SHOPPING RESPONSIBLY IN LOCKDOWN - CAN IT BE DONE?

Before the world fell into pandemonium, I had made the promise to myself to shop less and to shop more responsibly. With the circumstances that we have all found ourselves in, this choice has largely been removed, as job security and financial uncertainty has resulted in a reconsideration of priorities. 

Not to mention the fact that a large proportion of people are WFH so the need to get dressed, let alone dress up, has been reconfigured into something of a novelty, as opposed to a necessity. Buying new anything just isn’t that important. Plus the casual shopping experience has been periodically removed. No more wandering around the high street, buying based on fancy and whim. The tactility of shopping a memory as opposed to a reality. 

Of course the cathartic experience of shopping has not altogether been extinguished. Rather we scroll, not stroll now. However, this has meant that shopping is a predominantly solo undertaking. The opinions of others negated as the conversations around fashion have become soliloquised. The allure of free returns encouraging purchases regardless of how suitable or strictly necessary the item may be, it being all too easy to order en mass and deal with the consequences in 28 days time.

Though shopping has long been a pastime of weekend amblers, moseying about the high street in between lunch dates and coffee stops, (even those with a strict shopping list weren’t impervious to ‘just popping in’) and now with social activities condensed to a walk around the block, online perusing has become an easy means of killing time. The 24 hour availability (unlimited by opening hours) invites emotional purchases - being more likely to buy during times of great stress or late at night when tired and rationale lessened - therefore leading to unnecessary purchases. 

Shopping for me has therefore changed. This time away from my usual routine of weekend perusal of the high street, has resulted in far fewer purchases. I have never been one for internet shopping so this is a phenomena that I have had to learn. 

Many purchases remain forgotten in my shopping cart, as the act of standing in a physical line in a store speaks to a commitment to buy, whereas an online shopping basket allows for indecisiveness and thus abandoned items. Which isn’t a bad thing and has saved many a questionable purchase (do I really need light up cork screws??) 

The items that I have purchased, however, are far fewer than any other year previous and thus, far more memorable. Purchases were generally carefully considered, the impulse had been removed and replaced by a wont to invest both in quality and in items long sought after. 

Cashmere over polyester, vintage leather over plastic, designer over Topshop. All bought secondhand, meaning that despite the superior quality, financially, items were often cheaper than their high street counterparts. And although shopping online is not completely without consequence to the environment, shopping predominantly secondhand allows for responsible consumerism.

As uncertainty swells and lulls and then swells again, I take comfort in the search and acquisition of items through secondhand retailers (eBay & Vestiaire Collective being particular favourites). Perhaps it’s just a means of distraction (don’t we all need those right now?), maybe it’s just my way of reconciling my love of fashion with the in-built environmental impact of this industry? 

Regardless, streamlining my purchases has not only decluttered my life physically, but also mentally as the ethical baggage inherent to shopping has been alleviated somewhat. The priority being not necessarily to veto shopping altogether, but to shop better and therefore shop responsibly. Shopping secondhand allows this and as fashion is a cycle of rediscovery, many items are as trend-less as they are trendy. 

So as my fashion purchases lessen, my commitment to shopping secondhand grows. Here’s to ending the year on a high, with my clothing purchases on a low!

(Photos via: theurbanlist.com, vogue.com & vogue.fr)

UNLIKELY ICONS: BUFFY’S BAD GIRLS

Spending as much time at home as this year has largely mandated, has meant a reversion to past comforts, namely in the form of my viewing choices. Having embraced the Disney+ phenomena of early lockdown, I decided to immerse myself further in nostalgia and revisit a particular favourite of my teenage-hood, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.

Expounding upon the fashions of Buffy is hardly groundbreaking (myself having already written about it some years previous). However, in this instance it is the secondary characters that piqued my interest. 

