A post from a food influencer pissed me off the other day. The woman went on a rant about how she always has to buy everything wrapped in plastic because there’s simply no other way to buy cod fish spread and crackers. The commenters rallied. “It’s the worst.” “Ugh, I hate plastics but I can’t avoid it.” “Oh my, it’s so hard with the kids.”
“I’ll just recycle everything later”, the influencer concluded. Recycle the plastic wrap that your broccoli is covered in? The bag that your spicy peanuts come in? You can’t recycle that. It goes to the landfill, you ignorant uninformed Instagram preacher. I got so riled up that I unfollowed her instantly. Super rebellious, I know. Why do people with loads of followers think they need to talk about socially important issues even though they don’t know shit about them? Fashion influencers do it, too, and it just drains me. These people literally influence users to do or buy things. More than we think.
The result of posts like the aforementioned one is lost people who have no idea where to shop. In their heads, they better just give up because there’s no way to sustainably restock your closet for winter for little money if you want to avoid the high street. Erm, maybe unfollow that fucking bigot that keeps imposing their toxic habits on you and go outside to see what’s going on in the world for yourself? Anyway, even though I did start this newsletter so I could freely rant on, this is not how I want to continue today’s entry.
Today I want to tell you a story about my friend Damir. He recently went to a fashion show in a daring look consisting of a suit and a corset. The look left everyone speechless. “Who designed it”, people wanted to know. “Did you pay a lot of money for this jacket”, they asked. “The truth is”, Damir tells me in a text, “I paid 3 euros for the whole thing.” His suit was written off as factory deadstock so he got it for less than a euro, and the corset cost him 2 euros at a second-hand shop. “People are so unimaginative”, he goes on. “You just have to be yourself, give in to the aesthetic that genuinely attracts you, and not be scared.” His look wasn’t for everyone but that is the point of it being HIS look. He found that look in unconventional places. He put it together in an unconventional way. And he enjoyed it so much.
I feel like everyone has gone into herd mode. They turn to other people online, people who they do not know, to find out where to shop and how to dress. And they just go ahead and copy that. It’s so much easier to buy the whole look at a fast fashion store for little money than to actually have fun with your style. But hey, newsflash, it’s so much more fun to have fun with your style. Go see an exhibition, maybe you’ll stumble upon a mesmerizing painting that will remind you of an old printed blazer you forgot about at the bottom of your closet. Visit an arts and crafts show, imagine you’re a character on The Sopranos, pretend you live in a completely different city, go to the opera, wear those gloves.
There are so many unique ways to stay true to yourself, your style (AND your eating habits) - and still be sustainable. You should just get off social media every once in a while. See what’s going on in the world, what people around you are creating, not just what’s posted in their feed. Don’t be fucking lazy and tell me you don’t have a choice, okay?
❤️
MARCUSE „Treba razlikovati istinske od krivih potreba.“; „U razvijenoj industrijskoj civilizaciji prevladava ugodna, uhodana, razumna, demokratska nesloboda. To je znamen tehničkog progresa.“