Sarah Wilson is an Australian media personality and journalist with an integrated voice across television, radio, magazines, newspapers and online. She’s the former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and host of MasterChef Australia, the highest rating show in Australian TV history. She’s now the host and program developer for the country’s newest channel Lifestyle YOU, and is Sunday Life magazine’s weekly columnist, writing about how to have a better life.
Sarah is an adept social commentator, following a career that’s spanned politics, health advocacy, restaurant reviewing, opinion writing and trend forecasting. Her area of expertise is the “new wellness” and how to make life a bit sweeter.
I read her latest column in today's edition of Sunday Life magazine, called "My case against shopping" and it spoke to me. Don't buy anything for a whole month? I like it. Have a read here, read the rest on her site, and follow her on http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/. You can also follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_sarahwilson_
This Week I Don’t Buy Style
Bless me father, for it has been nine weeks since my last resentful, unsatisfying and agitated jaunt to the gaudily adorned shrine that is my local shopping mall. Indeed, it’s been nine weeks since I’ve bought anything, apart from food, petrol and cotton buds.
While I’m confessing, I should point out this is not unusual for me. A while back I wrote in this magazine about going for 279 days without shopping for clothing. Not even knickers. I did a four-month stint more recently. I know this because my accountant called to tell me, somewhat perplexed. “So what do you actually wear?”
It’s not that I set out to make a point (although I do have a robust anti-consumerist streak). It’s more that as weekends roll around I “give myself permission” not to spend my Saturday looking for the perfect flat-heeled patent leather riding boot, propelled by the insane idea that said boots will lend gravitas to my identity. I give myself a leave pass from getting bogged down in making yet another bloody decision…under the high-pressure gaze of a commission-based sales assistant.
Which brings me to the contentious tenet of this week’s exploration: when you don’t shop, you have better style. Every no-shopping stint I invariably reach a point where I get bored of wearing the same grey marle poo-catchers and All Saints deconstructed hoodie every day. I start to whine that I have nothing to wear. The momentum To Shop builds. And then… I get a grip. Do I really need to make a trek to the mall? I mean, I have a double sliding-doored wardrobe of stuff I haven’t worn in years. And I’ve not chucked it out precisely because I envisaged one day I’d find a creative way to wear it.
And so I plunge, in and around to that awkward, Bermuda Triangle section in the middle of a sliding-doored wardrobe and drag out clothes I haven’t worn since lay-by was still a done thing. It’s always a rewarding experience – with fresh eyes that old tartan skirt or Thai silk matinee jacket looks new and exciting. I immediately see creative ways to wear them. I accessorise like Trinny and Susannah. I clash prints and mismatch textures. In effect, this necessitated plunge into the annals gets me stylin’.
Read the rest of this excellent piece here: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2010/09/sunday-life-my-case-against-shopping/#more-1214
Sarah is an adept social commentator, following a career that’s spanned politics, health advocacy, restaurant reviewing, opinion writing and trend forecasting. Her area of expertise is the “new wellness” and how to make life a bit sweeter.
I read her latest column in today's edition of Sunday Life magazine, called "My case against shopping" and it spoke to me. Don't buy anything for a whole month? I like it. Have a read here, read the rest on her site, and follow her on http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/. You can also follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_sarahwilson_
This Week I Don’t Buy Style
Bless me father, for it has been nine weeks since my last resentful, unsatisfying and agitated jaunt to the gaudily adorned shrine that is my local shopping mall. Indeed, it’s been nine weeks since I’ve bought anything, apart from food, petrol and cotton buds.
While I’m confessing, I should point out this is not unusual for me. A while back I wrote in this magazine about going for 279 days without shopping for clothing. Not even knickers. I did a four-month stint more recently. I know this because my accountant called to tell me, somewhat perplexed. “So what do you actually wear?”
It’s not that I set out to make a point (although I do have a robust anti-consumerist streak). It’s more that as weekends roll around I “give myself permission” not to spend my Saturday looking for the perfect flat-heeled patent leather riding boot, propelled by the insane idea that said boots will lend gravitas to my identity. I give myself a leave pass from getting bogged down in making yet another bloody decision…under the high-pressure gaze of a commission-based sales assistant.
Which brings me to the contentious tenet of this week’s exploration: when you don’t shop, you have better style. Every no-shopping stint I invariably reach a point where I get bored of wearing the same grey marle poo-catchers and All Saints deconstructed hoodie every day. I start to whine that I have nothing to wear. The momentum To Shop builds. And then… I get a grip. Do I really need to make a trek to the mall? I mean, I have a double sliding-doored wardrobe of stuff I haven’t worn in years. And I’ve not chucked it out precisely because I envisaged one day I’d find a creative way to wear it.
And so I plunge, in and around to that awkward, Bermuda Triangle section in the middle of a sliding-doored wardrobe and drag out clothes I haven’t worn since lay-by was still a done thing. It’s always a rewarding experience – with fresh eyes that old tartan skirt or Thai silk matinee jacket looks new and exciting. I immediately see creative ways to wear them. I accessorise like Trinny and Susannah. I clash prints and mismatch textures. In effect, this necessitated plunge into the annals gets me stylin’.
Read the rest of this excellent piece here: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2010/09/sunday-life-my-case-against-shopping/#more-1214
Thanks to Sarah for permission to reproduce this excerpt. Photos courtesy: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/
Thanks for the re-post Josie. xxx
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Sarah! I am taking up the Salvos challenge now... xx
ReplyDelete