I wonder if there isn't a weird paradox at work in this sort of sentiment. The massive variety of clothing styles available to nearly everyone-- a variety that's pretty much unparalleled in human history, by the way-- is derided as just another corporate yoke, just another variety of Mao jacket or prison oranges imposed by malevolent corporate masters to enforce conformity. This means that the mass of citizens can be ridiculed as mindless, conformist sheep, unaware of what's _really_ going on. But, if they are so blind as to unquestioningly wear what's given to them, then why expect these mindless cattle to develop their own styles at all? Doesn't this indicate that some kind of snobbery is at work behind this "corporate yoke" theorizing?
......................
Probably.
Also, I think a lot of folks don't really see the nuances of the world we're living in. This is why, for some types of info, I trust novelists like Bruce Sterling or William Gibson and comic artist/writers like Warren Ellis before traditional Marxist/Socialist or just general lefty commentarians.
There's a tendency to believe that people who do not see the world through the necessary theoretical framework are trapped in a wholly false consciousness; hence the snobbery towards clothing consumers.
The way many people use fashion products is an example of the principle of 'infinite use of finite means' Chomsky talks about in reference to human language skills.
That is, while it's certainly true that large firms dominate the manufacturing, marketing and product placement channels, making the "corporate domination" argument not quite a fully straw man (after all, they do set the initial 'look' agenda), it's also true that people - young people in particular - do with these products whatever they want.
Clothing manufacturers watch what people do - by, for example, sending buyers to Warp Tour shows to observe what kids are wearing - and alter their product for the following season accordingly.
So there's a sort of feedback loop in effect.
No system yet devised has successfully eliminated the human tendency towards idiosyncratic expression.
Have you heard about the homebrew digital film makers who, disgusted with George Lucas' ineptitude, 're-made' the new Star Wars films using computer based editing tools?
This is another example of people taking a corporate product that many might sneer at as mindless corporate drone entertainment and tweaking it to their own tastes.
It's happening all over the world.
DRM
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