Fashion

I hate fashion, because it promotes the idea that clothes and accessories (extensions of your personality) can become obsolete due to the judgement of others and therefore should be purchased and disposed of rapidly (a state of mind which soon imprints itself onto your personality, your way of life, your views on the world, etc.)

The fact that almost all of the clothes, bags, shoes, socks, bras, hats, bracelets, capelets, tank tops, vests, slouchy scarves, sunglasses, sneakers, and every wearable item is produced in a foreign country, where wages are lower, in order to suppress prices, is really sad.

That means companies deprive U.S. workers of good jobs and exploit workers in other countries so that YOU can buy cheap clothes at Forever 21, the Gap, Nike, Converse, PacSun, Hollister, Hot Topic, Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie, Delia*s, etc. One of the reasons I was so excited about the Docs i got today was that they were made in England, before the company started outsourcing.

Everyone talks about eco fashion, sustainability, whatever.

Have you ever noticed how many companies will tell you that the best way to solve our ecological problems is to STOP BUYING PRODUCTS AS MUCH AS YOU CAN?

You will NEVER hear this. Of course not - because then their system would collapse, and we'd all live more frugally, more conscientiously, more intelligently, and probably more happily, with LESS.

Instead of rushing out to replace your old linens with organic cotton towels; instead of getting some random useless thing made in Africa somewhere; instead of getting a teeshirt that says "Reuse, reduce, recycle," consider keeping your old towels, donating money to UNICEF or some other cause, or making a teeshirt that broadcasts your beliefs from materials you already own.


Have you ever gone shopping and gotten high off the rush of buying - for some intangible reason? I used to have thoughts lifted from magazine copy - "I'm going to live my life in these clothes!"; " "This scarf will help me capture the essence of a moroccan souk crossed with a parisian prostitute!"; "Maybe this will cheer me up?!"

In reality, you will live your life in any clothes you happen to be wearing, regardless of their appearance. True adventure is not motivated by skinny jeans, or fake glasses, or whatever happens to be cool at the moment.

Fashion is a language spoken by the privileged, the rich, the young; the majority of the world, including your future boss, will probably not care that the stripes on your shoes are "nautical". They will be much more interested in what you have to say and do. Don't count on apparel to speak for you or communicate your message.

And, to be honest, material things are never going to make you happy. They are amusing, but then you get sick of them because you know how quickly you will discard them - maybe in three months - once you get sick of them?

Think when you go on a shopping spree. Unfortunately, I don't really enjoy it any more, because i see U.S. economic imperialism, poor families working hard, and a pretty messed up system that could be greatly alleviated if the buying populace could cut its irresponsible spending.

We expect it from our government - we should practice it ourselves.