They offer another branch of 90s fashion not typified by Buffy’s usual aesthetic. Buffy is the slayer, the saviour, sugar and spice with a stake as accessory. These, are the bad girls; villainous and their wears representative of that alternative perspective. Their looks are exciting and unexpected, with their sexiness reinforcing both their unattainability and their super human other worldliness (could you high kick in leather?) 

Faith

Faith cavorted on to our screens, with stories of wrestling in the nude and a lust for the kill. The antithesis of Buffy, riling against the cutesy twin-sets and ditsy floral midis, favouring forwardness over modesty. Faith’s rough edges as exposed as the barbed wire tattoo etched on to her skin. Her clothing a play between sexy and tough through a choice of perennially tight fitting leather trousers and muscle tanks. 

Faith’s introductory outfit (multi-coloured leather trousers and vest with matching detachable sleeves a la Calvin Klein) epitomises what was to become her choice aesthetic throughout the series. 

Even her rare, more reserved looks, were done so with sheer layers, more than just alluding to her super-human physique beneath. She works out in denim cut offs, patrols in boots not unlike those worn by every influencer the world over and dramatically vacated the show in an orange and white tie-dye top, reminiscent of the psychedelic swirls that have made up much of 2020 thus far. Faith: troubled, trailblazer, trendsetter.

Harmony

Harmony began as Cordelia’s clone/frenemy with her wears mimicking this dense characterisation. She did not begin as a whole, rather she was a representation of high school ‘mean girl’ and ironically only became substantiated as a complete character once she had died. And so she rose in a waft of bubblegum and puff of sparkle to become Buffy’s farcical nemesis.

Despite her rather morbid pastime, Harmony’s outfits disrupt the villain archetype. She eschews dark colours that would allude too closely to her true nature. Adopting instead a sunshine aesthetic (golden hair, luminous skin); an ironic and unexpected connotation  considering the fatal consequences daylight has to a vampire’s physiology. 

Harmony is a seductress, the allure of danger played out in her contradictions: protruding teeth peeking out amongst her feather boa, bold colours set against her chalky parlour, slinky fabrics illuminated by the moonlight. Barbie personified, frequenting graveyards and thus creating quite the incongruous visual. Her red lips the rare signifier of her innate danger, perfectly coordinating the imminent spill of blood.  

Glory

And lastly, the demi-god, Glory. A raging maniac clothed in the fashionings of a teenager. Glory’s looks have the dual purpose of differentiating her from the human she cohabits and cultivating a look of stereotypical beauty, because a leggy blonde couldn’t possibly be evil, right? Glory’s ready for dinner at 6pm and end of the world at 9pm.

Dressed as the poster girl for 90s fashion, Glory’s clothes are a facade used to establish an image of hyper-femininity and thus unthreatening, helplessness - an appearance at complete odds with her sociopathy. Yet despite her undeniable evil, her clothing is unquestionably good.

The shift dresses, slip dresses and midi dresses, enviable in their chic timelessness. As much as you’re frightened of her, you also want to be her (or at least dress like her). Leaving your brain as scrambled as if she’d drained your mental energy (her favoured party trick). This havoc wreaked all while dressed in varying shades of vivid crimson, pillar box, ruby and scarlet red. A colour provoking passionate emotions that have the propensity for destruction - the very definition of Glory. 

Though fashion doesn’t negate their murderous, megalomaniac tendencies, their wears are too good to be eclipsed by them being bad. Though these girls have dubious motives for many of their actions, their refusal to abide by any rules translates to their bold clothing choices; risk-filled characters adopting risqué wears (ever back flipped in an unsupportive camisole bra-less? - risky). 

Their aesthetic in the midst of the worlds end (though usually brought about by themselves) is eerily inspirational in amidst the current climate, when getting dressed (let alone dressing up) seems like a great feat. So may we all live in Faith and Harmony and experience Glory. And more importantly, may we all adopt their fashion prowess (minus the rotten to the core evil). 

(Photos via: bustle.com, screen rant.com, buffyverse.com and @buffythestyleslayer)