So we are moving into a Protestant cycle, out is over indulgence, overspending, and decadence. Instead it is replaced with control, thrift, simplicity. The pressures for this return are the credit crunch, a concern for the environment, a concern for the distribution of resources, a belief that you can’t have it all now and pay later. Clothes in Primark cost less than they do in a charity shop. Designer handbags are everyday items. The average wedding costs £20k. When we have over consumed we always welcome a time of abstinence. Though it isn’t true abstinence we change our shopping to make us feel cleaner more virtuous.
This return of thrift is seen in many guises, canvas shopping bags, rise of the vintage, rise of the handmade, organic food, free range, local produce, seasonal eating, riding bikes. Freecycle, ebay, alotments, even crochet. The secret is good quality with integrity not artificial low cost. So as we become more thrifty we will see the rise of craft. This is not an unusual cycle we see it again and again before with the Arts and Crafts as a reaction to industrialisation. The 70’s followed the 60’s with pottery, macrame, handmade clothes, the start of the health food shop.
Enjoy it while you can, eat soup, make jam, knit blankets, buy a wood burning stove, and ride your bike. Remember after abstinence we will return to overindulgence, gluttony, pleasure, decadence just look at the 1920’s with the pretty young things and the 1980’s with yuppies.
2 Comments
June 22, 2008 at 7:44 pm
That’s a really interesting comment. I wonder what this means in particular for those of us whom were raised in a ‘thrifty’ age such as the 70’s and blossomed in a decadence age such as the 80’s. Would it be a different experience if it was the other way around?
It’s like when you look at second hand stuff or ‘vintage’. I can like the 70’s stuff when I was not yet an adult and it brings back warm cosy memories, but show me those jump suits and padded shoulders of the 80’s and I cringe. My auntie Harriet was exactly the same looking at Vintage stuff yesterday which was of her generation- she adored the 50’s stuff but cannot abide the 70’s stuff as she has worn it originally. I may be warming to macrame wallhangings and hessian bags now but what will happen come 2030 when it’s here again?
July 16, 2008 at 11:00 am
[...] the supermarket Jump to Comments I love this, it makes me giggle. It all links back to being thrifty, which doesn’t mean having to [...]