“Who would you be if you didn’t have the stuff that you’ve acquired over the years?” >> this question lingers in my mind. I don’t think my material possessions define me, yet I feel like I can’t function without things, or I keep seeing buying things as a solution to trivial problems. I blame capitalism (I often do). Growing up I didn’t have a lot of extra money for clothes but my mum dressed well and passed on her love of style to us, and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t saving money to buy things, like a nice backpack for school. When I started earning money, buying nice clothes felt like liberation. Along the way I learnt to appreciate design and the craftsmanship of luxury goods (I worked in retail for a while). But increasingly I just feel like I’m being marketed to and breaking that cycle is my main reason of wanting to do a low-buy. But I’m still interested in how my personal style is adapting and that’s when I’m vulnerable to buying stuff to fulfil some fantasy I can’t quite articulate.
I blame capitalism, too. I can relate to the feeling of "being marketed to" as well, and it's disturbing and it makes me uncomfortable. And yet... I love to have things. I love clothes. I like to look at clothes even if it's in a setting where they're being marketed to me. It's an equation that I can't quite figure out.
Such a complex topic which so many of us would like to understand better.
For me consumption is driven by a love of clothes, desire for convenience (meaning I am frustrated if I "need" to do laundry so have a tendency to overstock underwear, socks and stuff like that.) It was never retail therapy. If I am not happy, I actually enjoy shopping less. I also love purchasing books (have a tsundoku problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku) and am a passionate gardener and can easily overbuy seeds and plants, driven by the same desire to experience and experiment with new things. So maybe for me it's dopamine driven by novelty and beauty.
I am left with your question "I’m left wondering, in all of this, where does an honest love of clothes and beautiful things fit in. Is it even possible to buy something from the heart, just because we truly love it?" That is the ques for me. I wonder if affordability is a curse, at least for me. In my 20s there was no real fast fashion and luxury seemed like overreach. Then I practiced what I think you and others refer to as admiring clothes and things as objets d'art in a museum. You can love something, enjoy it and not own it. After all, when you go to a museum, you can fall in love with a painting, you have zero expectation that you "need" to walk home with it in a shopping bag! In my 20s I roamed the original Barneys in Chelsea as if it were a museum and I loved it. I think the switch was flipped for me when so many more things became affordable and with time, there was accumulation. Why do I care? Because I fundamentally believe that I experience more joy with less and feel like too many garments is an albatross. The enviromental impact is also a concern although I am sure my air travel is far worse as my velocity (in and out) for clothing isn't as pronounced.
It is complicated! Unless we buy because of necessity (and what we "need" is a thorny subject in itself, at least in our so-called Western context), there must be other factors at play. We are attracted to novelty for sure, we're wired that way.
I feel that at some point excessive buying must be a symptom of something, and whether it's psychological, societal, and/or just a result of conditioning, I am not sure. It is nonsensical for me to buy so many clothes I don't have time to wear them, or for you to buy and own books that you don't read... Something must lurk there, in our subconscious. To me Nystrom's argument regarding philosophy of futility kind of makes sense. I don't actively feel like I need more philosophy or religion in my life, but maybe there's a bigger framework missing somehow. It's a puzzle I can't quite solve.
Maybe it's hardcoded into our DNA. When we lived caves, hoarding was an important instinct due to food scarcity and variability. I can also drum up an argument that craving variety is a trait that evolution would favor---the more types of foods and conditions we experimented with, the more likely we were to survive. Might be off but .... This also impacts western affluent societies and food consumption...
That's a very interesting thought! I'm playing the devil's advocate here, but if it was an evolutionary issue, perhaps we would have seen forms of conspicuous consumption before the advent of capitalism, in one way or another. Excess is a privilege of the wealthy, and has been, for centuries. Now, of course, cheap production is allowing the less wealthy to buy excessively, too, but that hasn't really been the case before. I guess in theory it's possible that capitalism is allowing us to fall back on an evolutionary need for hoarding, but that doesn't really mitigate the psychology behind the way we currently buy stuff, which is unhealthy.
«Perhaps we would have seen forms of conspicuous consumption before the advent of capitalism ». Have you read Marcel Mauss’ The Gift? I found it a fascinating read, and it might interest you in this context.
It really is! I was a reader of your blog for years (which was my introduction to vintage and thrift-shopping many, many years ago) and I’m glad to read your words once again!
