Why Did You Pay For That

When I was younger, before I had a job, all of my clothes were paid for by my parents. I wore them as I usually would everyday, but when it came to the point where I started working and buying my own belongings, only then did I completely understand the value of the dollar and start appreciating my valuables much more. Not that I never appreciated them before, but by spending my own money, I understood how much hard work went into making the money, saving it up and then budgeting what to spend it on.

I learned to take better care of the things that I owned, both purchased by myself and gifted by others. Along with that came the preference for things that were new. I have absolutely no qualms with thrift and consignment shopping, though I do rather to own things that are brand new. The mystery of not knowing the history of a product gives me bad anxiety which I prefer to avoid if possible.

That being said, though I like to buy my clothes brand new, the distressed look appeals to me. The paradox of taking good care of my clothes prevents me from distressing my old and worn out jeans (even if they’ve long lost their use, I can’t bring myself to ruin them), while I can’t bring myself to purchase a pair of pre-loved and distressed jeans from a second hand store since I don’t know where it’s been. My solution? To buy a brand new pair of “distressed” jeans. In a sense, I’m paying for rips, patches and fades.

When I wore these jeans to visit my grandmother back in Ottawa, the first thing that she said to me was, “Why did you pay for those?”.  She then followed up with “I could have given you my old pants if that’s what you wanted.”. My answer? Because they were brand new, and because they were on sale for a fraction of the cost in comparison to any of my other jeans. Is that not a good enough reason to buy something?

T-shirt – Aritzia | Vest – J. Crew | Jeans – Urban Outfitters | Heels – Shoemint | Hat – Aritzia | Watch – Fossil