A Lesson in Fashion from the French

Three years ago I would walk through my local shopping centre in earnest, disappointed that I was not able to afford the plethora of new season garments on display. Today, I walk through the same centre and am not compelled to spend a cent.

As I wander through the racks of clothing, I don’t feel a sense of unbridled desire, in fact I am disappointed. I am disappointed in my fellow shoppers and their acceptance in buying inferior goods. Disappointed in the stores for making the most of the shopper’s state of mind, and choosing to stock only cheap and low quality products, and disappointed that the cycle of spending money on low-quality and mass-produced items is simply gaining momentum.
I am sure that it is confusing at first but perhaps we can turn to the French to clear up this conundrum. A girl, 21 years of age and a full-time student swans along the Champs-Élysées with her designer (and quite obviously expensive) handbag. Tourists are sceptical of how someone in her position can afford such a piece, but the girl continues to her destination with self-assuredness that the designer bag is her own and she bought it with her own money. You see, she, unlike many westerners, is not a victim of fast fashion. Sure, she may cave on the odd occasion and buy into a trend once in a while (she is only human after all) but that handbag is her prize for the amount of patience she displayed as she saved for the bag. The same and only bag that she has been carrying for two years, and professionally cleans because she knows it will last her a lifetime. You can bet that her wardrobe is not filled with designer rip offs and cheap PVC leather bags either.
And herein lies the problem, unlike the French and the rest of Europe, us Western shoppers have lost our patience, and the stores know this all too well as they happily to provide us with the cheap quick fixes that we desire.

You may be asking how my view of fashion did a complete 180. It was not a case of waking up one morning and becoming aware of the issue, it came about slowly. At first I would wonder why, on some blouses, the price tag can be anywhere from $8 to over $300. At first I was outraged, who honestly thinks they can sell a blouse for THAT much when I can get one for less than a sandwich? I began to question why some shirts were so expensive compared to my cheap, mass-produced blouse. Around the same time I was wondering why my $8 top would look great, that is until I washed it for the third time, and it would fall apart/discolour/stretch/shrink? One day after some deep thinking and extensive research, I found the answer.

 In our quest to have the latest items as soon as possible, we are happy to overlook the quality of a product.

This means, that unlike our Grandmothers, we don’t check our labels or the quality of the seams, we don’t care to see where the garment was made or what materials were used. How is it that in a world so focused on the importance of education, we have become such stupid shoppers?
Not only has this mentality affected our ability to tell the quality of a piece, but it also seems perfectly acceptable to purchase things that don’t fit properly. The line, “yeah, I know it’s too small, but it was half price, I couldn’t resist” is one of many excuses I have heard from people attempting to justify their spending. Pause and think on this for a moment, we are spending our money on clothes that do not fit us!

I thought it was time the cheap-fashion industry got a wakeup call.
I am aware that I, a lowly University student in Canberra (not exactly considered fashion capital of the world) cannot change the masses’ way of thinking when it comes to spending money on fashion, I am, however, able to change my own habits. I have decided to live by one mantra when shopping, quality over quantity. In other words I am building a smaller wardrobe with better quality pieces.
Consider again the case of the French student; if I were to add up all of the handbags I have purchased in the past, there is no doubt that I could have spent that money on a far better quality bag. The worst part of doing that little calculation was that none of the handbags I have previously purchased are still in a useable condition. I don’t know about you but I see that as wasted money.
So now, I no longer look at an item based purely on its cost, instead I now figure out the cost per wear. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that a $400 coat worn 100 times is better value than a $40 coat worn twice before it loses its colour/stretches out of shape/the buttons fall off… you get my drift.
Not only would adopting this method of shopping allow us to fall back in love with our clothes and enjoy more than a three-wash relationship with them, (and not to mention that warm-glowy feeling you will get from knowing that you aren’t contributing to all of the environmental and ethical issues associated with cheap fashion), but by stepping away from the mass-produced cycle, you are contributing to individualism, something that I feel has been lost somewhere among the racks of identical clothing.

So perhaps next time you find yourself unhappy due to your lack of shopping funds, consider skipping the plastic-leather designer rip off, and start saving for that vintage Chanel you have always wanted.
Because the truth is that a girl on a budget cannot afford to buy cheap clothes.

 

 

NB: please note that I am not saying that all designer clothes are better quality, the simple fact of the matter is, more often than not, they are better made than their chain store counterparts, but it is always a good idea to check the label first. {Image via Pinterest}