Tiny thought: Buying vs spending
I had breakfast this morning with Guillame Henry, who is the extremely vibrant French creative director of the brand Patou (see: pink feather pants).
We were talking about work and career trajectories and the steps we take that add up to define these trajectories and within an anecdote he was sharing, he made a distinction between the kind of people who shop to spend money and the kind who shop to buy. It really struck me. I knew exactly what he meant: the former does it as a sort of errand to check off their to-do list, so they don’t have to think about it again or even think about it in that moment. Or they do it because they think they’re supposed to or because they can or because they don’t know what else to do — because they’re bored or whatever and whatever.
Which is fine, we all are where we are, I’ve been there and sometimes I am there. But in any such way, the behavior is not driven by a straightforward desire of theirs. The latter kind of people — the buyers (maybe we need a better term?) — shop because of some emotional pursuit. Because whether they see it or not, the thing has helped bring something nice out in them. Maybe they save up to buy it to wear it someplace they don’t want to forget or because they want to, literally, materialize the feeling it gave them. Maybe it’s neither of these things that provoke them but there is something intentional, even wholesome about it.
It’s easy to get caught up in emotional buying. It might start out wholesome but over time lose integrity. I think this is what happens when intentionality gets lost. When you forget that the means is not an end. The end being that clothes can’t make you any more: confident, loving, smart, interesting — insert any adjective you wish to embody here — but they can sure help pull whatever’s inside of you out a little bit further.
Idk, I just loved the distinction. We’re probably all, in some ways, both kinds of shoppers and it would be good to figure out when. Would probably save us (or maybe just me!) from lots of dollars foolishly spent, crossed wires, things without reason or…reason without thing?, etc etc.
Meanwhile, I’ve been wearing lots of fitted t-shirts lately. I leave them untucked over jeans. For wtvr reason, this tiny cue seems…alive.
Hope you’re having a good Monday,
Leandra
This post really struck a chord and a nerve. I am both more often than I'd like to admit. As old as I am, I wonder why I still think a fancy blouse will be a salve for some wound or ache.
I really like this distinction. I’m most certainly both types, as most of us I guess, but the most important is to be aware of it when you buy an item! Otherwise what’s even the point of buying something? To me, when you stop being aware of the why you’re purchasing items, the fact that it becomes literally meaningless means that you should pause and take some time to reflect and address what’s missing/unfulfilling in your everyday life