Very well put, Nickhere.

One thing I thought I'd mention. When I was a kid, it was not uncommon to see "foreign" women dressed all in black, which certainly distinguished them from the mainstream (in the pre-post-modern-irony days), and lent them an unpersonable air, to a kid from the mainstream, anyway. It wasn't any kind of a public issue, though, and, strange to say, the daughters and granddaughters of those women embraced mainstream fashion with a vengeance. Give this thing some time ...