For most of us a “junktastic ideology” and a “product drunk culture” is not new and startling information. We all know our society is escalating out of control, sometimes it feels like preaching to the converted. But how converted are we? I know that I am guilty. I can still fall madly in love with a dress or a pair of shoes - inanimate things that should not have such power over me. I struggle to find ways to manage the clutter rather than downsizing it. I am selective in my efforts. What values am I espousing?
I turn my nose up at those that spend exorbitant amounts on labels for the enhancement of their cultural capital. No matter if your clothes are purchased at Holt or at Value Village we are all cultivating some sort of image when we dress in the mornings, no matter if you understand it or not what you put on speaks about your person. Just like the books you select to read, the films you chose to watch and the events you attend all weave together to form the image you wish to project.
It doesn’t matter if the things you chose to consume are highbrow or lowbrow you are still consuming- and that is what gets me.
Lately I find myself struggling with authenticity. I walk down the enlivened Commercial Drive which I have come to love for its chaotic communal atmosphere. I see a vibrant counter culture that celebrates an alternative and retro revival. I am not confident however that the mainstream fashion rejection is rooted in a vehement refusal of mainstream norms but rather that it is just another way to consume. The problem for me lies in the fact that the progressive lifestyle ideas are imbued with this fashion choice when in actuality the price tag on a vintage dress can be the equivalent of a new one. Somehow the alternative style has become intertwined with socially conscious humans and I think that this is a hugely flawed generalization. You would be hard pressed to find someone who will tell you that they buy vintage clothes because they are against the creation of more needless items – hence why Mintage sells both vintage and designer duds.
Am I the only one that finds it ironic that my street is called Commercial Drive? Just wondering?
The “Drive” is just a counter culture - a pretty good one at that, and hey we all must exist somewhere... but my problem is that we express ourselves by trashing mainstream culture; I know many of us are educated or in the process of becoming educated, socially aware, well-read and for the most part- financially overextended. What bothers me is the elitist views we take as though we have it all figured out and can chastise the rest of the world for their lifestyle choices. And yes, I know that I am the ringleader of the “I hate consumerism and mass culture Club”, so maybe this sour tang I find in my mouth is a result of my own inability to reconcile my beliefs and dislikes about our world knowing that it is not my place to judge.
Maybe I am just a hopeless hypocrite.
What I have always felt about consumerism is somewhat Orwellian, in that the Proles were distracted by the lottery, I feel like the masses are being duped by the needless pursuit of finery. I feel like instead of tackling the major problems in our world we are content to be distracted by material things and all I can say is thankfully we were born here because the other end of the spectrum is not faced with questions like dark or light denim but by much more meaningful and urgent things, like survival. Do we allow the system to continue because we are all waiting for our opportunity to ascend to the upper echelons -where we can exist in opulence or is it because we believe with the purchasing of one more hat or coat or plasma screen TV we will achieve contentment? When and how did we come to connect the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of objects?
I guess within my own community I don’t like to see people falling into the same traps that they use on the masses, I guess I just expect more from us. I guess I had assumed that us auspicious ones would take our positive circumstances and use them for the betterment of human kind rather than celebrating our own good fortune. I guess I was naive- and now, I’m just disheartened.
So...Havana’s anyone? Pitcher of sangria on the patio- we can criticise what everyone else is wearing. I will be the girl toting a classic and pivotal piece of literature, a bag displaying the buttons from the bands and social movements I currently support, in a dress I bought up the road. I will laugh and joke with my friends and complain about all the things that are wrong with the world -but don’t worry I won’t mention my own inaction, I won’t face my own demons.... they are so last season.
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