I’m a very visual person. This is extended to the clothes I wear. A lot of time I am either wearing clothes that people end up wanting or I am talking about clothes that you might end up wanting.
One way or another if I am on screen, on stage, or even in the queue for self-checkouts in Sainsbury’s most days I influence someone into wanting the clothes on my back.
I have definitely been thinking about my own consumption, but also the consumption I cause in the people who engage with my content either passively or actively. I don’t ever want you to feel the pressure that you have to purchase to keep up with the way social media presents influencers' lives. Or that your clothes aren’t as good as things you may see on somebody like me.
At its core social media used to be about sharing our lives, and now it definitely feels like online shopping. Just today I have already seen seven adverts for things that have made me stop and look.
I watched a TikTok about a woman who takes items to the bin aisle in shops. What she does is take items like vases trinket boxes, or decor items - things that catch our eye in shops - and place them next to the aisle with the bins you can purchase. The context means that you’re not seeing it amongst other nice things, you’re just seeing it amongst bins. It helps you gain clarity. You can work out if an item is special and worth buying, or not!
This brings me to a way where I consider what clothes shoes accessories I bring into my wardrobe. It’s so easy to see something online, perfectly merchandised with great shiny pictures, or on models in an Instagram advert, or you see that something like selling fast or five people have it in their basket - and immediately it makes you want to impulse purchase. I feel like this a lot.
I never leave tabs open with things like this, and I hide adverts I see, because inevitably you drift back to it. If I like the item - today I saw a pair of Camper shoes - I copy the link down and put it in a notes folder on my phone and I leave it for a week or two. Then I come back to it, and see how I feel about it.
Sometimes I still like the items, sometimes they’ve sold out, and sometimes I struggle to remember why I ever liked it in the first place. Using my notes folder in this way has helped me to be more considerate in my consumption. It is the context I need to help me get out of the purchase trap social media has created.
If you are considering how you consume and purchase items - I highly recommend you give items context that help you see the wood for the trees!
