‘A Bunch Of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy’. Or A Girl Who Is Stronger Than Me.

There is a certain danger that awaits you when you decide to study fashion.  No one ever warns you and it isn’t obvious until you are already knee-deep in your work.  It’s the kind of danger that you love to hate and hate to love.

Shopping.  That little sensation of retail therapy that you always joked about becomes a real issue because suddenly you spend your days learning about trends and styling, analyzing the new and the old designer collections, properly understanding the importance of not just a well constructed but fairly produced garment.  ALL WHILE ON STUDENT LOANS.  It’s torture.

Speaking from experience, living in New York City makes it difficult with its beautifully overwhelming flagship stores and hidden boutiques and vintage markets.  This is made more upsetting by the boom of delightfully easy-to-use e-commerce websites.  And then if you’re foolish enough to think going to Paris for a month will help at all, you’ll find yourself having a bit of a fashion meltdown.

So I was delighted when I came across this project by illustrator Sarah Lazarovic.  This creative (and talented) lady decided that she needed to put herself on a ‘shopping diet’ and banned herself from buying anything new in 2012.  Now, we have just only passed the halfway mark through the year but lovely Sarah has already been able to create a 40-page visual essay depicting images she drew of all the things she’s wanted to buy but did not.  It’s hard to say if I would find this as cathartic as Sarah did or rather just look at the images with huge regret about how much fun I would have wearing them, spending my days thinking ‘this outfit would be so much better if I had just treated myself to…’.

It really is one of the most adorable things I have ever read and not only rings true but helps to put things in perspective.  But I still could never give up shopping for a year.  Not a chance in hell.  You?

Read the entire essay here.

Tags: fashion drawings, fashion essay, illustrations, sarah lazarovic, shopping, shopping ban, shopping list, wardrobe