Clothing has become a means to develop our status on the rung to success. The need to purchase brand-name clothing ranks high on our priority list. Thousands of dollars are spent by individuals trying to keep pace with the upward moving trendsetters. But is this desire to dress in the latest fashions worth the cost? In order to answer that question let us look back a few years.
The mother of twelve spent her time repairing worn clothing for her children during the depression. She magically changed a worn pair of her son’s pants into a skirt for her young daughter. The daughter was grateful for the new skirt.
The children in the depression-era families each had one set of clothes to wear to school all week long. All the students in the school were in the same boat so there was no competition to dress better. There was no expectation to buy anything new, let alone a brand-name fashion. When asked in later years how the family managed on such a meager income, the children laughed and said, “We had food to eat and clothes to wear, what else could we ask for?” Oh, how times have changed.
From designer gowns on the red carpet to designer jeans in high school, clothing has become an opportunity to make a statement instead of a means to cover ourselves. We become so eager to prove our fiscal solvency by the clothes that we wear that we overlook the becoming more honorable in our dealings with our fellowmen and stronger of character.
Did our depression-era predecessors lack anything of real value? They struggled to be sure, but they valued family and true friends, a lasting commodity in any generation. They knew how to work hard and appreciate what they had. Are brand-name clothes more valuable than these great assets?
The money saved in avoiding the fashion trap could be well spent in helping those less fortunate. How much good could we do if we change our attitudes about fashion? Let’s buy our clothes off the rack from a discount store, such as Ross or T.J.Maxx, and that will save us from the agony of “keeping up with the Joneses“. Our lives would be less hectic and more fulfilling.
The brand-name clothing that costs so much doesn’t last any longer than other clothing. It lacks any real value other than the name that we have arbitrarily placed a value on. Designer clothing is not always worth the money that we spend on it.
