In defense of shopping and fashion
I had a guy friend ask me once why women are so 'vacuous and shallow' to be excited by shopping. (I assumed immediately that he was talking clothes shopping, not grocery shopping, although I'm sure some people are excited by that too). This is a misconception that I always feel uncomfortable with, as a girl who enjoys shopping. Is it jealousy that causes us to call out someone as vacuous for spending money on needless items?
Although, 'needless' is also a point of view. There are people who never go clothes shopping, never colour their hair, never wear makeup. Call me vain if you will for thinking these things are necessary to a person's wellbeing, but I truly believe that looking good contributes to feeling good. The beauty industry, for example, is based on matters of science and funded extensively - because it works. Looking good lifts the spirits, it is a proven fact.
So whilst I do realise that there are shopaholics in this world, wanton addicts who buy items compulsively, this is most often not the case. As it is, I have never bought things desperately and on impulse, even when I had more money to spare than I do now. And yet, even after a small shopping trip yielding a few choice pieces that I loved, I would sometimes feel guilty. Not because I had spent a lot, but because of what I had spent it on. Clothes, shoes - again, those 'needless' items. What would people think of me? They would see me as selfish and transparent, with only a care for my appearance. It is not unusual for anyone to perceive someone interested in fashion as an airheaded dolt, unable to voice any opinion that stretches away from the contents of Vogue.
Even the most respected elders within the fashion industry itself are often written off by the general public, their intelligence undermined by the fact that they dedicate themselves to aesthetics. Models are seen as idiotic and without a brain cell. This irks me most, because a model's job is greatly underestimated. It is easy for someone on the outside to accuse the model of sitting there doing nothing whilst the photographer snaps away. This is bullshit. My last big shoot was a five-hour deal (which is a short amount of time in context) in which I assisted on the wardrobe styling. I carted a suitcase and a Mary-Poppins bag of tricks and costumes on a two-hour journey to the studio, discussed the theme of the shoot, got into makeup and got started. Admittedly, some models just turn up and get clicked at, but it is infinitely more tiring than you could ever imagine, and requires more than a modicum of creativity.
Designers are regularly shunned by those who don't care, the names unknown to most unless they are truly, truly famous. The common shopper wonders why they should bother to learn who these folks are, and shrug off their achievements like they mean nothing. Of course the fashion industry is perpetually OTT and takes itself too seriously, but it is a business, and a lucrative one at that. The dismissal of these trends that apparently have no effect on one's personal style is naive. As Meryl Streep's character in Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly, put it so eloquently:
This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.
I for one am tired of feeling wicked for wanting a pair of shoes every now and again, in the spirit of healthy indulgence. Is fashion merely a girl thing? Of course not, but I do have a feeling it is something men will never quite understand.