Amelia Draws

The ritual of dressing belongs to everyone on the planet, nearly every day of their lives and the clothes have a lot to say about this.

I’ve been scrolling some YouTube fashion content and I have seen quite a few videos of excited women with their hauls of shopping. Bag upon bag upon bags of clothes they have just bought. Most of it is stuffed with fast fashion that they hyperactively show to the camera.

Its a bit gross. The gluttony and excess. Even if the brands bought were of good quality it still reeks of thoughtless decadence. It is disposable fashion.

Which is why I feel a bit guilty when I bring home this giant bag of clothes from the op shop, because it still feels excessive. I still feel like a glutton.

Sure, the whole bagful only cost $4, that money goes to charity and it won’t be going straight to landfill, if ever. But, it still feels decadent.

Its not thoughtless decadence, I will give it that, I will spend hours and hours playing with these clothes. I will style them. I will reconfigure them with a pair of scizzors then I will wear them. And, like the other women probably show them off to the camera.

The point of wealth is to give you spare time. One of the privileges of that time, and of the money that supports it, is the freedom to play with all the fashion in the world.

If I had the wealth I would be soooooo decadent. I would swan about the house in glamorous silk dresses that make you feel you are wearing the breeze. I would shop for tonight’s bolognaise ingredients in cutting edge outfits designed by global contemporary designers.

I would have handmade leather shoes and tailored suits in every pastel colour. I would have pieces from Chanel. From Alexander McQueen. From Vivianne Westwood. And yes, I would probably buy too much.

Speaking of Vivianne Westwood, I had the privilege to be able to see an exhibit of her designs at Melbourne’s National Gallery recently. I fan girled my way through the whole thing. It wowed with contemporary attitudes despite pieces being over 50yrs old. It was bold and subversive. It bent ideas around gender, it challenged convention, the uniforms of power and it had the best hand stitch work I had seen in so long.

Gosh it was a balm, to see the fine perfectly straight and tensioned stitching across cuffs. To see expert pattern making. Fine tailoring. Silks and tartens and denims and tweeds. Fabric with weight draped by a skilled designer. The structure of the garmet always perfect.

Each outfit felt of the now, of this moment. Even though each piece was expertly sewn the outfits sung with a wonderful, reckless diy aesthetic. It sung with novelty and imagination.

These YouTube shoppers with their tower of shopping bags are addicted to novelty but they have stopped thinking about it with imagination. Stopped using their time to savour.