Fashion Culture Shock: a Poem
Queen Victoria
If Queen Victoria Were Here Today...
Queen Victoria, proper and staid,
Starched and pressed and trimmed in lace:
It would shock you sorely, I'm afraid,
If you were brought alive today and saw our fashions in your face.
"What has become," (you'd say) "of the social charms?
Does no one today know how to dress--
Going about with bare, tanned arms? And wearing
Permanent un-press?!"
"What kind of a society
Wears on-purpose wirnkles,
And doesn't even pause for tea,
Or carry a parasol in case of sprinkles!"
"Look here: 'supposed-to-fall-down' socks!
And next, there's bleached-out hair!"
Victoria dear, climb back in your box:
Today's no place for you to take the air!
Backstory
This poem was originally written back in 1996, and it occurred to me spontaneously, upon taking notice of the fashion "sense" of my then-teenage daughters.
A couple of edits have been made since, but it mostly stands as originally penned.
© 2010 Liz Elias