As you guys might know, I have always been a lover of fashion and beauty. Back in my youth (oh, the days!) I would flick through glossy magazines, entranced by make-up products and captivating photoshoots. As a teen, you are influenced largely by your peers and the media; although I am still often reminded through social media of the amount of people that seemingly have it all, getting to my age allows for a more carefree attitude (and one too many existential crises.) I find myself critiquing society but how can I find a way to acknowledge the fucked-upness of capitalism and still enjoy the thrill of dolling myself up and waiting for my ASOS order to arrive? I don't know if I have the answer but either way my pondering led me to discovering minimalism - in the wardrobe and as a way of life. Another thing about being this age is that my style has changed tremendously and being short with a baby face has made me want to dress in a more sophisticated, elegant and simplistic way. I've discovered I no longer have the passion for deciding what I want to look like each day - I care more about what my day consists of. After a lot of Pinterest browsing and online research I came across a documentary called Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. It's currently on Netflix and is definitely worth a watch; whether it's how you live, what you buy or what you wear, minimalism can actually make a huge difference to your life.
I was under the impression that minimalism was all about simplicity - as I started off looking at it from a fashion perspective, I found a lot of people online talking about 'capsule wardrobes', which essentially means owning a few select pieces that are versatile enough to create many outfits. People with capsule wardrobes buy less but each piece is of very good quality, as you would expect. However, watching this documentary I realised that minimalism isn't just about simplicity but also about feeling content with the few things that you do own. A couple of people who live in tiny houses are interviewed and even though they are in some ways restricted, in other ways they actually feel more free. I suppose the less you have, the less you have to worry about, right? The documentary talks a lot about consumerism and especially what it's doing to children. Our society thrives off us as 'consumers'. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable and indignant at the fact that I can be merely described as a 'consumer'. Like...that just sounds as if I'm a robot with no personality whatsoever, mindlessly blowing my money on things that I think I need! Hell to the no. The documentary made me reevaluate how I live my life and how subconsciously we endorse the aforementioned behaviour. Of course, being socially aware comes with many difficulties as the more you know, the sadder you become because you realise how hard it can be to escape societal norms. Obviously I can't resist buying anything at all because I would be majorly restricting myself. However, I can become more aware about what I spend my money on and where my money goes. In other words, ya girl got's to stay woke. I encourage everybody to stay woke (that applies to every aspect of life, not just life as a consumer.) Anyway, I still am very interested in the minimalist wardrobe and recently I have been chucking away clothes and junk in my room like there's no tomorrow. The clothes that I do keep I know I wear a lot and serve multiple purposes. I just cringe to think about the amount of times in the past I have bought so much shit that I...never used. And although people say it is good to be spontaneous sometimes, a little self-questioning won't go amiss. You've got to really ask yourself whether you need something because hey, that little bit of money could go towards something a little more meaningful or practical. I say all this now right before placing an ASOS order but hey, the way I see it is replacing unused stuff with stuff that I will hopefully use for many years is nothing but progressive...haha. It's not for everyone but one thing I can tell you for sure is that having less stuff or thinking about stuff less actually allows you more time for doing things and focusing on the day ahead. All in all, it's what we're doing that actually counts. Appearances schmearances! This is ridiculously cliché but it really is what's on the inside that counts. What are your thoughts on minimalism?