ME-CONOMICS

ME- CONOMICS

[mass noun] (2) (Derogatory) The preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods. (The Oxford English Dictionary)

I was fourteen when I entered a new school. During a day of presentations, I remember a girl behind me whispering, “Can you see Lucia’s shoes? They are fake. Her family doesn’t have money to buy the original.” I thought that was pointless and cruel.

Moving from a small countryside city to one with 2 million people – and, of course, lots of shops – had a big impact on my life. Everything had a code, one that was not always obvious to me. Little by little I started observing and listening to what the most popular boys and girls were wearing and where they would go shopping. My budget would never reach all the demands, and I remember feeling frightened by window displays every time I entered the shopping centre. At the time, I failed terribly in shopping for the cool stuff but I am happy the friends that I made would never make any comment on that subject.

My first day at university, my new friends and I went shopping after class as it finished a bit earlier than expected. We were getting to know each other, picking out colours and shapes and patterns we liked and disliked. We were sharing a bit about who we were. Over time, shopping became more fun for me. I liked to spend that time with my friends wondering if the clothes we saw would make us feel confident and beautiful like they promised.

For me, those days of shopping were a social act, a way to get together with friends, to browse for something nobody would have that would express my attitude. There was a moment though where I got sick of it. I remember clearly one day when I looked at myself and I was miserable for not having something to wear. I got very angry.

I knew my feeling had nothing to do with my outfit. It was something else, but I was missing the chance to enjoy moments because of not having the ideal outfit. I couldn’t allow that, it was just too superficial. I decided I would try harder to make the best of the things I already had and work on that system of values because my current one was simply not working for me anymore. What happened next was one year without shopping, a year of rearranging my wardrobe and donating everything that could possibly make me feel sad.

Shopping is a very personal act involving the main resources we have: time, money and health. Yes, health. The emotional relief was great at the time, but nowadays I think shopping drains all my energy. Although I believe the fun and joy of shopping remains in building an impact on the way people will judge and understand you, sometimes it is just a self-indulgent act. It is still fascinating for me. We cannot deny our society has always communicated people’s roles through clothes and objects. Even those who don’t care are communicating that they don’t through that pair of old trashy jeans. Shopping has been a leisure and economic activity since ancient Greek marketplaces, crossing the Middle Ages and continuing to what we know today, whether we like it or not. It is present in everyone’s life. Who does not go shopping, right?