So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld

[alias_sqbr]

And then my books came in...

I was recommended this AGES ago by lilysea but never got around to reading it. I'm glad I did eventually, it's a lot of fun. It reminds me a lot of "Bellweather" by Connie Willis: they're both light and funny, slightly romantic and sci-fi-y, with a mix of pop-culture discussions about the nature of trends and a protagonist trying to understand trends and fashion both out of interest and in against-the-clock rush. But where the protagonist of "Bellweather" is a grown-up researcher who thinks fads are worrying (and kind of silly), the protagonist of "So Yesterday" is a teenager who thinks fads are awesome. As someone who wavers between the two extremes(*) I could empathise quite happily with both of them, though I think both books miss a proper grip of the whole picture :)

(*)For anyone who's going "Pfft, who cares about fashion?": Fashion is not a monolith. Steampunk, cosplay etc have their own fashions :P

Comments

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

As I remember the protagonist of Bellwether is someone who is worried about how blindly people follow fads, both in fashion and other things.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, "worrying" is more accurate than "dumb" *edits*