“Who would you be if you didn’t have the stuff that you’ve acquired over the years?” >> this question lingers in my mind. I don’t think my material possessions define me, yet I feel like I can’t function without things, or I keep seeing buying things as a solution to trivial problems. I blame capitalism (I often do). Growing up I didn’t have a lot of extra money for clothes but my mum dressed well and passed on her love of style to us, and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t saving money to buy things, like a nice backpack for school. When I started earning money, buying nice clothes felt like liberation. Along the way I learnt to appreciate design and the craftsmanship of luxury goods (I worked in retail for a while). But increasingly I just feel like I’m being marketed to and breaking that cycle is my main reason of wanting to do a low-buy. But I’m still interested in how my personal style is adapting and that’s when I’m vulnerable to buying stuff to fulfil some fantasy I can’t quite articulate.
I blame capitalism, too. I can relate to the feeling of "being marketed to" as well, and it's disturbing and it makes me uncomfortable. And yet... I love to have things. I love clothes. I like to look at clothes even if it's in a setting where they're being marketed to me. It's an equation that I can't quite figure out.
Such a complex topic which so many of us would like to understand better.
For me consumption is driven by a love of clothes, desire for convenience (meaning I am frustrated if I "need" to do laundry so have a tendency to overstock underwear, socks and stuff like that.) It was never retail therapy. If I am not happy, I actually enjoy shopping less. I also love purchasing books (have a tsundoku problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku) and am a passionate gardener and can easily overbuy seeds and plants, driven by the same desire to experience and experiment with new things. So maybe for me it's dopamine driven by novelty and beauty.
I am left with your question "I’m left wondering, in all of this, where does an honest love of clothes and beautiful things fit in. Is it even possible to buy something from the heart, just because we truly love it?" That is the ques for me. I wonder if affordability is a curse, at least for me. In my 20s there was no real fast fashion and luxury seemed like overreach. Then I practiced what I think you and others refer to as admiring clothes and things as objets d'art in a museum. You can love something, enjoy it and not own it. After all, when you go to a museum, you can fall in love with a painting, you have zero expectation that you "need" to walk home with it in a shopping bag! In my 20s I roamed the original Barneys in Chelsea as if it were a museum and I loved it. I think the switch was flipped for me when so many more things became affordable and with time, there was accumulation. Why do I care? Because I fundamentally believe that I experience more joy with less and feel like too many garments is an albatross. The enviromental impact is also a concern although I am sure my air travel is far worse as my velocity (in and out) for clothing isn't as pronounced.
It is complicated! Unless we buy because of necessity (and what we "need" is a thorny subject in itself, at least in our so-called Western context), there must be other factors at play. We are attracted to novelty for sure, we're wired that way.
I feel that at some point excessive buying must be a symptom of something, and whether it's psychological, societal, and/or just a result of conditioning, I am not sure. It is nonsensical for me to buy so many clothes I don't have time to wear them, or for you to buy and own books that you don't read... Something must lurk there, in our subconscious. To me Nystrom's argument regarding philosophy of futility kind of makes sense. I don't actively feel like I need more philosophy or religion in my life, but maybe there's a bigger framework missing somehow. It's a puzzle I can't quite solve.
Maybe it's hardcoded into our DNA. When we lived caves, hoarding was an important instinct due to food scarcity and variability. I can also drum up an argument that craving variety is a trait that evolution would favor---the more types of foods and conditions we experimented with, the more likely we were to survive. Might be off but .... This also impacts western affluent societies and food consumption...
That's a very interesting thought! I'm playing the devil's advocate here, but if it was an evolutionary issue, perhaps we would have seen forms of conspicuous consumption before the advent of capitalism, in one way or another. Excess is a privilege of the wealthy, and has been, for centuries. Now, of course, cheap production is allowing the less wealthy to buy excessively, too, but that hasn't really been the case before. I guess in theory it's possible that capitalism is allowing us to fall back on an evolutionary need for hoarding, but that doesn't really mitigate the psychology behind the way we currently buy stuff, which is unhealthy.
«Perhaps we would have seen forms of conspicuous consumption before the advent of capitalism ». Have you read Marcel Mauss’ The Gift? I found it a fascinating read, and it might interest you in this context.
I haven't read 'The Gift'. I looked at a summary and it does sound quite interesting!
It really is! I was a reader of your blog for years (which was my introduction to vintage and thrift-shopping many, many years ago) and I’m glad to read your words once again!