Sales are finally over!

Sales give us an opportunity to buy all the things we didn't buy before because they were too expensive and because we didn't need them. The second reason is usually more relevant. When things are finally half the original price, you have a chance to buy twice the amount of useless things. Well, this would be the ideal case. What happens more often is that you buy MORE than twice the amount of useless things and spend a lot more money than you had intended.

But these are just a few aspects of a very complicated psychology of sales.

1. Hunt

Simone de Beauvoir wrote that through shopping, women compensated for their mundane domestic lives. She thought that marketplace was a woman's battleground where the winner was whoever bought the best article for the lowest price.

This winter, I hunted for a winter coat. I didn't buy any because I didn't like any. It seems to me that companies such as Zara, Mango, even Benetton, etc. do not invest much creative effort into designing coats. The one below was one of the most interesting coats I've tried on.

2. Pressure

Times have changed and when you have to make a decision these days, you can't expect that a little angel and a little devil will appear around your head chatting. No. Instead, you can expect a skilled saleperson and a cheap-looking rich investor debating the pros and cons of buying... whatever you're buying.

The overall below cost less than 5€ which was cheap enough to be worn just once in a life-time. But on the other hand, it would be worn exactly once in a life-time. Or maybe not... If I allowed the two homunkuluses (homunkuli?) having their debate, I would still be in the shop.

3. To wait or not to wait?

The first time I saw the dress was in the summer 2009 and I liked it but I thought I didn't need it and it seemed too expensive. This winter, it was half the price but I'm glad it was also twice my size, so I didn't even feel tempted to buy it. Also, after all those months, it seemed kind of boring.

4. Thinking about the future?

Sometimes, I feel that buying a summer dress in the winter is thinking about the future. In fact, it's more like living in the past. The dress below must have survived two sales and still, noone wants it.

5. This doesn't fit

Many things we've bought on sales or at secondhands just don't fit, right? Let's not buy them then.

6. What is this?

This shirt was interesting, but it required me to think too much about its possible uses, advantages and disadvantages. Instead of solving my problems, this shirt would have made my mind busy for weeks and would probably end up as a one-night stand anyway.

However, despite of what some anti-consumerists think, even anti-consumerists should look stunning so once in a while, they should buy something nice. I thought I found that something.

But then I realized that this particular blazer wasn't on sale. So I didn't buy it.

Shopping, Psychoanalysis and Man Chairs

"Man chair" - defined by Urban Dictionary as "the chair that men sit in while their partner is shopping for long periods of time. They can be found in almost any clothing or shoe store." Right, so what if a woman goes shopping with men who want to buy a suit? I don't know. There aren't any woman chairs so I had to try some cross-dressing in order to survive that odyssey.

I realized an important thing: men's bags look really good on women. They might also be more practical than those designed for women but I don't know that for sure because, naturally, I didn't buy any.

Hat is a phallic symbol (at least in a freudian dream) so a woman's hat doesn't really make sense. A woman wearing a hat could be considered as a strong evidence of penis envy, so no thanks!

A blazer is what makes a gentleman. I hope that any gentleman who buys this particular blazer will never see this picture as it might make him feel emasculated. The fear of a woman looking good in man's blazer is the same as the fear of castration.

What's the future of unisex? Should I wear more men's clothes?

Should there be more woman chairs in shops and more man chairs in buses?

Through the lying looking-glass

If an anti-consumerist goes shopping, they must be aware of the dangers of mirrors and lights.

You might find yourself looking surprisingly stunning - slimmer and kind of "photoshopped" - in that lying piece of looking-glass and might not think twice before you buy something you don't want. But you can always exploit the flattering reflection to take a lying picture of yourself. These high-waist tight pants would look really bad in real life. I'm glad I didn't buy them.

What's also dangerous are these special postures that you (or at least I) unintentionally make when you look at yourself... trying to look naturally or what?

I'm not going to buy this...

... but I like it! It's a good idea for a X-mas gift, right?

I really didn't need any of these things...

... so I didn't buy them. But they make me look good so I can always use them on Facebook. I only care if I look good in my online pictures anyway.

A hat:

Something that one really doesn't need. Especially not in the summer:

A hat... in the summer? Nope, only in the picture!

I always shop alone!

I very often (though not always) shop alone. I'm a lonely wolf of shopping. When I have a mission - e.g. to buy a bag, I first do a research:

1. I search style.com to see what's "in"

2. I go from store to store to see what they have

3. I look at my bank account to see what I can afford

If I get pass the 3. step:

4. I go out to the field armed with a camera phone

5. I often don't buy anything but I have lot's of pictures to post on Facebook or wherever

I wanted to buy a bag in the summer but this one was too expensive.

This one was nice. But I didn't buy it!

Step 6: Mission failed!!!!