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In praise of the ‘Member’s Only’ jacket (sort of)

Posted By Jay Baldwin On In fashion & clothing,terror & war | 2 Comments

I was struck with déjà vu the other day when in a local Kohl’s I spied a rack of ‘Member’s Only’ jackets. I hadn’t seen one in years. My last memories of the MO jacket were of my dad wearing his long after it fell out of fashion. For those unfamiliar with the iconic 1980s windbreaker, it was the American fashion industry’s answer to the question: what does one wear to a Cold War? Its military styling — it’s cut like a bomber jacket, complete with epaulettes and a front label resembling a military ribbon — was highly symbolic of Reagan-era cold warrior mentality. No other piece of men’s fashion better commodified U.S. foreign policy or made a clearer statement of where its wearer stood versus the Evil Empire. We were at war and in need of proper attire; and in hindsight it was a war worth having. Being a member of a ‘Member’s Only’ club that helped bring down the wall [1] is something in which to take pride.

I don’t know how well the MO jacket is selling these days. Poorly, I hope. It’s not that I have anything against the fashion challenged [2], or the companies that make and sell the MO jacket — it’s just that I can’t help but think of what the return of the MO jacket might come to symbolize today: an uncritical recommitment to the Bush/Obama War-on-Terror [3]. This at a time when a re-evaluation of post-9/11 policies [4] should be undertaken (call it change, Mr. President). The U.S. over-reacted [5] to 9/11 and exaggerated the threat [6] of Muslim terrorism. It’s time we admit our mistakes (foreign wars, the Patriot Act, the Dept. of Homeland Security, the TSA, etc., etc.) and correct the damage done to our civil liberties. If, however, we adopt a permanent ‘terror warrior’ mentality similar to our cold warrior ethos, what falls may not be a wall but the coliseum — and sully the only redeeming quality of the Member’s Only jacket in the process. Tragic.

Jay Baldwin [9]

Mr. Baldwin is a doctoral candidate of comparative literature and cultural studies at the University of Arkansas. He is a self-described free-market anti-capitalist harboring anarchist utopian fantasies. The best that can be said of him is that, presumably, his mother loves him.

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