WHY DO WE BUY WHAT WE BUY?

During this time, I have been thinking a lot, about a lot of things. Some mundane - what to have for dinner? did I remember to brush my teeth this morning? - some less so - how can I better myself? how can I lead a more fulfilling life? Some thoughts are fleeting, some are unshakable, some will probably make it on to this blog, some will remain lifelong conundrums to be worked out (or not) over time. 

One such thought arose pre-pandemic and has persisted throughout. As I have sought to take this time to reconsider what the important things are to me, coupled with my commitment to mindful shopping, I began to question my motives for shopping - why do I buy what I buy?  

Being able to purchase something is a luxury, especially when it is not a necessity. Making the purchase of something that we like and we think will make us look good is a strong incentive, because who doesn’t want to look good and ergo, feel good? The superficial is perhaps one of the most powerful reasonings for purchasing and over purchasing. Society has narrow ideals and the chosen clothing of the masses is one means of controlling, creating and manipulating a facade to fit this. Receiving positive attention for meeting these vigilant ‘rules’ is a buoy that we all cling to, an inner satisfaction stimulated by our outer appearance.

And this applies also to those who choose to outfit outside of the norm too. Continual buying based on trends, or in retaliation to them, is a conveyor that is difficult to extract oneself from, in part because it is subliminal - we don’t always know that we’re being nurtured in sameness or that we’re grappling to avoid it, both provide strong incentives to over consume in an effort to cultivate a carefully considered image.

Having clothing that outfits one for the purposes of life is a social mandate, for reasons of modesty and practical means of protection. Whilst we know that we need clothing, most people’s habitual shopping goes beyond this basic justification. As a collective, we don’t merely own the clothing necessary for our lives, that are worn and reworn until beyond repair and eventually replaced. Instead we collect clothing en masse. Even those who see clothing as solely functional as opposed to fashionable, generally have more clothing than is strictly necessary. 

As a means of restraining the more, more, more tendencies, there is the structure afforded by the much written about capsule wardrobe. In the days of Trinny & Susannah telling us ‘What Not to Wear’ and Gok Wan's 'How to Look Good Naked', the benefits of a pared back wardrobe were preached about almost as much as Gok asked to 'see your bangers'. Even today, 'Queer Eye’s' Tan France evangelises the increased fashion credibility sartorial streamlining affords one with minimal effort exerted. 

However, the idea of a check list of clothing is still open to interpretation. Buying a plain white t-shirt because you’ve been directed that ‘it will go with everything’ is a valid point, until purchased and put away with the five other plain white t-shirts already in your wardrobe. Suddenly the validity of this ‘logical’ reasoning is flawed. 

I once read that when Simon Cowell finds clothing that he likes, he buys in bulk. I guess explaining his perennially high waisted trousers. But his commitment evokes the adage, why fix something that ain’t broke? The allure of finding something that works and exhausting its limits is a temptation that is all too understandable. We are creatures of comfort and what is more comforting than familiarity? And of course the ease that sameness affords.

As long as we are committed to shopping, perhaps how and where we shop should be further probed. As a means of shopping more ethically, I have turned to thrifting, aiming to buy better quality in a bid to buy less. This led me to buying my first designer purchase, a Prada bag. However, after I purchased it, I realised that it's just a bag. The designer tag meant nothing to anyone else. It is only something appreciated by those who follow fashion and then again, is it really the kind of thing that should be appreciated? 

Is purchasing an expensive (though discounted) bag just a status symbol and thus a means of showing off? It’s function - ‘to carry’ - being something capable of much lesser priced items i.e a paper bag for example. Though not bought for recognisability, did I subconsciously buy it to make an impression in a wider sense? Is that why anybody buys something? This again leads back to the idea of the facade that we all create, adapting our image in relation and retaliation to the world we live in.

Ultimately, shopping and the reasons for it are multifaceted. It is a pastime, something done thoughtlessly, enacted to ease boredom, to fit in, as an undiagnosed compulsion, as a physical manifestation of wealth, all resultant from our culture of consumption. And despite the various reasonings I have put forward, I wonder if it is as simple as the buzz of owning something lusted after. In the words of Ariana Grande, 'I want it, I bought it'.

The ability to put money towards something non-essential, based purely on wont not necessity, is a luxury. And although I have focused on the purchase of clothing, this vantage can be widened to apply to most non-essential things in life. The release of dopamine is an addictive hit that surges after an item becomes our own and whilst materialism is undeniably problematic, without stopping shopping altogether (of all things, not just limited to clothing), perhaps the question should be, not why do we buy what we buy, but how can we shop better? And wouldn't you know, I have a lot of time to figure that out.

(Images via : @handinfire, Pinterest, harpersbazaar.com & Amlul.com)