Fashion & Style Information

The Mindful Shopper: Learning From Your Trendy Mistakes


Are you a fashion trend-watcher?

Do you spend a lot of time flipping through magazines and analyzing the wardrobe choices of others? Do you buy trendy items only to despise them-and yourself-later?

Trend-watching-and, more precisely, observing our trend-watching-gives us tremendous opportunities to create awareness of the traits we hope we have but are not sure we do. In fact, being frustrated, embarrassed, or depressed that we have succumbed to a trend is a perfect chance to discover what we value most.

It usually comes down to these: creativity and confidence. If we find ourselves buying that trendy little bag or those must-have shoes, that little voice inside us shouts "Sell-out!" and we start to feel that perhaps we're not all we'd hoped to be. After all, a truly creative person would buy-or even make-something unique, and a confident person wouldn't hesitate to go against the current trend and head in a completely different direction.

And thus begins a soak in the self-loathing tub, followed inevitably by an abandoned item at the bottom of the closet.

To avoid this, you must pay attention to it.

What trendy items are buried in your closet at this moment? Why did you buy them? Who were you with when you made the purchase? How were you feeling about the world in general and yourself in particular?

A little mindful shopping will go far to alleviate the Trendoid syndrome. And while you're at it, check in with yourself on that monologue going through your head when you see others sporting the latest fashion fetish. You'll learn a whole lot about YOURSELF if you listen carefully and-this is the hard part-non-judgmentally.

If you do melt at that crucial cash register moment, don't berate yourself. Simply take note of the way you feel now, and pay attention to how you feel later. Can you see that downward slide? Ah. That's better. Things are getting clearer now.

Buying into a trend helps us feel connected when what we really long for is a sense of confidence. Take a look at how you can create greater confidence WITHOUT buying that blouse-of-the-moment, and find ways to tweak the latest trend in a way that makes you feel more creative.

Fashion can be fun and absolutely harmless, and you can use your mindful mall meanders to tap into your own sense of who you are-and what you REALLY need.

Now, that's what I call a perfect shopping day.

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse in Portland, Oregon. Through her company, Real-World Mindfulness Training, she offers fun and creative eyes-wide-open alternatives to meditation. To subscribe to her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, please visit http://www.MassageYourMind.com.


MORE RESOURCES:

Elle UK

John Galliano
Elle UK, UK - Oct 6, 2008
Elleuk.com is the website for British Elle. The first stop for daily fashion, shopping and celebrity style news, up to the minute reports from the ...


Fashion Style Over Substance Takes Over Election Campaign
CityNews, Canada - Sep 15, 2008
Most voters know a modern campaign is about more than selling policy. It's about selling a brand, and image counts. That may explain some of the recent ...


Fashion: Style for the rich kids on the block
Liverpool Daily Post, UK - Sep 11, 2008
Above left: Alice Temperley black and red flower dress, £995. Above right: Dark denim jeans, £230; white shirt, £235; black cardigan, £359, all by Dior. ...


Michelle Obama's story a dream coming true
Kansas City Star, MO - 17 hours ago
Yet today Michelle Obama is being compared to Camelot’s Jackie Kennedy for her ease with fashion, style and grace. In her remarks, Obama did acknowledge ...


Daily Mail

Specs appeal: Madonna borrows little Lourdes' geeky style as tour ...
Daily Mail, UK - 10 hours ago
Lourdes, who at just 11 already has her own distinct fashion style, was spotted wearing the pair earlier this year before her mother managed to get her ...


Editors’ Note: More Fun Than Root Canals? It’s the Dental Vacation
New York Times, United States - Oct 1, 2008
The Skin Deep column on Feb. 7 reported that the number of Americans traveling abroad for medical care in 2006 had increased to 500000 from 150000 in 2004, ...


New season style
Dudley News, UK - Oct 3, 2008
Work out your wardrobe plans with Xtra's guide to the autumn/winter season's biggest trends. Redundant summer wardrobe on your hands? ...


Daily Mail

What not to wear... anything from footballer Ronaldo's boutique
Daily Mail, UK - 11 hours ago
By Daily Mail Reporter Cristiano Ronaldos' metrosexual high-maintenance fashion style is both ridiculed and admired in equal measures. ...


City of bold shoulders
Chicago Tribune, United States - Sep 29, 2008
Amethyst, mustard, autumn pastels and winter florals—September's most colorful fashion stories were overshadowed by black-and-white economic issues the past ...


My Fashion Life

Celebrate British Fashion with British Style Genius!
My Fashion Life, UK - Oct 3, 2008
Not to be missed (if you’re in the UK). British Style Genius, a five part documentary about British Fashion and Style, hits BBC2 next Tuesday and we already ...

Fashion-Style - Google News

home | site map
© 2006