Cargo man.

Since at least 1975, fashion has revisited the past decades for inspiration. The 1970’s recycled “The Great Gatsby” look of the 1920’s, while the 1980’s, Reagan’s time, brought back the skinny ties, Ray Bans and Blues Brothers looks of the 1950’s. The 1960’s came back in the early 1990’s, when young grungers rebelled against Reagan and adopted eco-coffeehouse-Seattle hippie looks in sympathy with anti-nuclear protestors.

Around 1996, [white?] men’s fashion began a tentative, insecure phase. Guys don’t know whether to keep their hair short, or grow it long, or just shave it off, or keep facial hair on, or go clean shaven. Shirts are tucked in, but only in front, over the belt buckle, the tails dangle over the non-existent asses of the always seated Internet generation. The sedentary young wear glib and graphic boldly colored slouchy t-shirts. Pants are worn low, except when they are baggy, and gym shoes are thin and flat and dyed in acid greens and school bus yellow. Argyles are worn with irony, never importance. Sweater vests are just layered to throw over knit polo shirts and plaid cotton shorts.

Cargo Magazine is published in New York and calls itself “the new buyer’s guide for men”. What guys see in these pages are cool, peel off stickers to paste onto wish pages; and the usual glossy reviews of MP3 players, HDTVs, home theater systems, snowboards, moisturizers, hair gels, colognes, cars, SUVs, internet phones, wi-fi, VoIP, XM, Nintendo and toothbrush santizers. Cargo is refreshingly faggy, and has no articles about ridin’ your hog across Baja or the toughest SOB in Bora-Bora. So far, the likes of Affleck and DiCaprio are not seen. It seems that Cargo is whistling its own tune, even if the lyrics are “Money, Money, Money…”

In fact, Cargo has subtly positioned itself to sell: as a tentative magazine that espouses individuality and therefore some amount of insecurity. For the people who read this magazine consider themselves unique and kind of just slightly off, like a podcast from Ghana, a streak of plum hair dye or a Slovakian beer. They imagine that the nylon track suits and unparted hair are incubators of freedom, and may save them from ever having to make a choice or choose a direction in love or work. Experimental, undecided, free spirited, uncertain, unresolved…such is the state of the young and fashionable man in the year 2005.