Honestly, what pushes us to buy unnecessary things? From gadgets and gizmos to luxurious fashion pieces. Vanity? Insecurity? Whatever the reason, we do it even though some of us just can’t technically afford it. According to Lucy Siegle ‘The average woman now has 22 garments hanging in her wardrobe that she has never worn and is expected to spend £133,640 in her lifetime on looking good. The average woman now buys half her body weight – 62lb – in clothing in just one single year, according to new research. It means women have four times as many clothes in their wardrobe than they did in 1980.”

With a little fact under our noses, I guess it just proves that we really can’t help ourselves. We can’t help seeing something we like and just buying it for the sake of it. The moment we step into that shop, we are entering the world of hyper‐reality. The reality in which you yourself want to make. It is a state of thinking, which is based on a life between the normal and virtual, which is then defined as some kind of enhanced or altered state of reality. It kills me because I know my rights from wrongs and I know what should be my priorities in life… exactly… ‘should’. Yet, I still remain in wanting these luxurious items that I seriously don’t need and it becomes a very strong love hate relationship.

Do we have an obsession?

I actually think back and… no, nothing, nada. No explanation what so ever apart from the fact that I just wanted it. I wanted that bag so much; I wanted that perfume that I have worn once; I wanted that Versace dress that I still have yet to wear somewhere. I feel like drowning my sorrows and…. Going… to do some… retail therapy!!!! Arghhh. It is a never‐ending cycle. Me ranting about this isn’t going to solve anything, or even change the way I feel on payday but I just want to at least have some pleasure of hearing some scientific defence towards my distress for this. I just want some answer to why!? I guess it is that we live in a world dominated by simulated experiences and feelings. Hyperreality has manifested itself in contemporary society in so many ways and the truth is… there is no way of escaping it.

I sound so materialistic right now, and I know that I am more than that. It’s like a disease. Empowers me even when I don’t want it to. But you know, you do it too. You buy that one thing that you seriously don’t need. It’s not even wanting. Wanting is a different scenario. Wanting is being able to let go. Leave it on the shelf for somebody else. But needing is different. Needing over something necessary is, well it’s juxtaposition. They just have to go hand in hand, side by side. I believe that there is no answer. We are all just living in a superficial joke. And we love it. It makes us feel good so who cares. Who cares that we struggle to find rent money after buying a pair of magnificent McQueen shoes? Who cares that we shall most likely starve for the next three weeks just to walk down the high street with our newly beloved handbag? No one. Only ourselves know what we have done and only ourselves have to suffer for being so superficial. As long as it makes us feel good at that moment in time does every other problem seem to be so miniscule. So what do you think? What’s it going to be for you tomorrow? That Balenciaga bag or money towards your first house in 2 years time? …

Cathy Clavero-Prescott

Illustration by Johoro