Real Friends and Facebook, Nonsense and Children's Clothes

                                                  Friends

The Two Friends (Les Deux Amies)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]

…a Facebook “friend” may be no more than a nodding acquaintance who would hardly look up from their phone if you were on fire. Yet the word can denote someone closer than family: some eastern languages have passionate expressions translatable as “I’m another you” and in Gaelic you hail a “soul-sharer”. An Armenian academic splendidly posts that in their language it means “a human being for the sake of whom you can divorce a beloved wife, burn your money, give your life”.

…One obvious test of real friendship could be that you drop everything and step up fast and willingly in a crisis.

…Will our culture of extreme but shallow connection and the ghastly but widely approved concept of “networking” change our ideas of friendship? We can’t yet know. But the magical ancient chemistry will always matter.

…observing real friendship is almost as uplifting as having them. It is the greatest treasure.

(Libby Purves, The Times, 2019)

             It is Libby, it is.

Children’s Clothes

Children Coming from School,
Lionel Percy Smythe (1839-1918)
Photo Credit: Glasgow Museums [CC BY-NC-ND] 

…Designer childrenswear is thriving. In January, luxury online retailer Mytheresa expanded into childrenswear, with names including Dolce and Gabbana. Prices vary but a Gucci jacket retails for £1,740. By contrast, a Ralph Lauren jacket from second-hand online retailer Loopster is just £33.

Loopster started trading used childrenswear 17 months ago, but says it has seen a 23% jump in customers from last December to February this year. “Our bestselling brands retain their quality and our customers love to snap them up at a quarter of the retail price,” said founder Jane Fellner.

…Although social media enables parents to buy second-hand, or make money from selling baby clothes, it can also put pressure on families. “Mums feel the need to showcase images of children looking perfect, and designer clothes are part of this,” says Prof Caroline Gatrell at Liverpool University’s management school. “It adds to the huge pressure on today’s mothers to give the impression that they are leading the perfect family life.

For many parents, this subculture has always been around – but social media enabled it to enter the mainstream.

(The Observer, 2019)

Surely, it’s only a tiny number of mothers who feel this need “to showcase images of children looking perfect?”