Sustainable Living: Thoughts On Consumerism As a Fashion Blogger

As you know from my recent posts on sustainable living, I’m pushing real hard to raise awareness on the impact our fashion and lifestyle choices has on our planet.

This got me to thinking about who I am as a fashion blogger.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I don’t post my outfits every single day. Heck, I barely post twice a week. And I have good reason so let me share with you my thoughts on why I don’t push the “buy this, buy that” message.

I do NOT consider myself a “shilling” or “shopping” blogger.

As much as I love fashion, I know I would not enjoy doing try-on sessions. That’s why I haven’t done any since the time SSD started. There, I said it. I’m not a fan of trying on clothes in the dressing room. To me, there is more to life than shopping day in and day out.

With that said, please know that I believe there is nothing wrong with those who love doing this. There are plenty of great bloggers who do it and do it well, especially with affordable price points. What bothers me is “bloggers” who blatantly do it for the money, have no sense of their own style, and buy everything. That type of consumerism, I have a problem with.

Quality over quantity has been my motto.

As someone who loves fashion, I LOVE luxury and high-end brands. To me, luxury style is better and so is the quality. The cuts and shape of high-end clothing and bags are works of art so splurging is worth it. Due to costs of luxury fashion, I just can’t buy clothes, shoes, and bags as often as a shopping blogger does…yet.

Caring for the environment is important to me.

Consciously, I do not feel right adding to landfills with things I bought on emotion or on sale. That’s why sustainable, eco-friendly, second-hand, and high-end fashion is important to me. Personally, I find the search for eco-friendly brands or hunting for pre-loved luxury items on my wishlist so thrilling! And it’s a fun game for me to play all the time!

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Over the years of watching bloggers grow their brands as well as beginning my own journey, I’ve noticed that landscapes are changing and changing rapidly.

Fashion is no longer fashion for the sake of being different.

I’ll keep this part short and sweet because I’ll explain more on this later. It’s all copies and clones. The need to fit in is resulting in everyone looking like one another and it’s getting out of hand. Uniqueness is no longer appreciated.

It’s harder for people to be themselves for fear of criticism.

While I believe there is a growing number of us who are starting to feel comfortable in our skin, I also believe there is a growing population of people, especially kids, who want to fit in…badly. Kids are no longer living out their childhood. They are skipping right over it. Instead, some are being used as money-makers while others are depressed, non-communicative or thinking of committing suicide due to peer and social media pressures. Whether you agree with me or not, perfectionism is being pushed on social media.

Our consumerism is so rampant that we’re not seeing the global impact. 

Our consumerism has increased so much so that Marie Kondo (have you seen her Netflix series?) has to step in and step up to help us realize that we have too much. Sadly, her movement isn’t going to stop the “race to the bottom” (learned this from my good friend, Bre! Thanks, girl!) that’s been happening since we could sell and trade.

Growing up, the way my mom made money was sewing. And sewing a lot. I even went to the factory where she worked after school to do homework while my brother and I waited for her to get off work. I’ve seen her old pay stubs and the working conditions. It wasn’t great and that was here in America in the 90s.

Today, I refuse to buy clothes made in Vietnam until I better understand the wages and working conditions. Fashion Revolution is a great resource I recently found to learn about this topic further. If you’re interested, feel free to read the 2019 Fashion Transparency Index and let me know your thoughts too.

I do not want to add to any of these changing landscapes with uneducated behaviors of consumerism.

My goal as a sustainable fashion blogger is to prove that you can be fashionable while taking care of our planet and inspiring others around you to succeed. 

You can have confidence inside and out. You can be a leader in whatever field brings you the most joy. And you can do it while giving back to this world and those around you.

In terms of consumerism, my focus is to help you become aware of your shopping habits as I learn and change mine. For example, in college, I used to buy something because it was on sale. And I definitely went shopping when I was mad or sad. I purchased a ton of things (especially clothes) based on emotion.

Today, I want my closet to be filled with memories. Whether it’s jewelry, shoes or a handbag, I want everything I own to be a positive memory or represent a milestone.

Truthfully, I believe changing the way at how I add to my closet will not just help my wallet, but help me make better decisions for our planet.

As a fashion blogger, I’m not sorry that I don’t share many “new” looks with you. If I was a fashion blogger during my college years, I’d share outfits everyday, probably twice a day with the clothes I had, ha!

As my life improves, so will my style, but I choose not to share as much right now as there are other important things I have to focus on like my health and finances.

However, what I will say is that there will be a Dior bag in the future because I got a promotion. A pair of diamond studs along with my wedding rings will be sitting in the jewelry dish on my dresser that’s from my husband. And you can bet that a pair of CHANEL shoes will be welcomed home from a trip I took to Paris.

That is how I will build my future closet and I cannot wait!

What are your thoughts on consumerism? What did you think of my thoughts coming from a fashion blogger’s perspective? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you!

Image via Tumblr (if this is your image, please let me know so I can credit you)