Vivienne Westwood has got a point: “People must stop buying and buying”

via Telegraph.co.uk

Vivienne Westwood. I love her! Not just because she is still so sassy and provocative and sexy at age 66 years young, but also because – and this is so totally counter-intuitive to anyone who is in the high consumerist world of fashion – she has the courage to say what’s right and what, incidentally, has been on my mind for some time.

“Dame Vivienne Westwood thinks we should all stop shopping for clothes. “If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season,” she says in that softly bossy northern accent of hers. “I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy – nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.”

In Britain, we’re spending £38.4 billion a year on clothes. Pushing ourselves into debt and chucking our cast-offs into landfill, we’d be hard pushed to demonstrate that, as a result of this spending, we look any better”.

I think that our grandparents had it right: you have a few precious pieces of clothing and accessories that you cherish and wear and wear and wear. Not a closet full of “worn once” pieces that will be cast aside in 6 months. We’ve fallen victim to trends. And, have you noticed, trends are now changing faster and faster. Those truly hooked on trends can barely keep up. Certainly their salary-to-fashion-expense ratio must feature a negative number. It’s only to the benefit of the fashion conglomerates to spin trends as quickly as possible.

I’m not buying it. And, BTW, trend is not style. How can one find their own style when you have to shift gears and try on a new trend every 3 to 6 months.