When you think ‘fashion’ you automatically think of clothes, right? And not unreasonably so. But you sometimes forget how much trends affect almost every aspect of our lives; often without us even noticing. The social phenomena of the ‘trend’ is a bizarre one – what makes people across many different countries and communities all shift towards (or away from) something all at the same time?
Now this may seem like a trivial example, but even something like drinks are subject to the ebb and flows of fashion. Just look at how cider was transformed from being chavtastic to quite a popular and socially desirable drinking via the marketing power of Magners/Bulmers a few years ago.
A similar trend is apparently taking hold now: I’ve just read a Times Online article informing me that “Gin is being discovered by a younger crowd”. Now I’m not sure I needed the site to tell me this – I’ve already noticed more and more people ditching the vodka and opting instead for a G&T over the past year or so.
Personally, for me the switch was a no-brainer: I can’t stand the taste of vodka (those people who say it has no smell or taste are lying!), whereas the piney, complex smell of gin has always held much more appeal. But I find it harder to work out how legions of others around my age happen to be ‘rediscovering’ gin at the same time as myself.
Perhaps it’s part of the whole ‘granny chic’ trend: gin, after all, has long been considered an old peoples’ drink. I think it also bears romanticized or nostalgic connotations of eras gone by: listen to The Kinks and they’re referring to “whiskey or gin”, not sambucca or jager. So maybe just as vintage clothes and old, black and white films have come into vogue, old fashioned drinks are also making a comeback.
Whatever the reason, I’m in approval. Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray or Hendricks (avec cucumber, naturally), gin may be the drink to carry me through the winter cold…. I’ll be teaming mine with a dash of tonic; a wedge of lemon; a huge faux-fur leopardskin coat and a beret.
Rosa Abbott is an arts, fashion and culture obsessive originating from Yorkshire, England, and currently living in Dublin, Ireland. On top of being a student at the illustrious Trinity College, she is a freelance journalist, writing for a number of Irish publications, and also edits the visual arts section of entertainment magazine Totally Dublin.
When she’s not up to her eyeballs in writing, Rosa works as an assistant to stylist Aisling Farinella and volunteers at various art galleries. Her musings on life, style and art can also be found over at her blog, Too Gallant.
