I’ll be honest: I wasn’t super into shoes when I was a teenager. All my friends were just getting into the idea and becoming obsessed, but that was back when I still possessed a shred of metaphorical backbone and I wanted to go against the grain.
So I wore baggy clothes and old shoes, and defined myself as ‘counterculture’ up until I realised that there were so many people defining themselves in the same way and doing exactly the same thing, so ‘counterculture’ was actually pretty dull and overdone. That’s when I decided that going against the grain was impossible, and now…ooh, red leather bags!!
I have a special weakness for some really nice leather bags- the look, the feel– but red reigns supreme. It leaps off the shelf (or out of the screen) and yells “Buy me! Buy me, Kayla! Everyone has a red leather bag, and the very thought of you not doing what everyone else is doing is slowly crushing your spirit! Buy MEEEEEEE!” And then I do, and for a few days, my spirit is at peace knowing that I succumbed to imaginary pressure and I’m actually just like everyone else with no distinct identity.
But trends change, you know. I have to keep on top of this stuff, because a day not spent following the crowd is a day wasted. One day you’re fitting in with a red leather bag, then some red carpet starlet is waving around a soft leather shoulder bag in a slimming matte black, and the cycle begins anew. I’m off on a shopping trip, probably calling in sick to work (and not feeling bad about it…I physically cannot concentrate until I’m with the trend) so I can find the exact small soft leather shoulder bag. No room for mistakes, no margin for error.
So that’s my process! I’ve become pretty good at finding obscure items before they become ubiquitous, let me tell you.
-Kayla