The Prejudice I Used To Hold Against Fashion: “I can’t afford to be fashionable, so why bother trying?”
What the old Kate would have said to defend this view: Celebrities are shown in magazines with £400 shoes and £1000 handbags, and there’s no way in hell I can ever afford that, or justify paying that much even if I could afford it. Even for cheaper items, styles change every season, and it still all adds up.
What I didn’t know at the time: Style is not about trends. Style is not about designer items. Style is about an expression of yourself that you wear on your body, and whether you never wear the same dress twice or whether you wear the same clothes every day — it is style if it suits you, and if it (in your opinion) looks good, if it makes you feel good, and if you enjoy getting dressed in the morning.
I’m not going to pretend that style doesn’t cost money, to some extent. If you’re worrying about where your next meal is coming from, or whether you can pay rent next month, buying accessories (even cheap ones) is unlikely to be your top priority. Obviously.
But it doesn’t cost as much money as I used to expect. It can cost as much money as you’re willing to spend, true. But if you can afford to have enough clothes to wear clean clothes between washes, you can financially afford to dress in a way that makes you feel wonderful — purely by making sure that all the items in your wardrobe (which, after all, you have to buy anyway, or go naked) make you feel wonderful. You can change your look just by learning to mix and layer your items in unexpected and exciting ways.
I’m lucky enough to have a little bit of disposable income and not be worried about whether I’ll still have a roof over my head next month: I am aware that I am in a privileged position. But I am still a student, still living on loans. I am definitely not ‘footballer’s wife’ rich, or even ‘yuppie’ rich. I buy a lot of second hand items. I am always grateful for hand-me-ups from my little sister. Many of the pieces of jewellery I own were my mother’s or grandmother’s. I love sales. Fashion costs me money, but it doesn’t cost me hundreds of pounds I don’t have — if it did, I would just say ‘fuck it!’
What changed my mind: Playing dress-up in my room with my existing items. Boggling at the possibilities of how my clothes could be worn, even if I wouldn’t dare wear the combination out of the house. Putting wrapping ribbon in my hair. Scouring charity shops for secondhand finds. Inheriting properly vintage jewellery.
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This is so true. I hate it when magazines do spreads on “affordable” styles where each item costs $100. It’s so possible to create a personal sense of style on a budget. In some ways, I think that makes it more authentic. People who can afford to buy the exact outfit from a magazine spread aren’t often using as much creativity as someone who has to make thrift-store finds work together. The main thing is to just only buy things that you love, to save up for big items, and to have fun with what you wear.