Reconsider the Definition of Need

Lyrics- "Admit It" by Say Anything featured in image. Good song, I recommend checking it out.

Let me start this off by clarifying that I love shopping. I love clothes, I love make-up. One of my favorite activities to do with my girlfriends is to go out and come home with perfect little bag full of new treasures. I intend on doing future posts on fashion and beauty, and I follow a couple fashion blogs, it makes me happy.

Ok, now that that's out of the way; fashion is a fucked up world. What else is new right? (Pardon my French.) I did this piece after flipping through a Marie Claire and stumbled upon a page with an article titled "What You Need to DO, SEE, and TALK ABOUT". ...Excuse me? I know that the fashion giants love to tell us what we need to look like, but what we need to talk about? What we need to see and do? Why don't they just call the article "Feel like being Brainwashed?" 

What it comes down to is; fashion magazines are trying to convince people that material objects like a new shade of lipstick, the newest Jeffrey Campbells, or some old ripped up (but actually brand-spanking-new) band t-shirt will fill a void. Do you like Iron Maiden? Or do you just like the image of a rocker girl? Know yourself, and be true to it. Magazines are filled with articles on "How To get Men", in which the advice circles around what make-up to wear, and how to style yourself for a date. Lipstick will not get you love. 

Let's not even get into the weight thing. I think we all know the problem there.

Let us reconsider the definition of "need". We are all guilty of it; seeing that perfect sweater that may as well have been made just for you, and you say it. "I need that."

No we don't. We need to be warm in the winter, we need food, water, and clothes enough to cover our bodies. We need good relationships with other people, we need experiences that will expand our learning minds. We need to buy food and keep roofs over our heads. We do not need MAC's "Snob" lipstick. (Side note- why on earth would you name something "snob"? Are they actually trying to promote this character trait?) Continuing a habit of saying "I need that, I need this" becomes self-fulfilling. Maybe it started as just a way to express how much you want something, but pretty soon you start to feel an emptiness that needs filling. When something is out of price range, it becomes devastating.

You might confuse these opinions and think that I must not give into any of this. Not necessarily. I don't give in, but I do own Revlon's knock-off of "Snob", I like the color. My point is, make the decision yourself. Don't blindly accept that the people putting out these magazines and ads know what is best for you. No advertisement is working for you. Sift through the bullshit, and decide what you want for yourself. And know that you want it, I promise life will be just as good if you can't get the Louis Vuitton bag.

So I will continue shopping, and treating myself to make-up I don't need, and I'll participate in trends of the now, but not because I feel like I have to. I will do it because I want to, and because I am aware of the frivolity.

I will not let these faceless Prada-walkers tell me what to Do, See, and Talk About.