Carnaby St. (where all shots this week were taken) recently erected a giant whale & other sea life made out of recycled parts to show they’re really concerned with the environmental impact of the fashion industry, These assorted creatures hovered directly above the outlets of the companies that are directly responsible for the problem in first place. And not at any point did anyone who worked on this project think that maybe this was a conflicting message to the consumers below: Be aware of the destruction caused by fast fashion, but still continue to buy it from our shops.
By tomorrow I would have completed one year without buying any new clothes. I signed up to the ‘no new for 52’ XR boycott fashion pledge and have stuck to it. Not looking for pat on back as it really wasn’t that hard as mostly buy previously owned anyway and rarely have spondoolies to spare so did not find it too much of a hardship. Did my consumerist abstinence make a shit of a difference to anything? Of course not but I wanted to see first hand if it was possible to live a life without unnecessary consumerism.
My conclusion is, not only is it possible, it is actually more enjoyable. The longer it went on the easier it got. And then I extended it to everything else that I didn’t really need and in the last 12 months have only bought consumables, work related items or replaced something that was broke. And that’s about it.
I now think I can maybe get to death without buying any new clothes (bar mebbe some undies n socks) so now I just mooch about looking at things and not buying them. This is, in fact, quite joyful and better than actual shopping as you no longer have to suffer the dilemma of whether you should purchase something or not. You also then don’t feel flat and unsatisfied when that very fleeting sensation of pleasure from retail therapy subsides and you are left with a hole that still hasn’t been filled.
I have also saved a ton fuck of money as you can imagine. So it’s a proper win win and that’s before you even take into account that if, as a unified species, not just as isolated individuals, we drastically reduced our consumption and production of crap we don’t actually need we might just be able to get ourselves out of this dire situation we have created.
I recommend trying it as you will soon see there is a life to be had that doesn’t involve just buying stuff, despite what they tell us. Just don’t think of it as denying yourself, think of it as liberation.
Ok, just wanted to say that, now I’m going back under my rock. Goodbye…
When I was a kid I wanted nothing more than to travel into the future and with 2020 looming I realise I actually achieved my dream, I just did it the long way round, in real time. The future doesn’t look quite as shiny and as optimistic as we maybe imagined back then but it is definitely here, as am I.
What we do now will dictate what kind of actual future we will have but we must act now… doing nothing will not maintain the status quo. Doing nothing will propel us forwards towards a future none of us want to be in…
All shots this week taken on Berwick Street in Soho. There is very little of old Soho left and yet still the last remnants are still being dismantled, removed and built over. The only smidgen of a glimpse of its former sleazy and seductive past are boardings (see shot below) which cover building work designed to eradicate it, oh the twisted irony.
I am done mourning the past version of this city. My grief has reached a level of acceptance which means I can exist in this new version and no longer lament the past. This is not because I am happy with the transformation. I find new Soho boring by comparison to its previous counterpart but because to stay locked to a former incarnation of the world around us is not healthy.
We must live in the now. We must be fluid with change and not be constantly looking backwards, hoping a world we grew up in and are familiar with will return. It won’t.
If you keep your gaze on what has gone you will fail to see what is front of you. Recently I caught myself saying ‘in my day’ when referring to the past but I realised that I am here right now, today is ‘my day’ as is every day I live on this planet. To identify with a previous period rather than the one you are in means you become a fixed moment in time. A full stop.
Maybe we feel the era we were raised in shaped us and defines us but we are as much a part of now as we were a part of then, if we want to be. If we engage. If we stop ourselves from being rooted in an ex-existence. We did those years, we lived them, they happened, do we need to keep living them? Why continue to dwell on previous experiences when you can continuously have new ones? If your focus is on another time, you will most definitely not be entirely present in this one…
