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What could be the first thought of luxury? High quality. Attention to detail. Luxury is ever changing, which makes it impossible to name one single ensemble, and call it the “ultimate” luxurious look. If anyone had to react immediately, they would say: but how about a beautifully renovated french castle or a vintage watch? Don’t you call them an “item”, which represents the mentioned above? I do. But even though the core of luxury will never change, the way we perceive it will. And it just did, quite recently.
Looking back a few years ago, it meant hoarding and buying everything shiny and glamorous. Why? Because if you want to live a quality life, you own a lot of things. With the growth of social media, purchases became higher and higher. People had access to new products, new ideas and new ways of life. This lead to the culture of influencers, which is another platform, where we can see “original luxury” dressed up as a necessity. And what do these people have in common? A lot of things. I mean, literally a lot of things. This model of consumer culture gave birth to the idea of being more when owning more. If we take the beauty industry, as an example, it is growing extremely fast because of social media. Which led beauty influencers to realise this: they can make much more money if they create a brand under their name. Usually, the number of these products is limited, and it creates anxiety. This means no one wants to miss out on the opportunity of getting the newest concealer or eyeshadow palette. But spending over our limits will become a problem. It is not sustainable, because most people can’t afford to spend the amount they do, because of the advertising culture.
So what can we do to make our lives more relaxed? Easy: sustainability. How? With brands, which produce sustainable clothing, accessories, household items, etc. In one way, it is a beautiful thought, because being economically conscious is a great idea since our environment suffers from overproduction. But there are flaws in the system. It does not create a less anxious environment. Sustainable companies are not cheap. Production is not cheap. Materials are not cheap. When a company wants to make something, which is ecologically conscious and also care for their employees, that will show on the price tag. Looking at these points, I hope I paved the way of explaining, why sustainability is the luxury of now.
Many people want to care for the environment, which makes them potential buyers. And it keeps the wheels rolling. Changing everything you own, to zero-waste products is not the answer either. By throwing out household items, because they were made a certain way, we are creating more waste. At this point, only 9% of plastic is recycled, which means, tossing out useful items, and replacing them with new, “conscious” ones will only add up to the problem. Yet we talk about sustainability. Production is becoming more sustainable, but the way we act, as consumers are not. How is it possible?Well, nobody wants to give up comfort. Most people connect these new ideas with minimal living or letting go of certain things we can enjoy in the 21st century. But there are smart designers, making beautiful, useful and harmless products. And they deserve attention, which can be easily given. A bit of time and effort can lead anyone to better solutions in their lives and help them make smart decisions. Ecosia (https://www.ecosia.org/) is a great website, works the same as Google, but with each search, you are helping them to plant trees. You can read how their system works on their website. Another tip could be if you follow hashtags on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/).
If we combine modern needs, owned products, and potential new ones, we can come to a solution. But it requires restraint. Real consciousness means repairing broken things, not replacing them immediately. I will not say, don’t shop anything, until you are missing the toe of your shoe, but be smart. Invest. Buy things that last. And that’s when you will understand why sustainability is a luxury.
It means you decide how to spend your money, not the advertisement. It means, you understand, what is a full cycle: reduce-repair-recycle. It means, saving up for something, you will enjoy using for a long time, instead of spending bits and pieces repeatedly.
To give you an example, think about vintage pieces. They are quite popular now and the reason is, that they mean quality and longevity. And those things were and are costly, yet sustainable. Real luxury is shopping with our brains, not with our eyes.
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