these fancy dress costumes are FAR more tasteless. ///

*** And these are even more tasteless, but widely available from a well known web site supplier priced at £39.99 ***

http://img.joke.co.uk/images/products/jmw-v3/large/74439.png

Could it be that some on Answerbank has now reported the said internet web site?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507722/Fury-Amazon-sells-racist-golliwog-outfit-including-costume-wig-mask.html

[sp1814]

"Could it be that some on Answerbank has now reported the said internet web site?"

Maybe...but probably just a coincidence.

I wonder if anyone on AB has ever seen someone in said costume?

In all the Halloween parties I've attended over the past decade, I can't remember anyone dressing as a gollywog.

Perhaps that might be down to the fact that the costume has bog all to do with Halloween (ie. it's not 'spooky').

[sp1814]

AOG

"It is being listed on Amazon by Orion Costumes, an independent company which also sells 'sexy' outfits such as a schoolgirl costume."

Sexy school girls?

Sounds like a really classy company.

[Zacs-Master]

I went to a Halloween fancy dress as Papa LAzarou from League of Gentlemen. Now he is a scary chap.
http://archive.bebo.com/c/photos/view?MemberId=571354028&PhotoAlbumId=3843161650

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814
Mark as Best Answer
AOG

/// "It is being listed on Amazon by Orion Costumes, an independent company which also sells 'sexy' outfits such as a schoolgirl costume." ///

/// Sexy school girls? ///

/// Sounds like a really classy company. ///

Never heard of St Trinians SP? the sexy schoolgirl look is also very popular at 'Hen Party' gatherings, also 'Tarts and Vicars' it would seem.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yutO-5bHmAE/Tl8uGyAfeLI/AAAAAAAAATo/oqRHDM9l3jE/s1600/st-trinians-2.jpg

[sandyRoe]

I wonder where Prince Harry gets his Nazi Stormtrooper uniform?

[boxtops]

I found the fancy dress costume of Jimmy Savile far more tasteless this year, IMO. Gollywogs are neither here nor there for me.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// In all the Halloween parties I've attended over the past decade, I can't remember anyone dressing as a gollywog. ///

We are talking 'Fancy Dress' here, not just for Halloween.

[sandyRoe]

When would be the appropriate time to wear a Gollywog outfit?

[anotheoldgit]

sandyRoe

/// I wonder where Prince Harry gets his Nazi Stormtrooper uniform? ///

There are plenty of outlets that will supply them.

http://www.acefancydress.co.uk/images/images_big/general-coat-4473c.jpg

http://www.acefancydress.co.uk/images/images_big/german-soldier-costume-4472a1.jpg

http://www.ww2sale.com/image/cache/data/oscar/oss001-230x312.JPG

[andy-hughes]

AOG - "Never heard of St Trinians SP? the sexy schoolgirl look is also very popular at 'Hen Party' gatherings, also 'Tarts and Vicars' it would seem."

Once again this issue is a matter of age and cultural reference.

I am old enough to remember the original Saint Trinians films, and the then-harmless image of the fifth and sixth formers as 'leggy lovelies' - although there was no overt reference to them in the films.

That has someone morphed into an image of a school girl as a young woman who is a mixture of innocence and temptation - really not an area of costuming to be encouraged in 2013.

Similarly, I would agree with your premise that a golliwog costume is not at all appropriate in the modern era.

Nostalgia for times gone by does not make what was acceptable then, acceptable now, and a failure to adapt to changing attitudes causes friction which need not be.

[emmie]

i always thought tarts and vicars or guys and dolls mobster outfits good enough for a party, but Nazi uniforms are an absolute no no, and wasn't it also Ed Balls caught wearing one at a party?

[emmie]

a friend who was over endowed in the top department stopped the traffic on The Embankment, we were heading to a party and her minuscule St Trinans outfit was outrageous... i was amazed there wasn't a motorcar pile up.

[jno]

but I'm sure you looked good dressed as the vicar, emmie!

aog, personally, I see nothing classy about St Trinians (though I liked Ronald Searle's cartoons, which you no doubt remember), so sp1814 is right on that score.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

I didn't say it was classy, only popular.

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// Nostalgia for times gone by does not make what was acceptable then, acceptable now, and a failure to adapt to changing attitudes causes friction which need not be. ///

Has all joviality disappeared in this so called 'modern era'.

Should the government create a Minister of Good Taste, so as to take control over anything that may bring distaste to others.

Seems to have overtones of Communist China to me.

[emmie]

it wasn't meant to be classy, it was meant to be tarty, the St Trinians uniform if you watch the films.

[FredPuli43]

Dear me, good taste? I can remember a time when there was a Lord Chamberlain to censor or ban plays, and he BBC had a rule book forbidding such things as comedians referring to underwear. And newspapers being offensive to anyone not rich enough to sue them. or influential enough to prevent publication (that may still be with us, though somewhat diminished).

So we did not have a Minister of Good Taste as such, but we had bodies to enforce it.

There is limited joviality to be had in wearing a gollywog outfit nowadays, because the word or, more precisely, its last three letters, has become a term of racial abuse. The original connection with the children's book, in which gollywog first appears, has been long lost, which is unfortunate because the tale is a story of white dolls accepting a black doll as a friend and equal after initial fear at the first sight of him.

[ludwig]

That golly outfit is the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - "Has all joviality disappeared in this so called 'modern era'.

Should the government create a Minister of Good Taste, so as to take control over anything that may bring distaste to others."

No, I don't for a moment think that joviality has disappeared, but as I have opined many times, it is mot possible to excuse something which offends a sizeable amount of people by simply saying it is intended to be funny.

I don't believe that regulation of 'good taste' is possible or desirable - the way society works is that it regulates itself. If something is seen to be offensive to enough people over enough time, it will be gradually eradicated, and resist efforts to reintroduce it under the premise that it is 'humourous' - which is why gollywog costumes will not be with us for long.