The First Confession

This year for lent my house mates and I decided to set each other some challenges based on our supposed 'addictions'. For example, one must give up snacking, another swearing, drinking, going on reddit...  and you get the idea. Now, to be fair, apart from maybe the snacking one I thought to myself that I could probably quite easily give up what the others had to for only forty days and forty nights so, I felt pretty prepared for an easy ride. Little did I know what my friends were plotting in their twisted minds. As soon as the words hit me I was dumbstruck- 
                 'Give up shopping'
not only this, I have to give up browsing too! That means no looking at clothing websites, no flicking through fashion magazines, no wandering through shops marveling at shoes and dresses I know I could never afford, feeling the soft touch of silk, the smooth curve of a stilleto. That has all gone. Forty days and forty nights stuck with the same old clothes, forty days and forty nights without the excitement of seeing the dress you never even know you needed popping up on the 'what's new' page.  


But, my challenge has been set, and I know that I can't be the first to fail in my house. So, I prepared. Two days before pancake day I went for my last shop. Returning only with a beautiful white bow headband which I'd been looking at anyway for a while- therefore I knew I had to have it- plus they had student discount! I then bought a shirt- I'd been needing one anyway as I'd worn my other shirts quite a few times already. Then, two flowery blouses as it was getting hotter and I needed some transition pieces. So, all sensible purchases I felt- nothing that showed the signs of someone obsessed with shopping. But, that was it, my last purchases for forty days and nights. 


Yesterday was pancake day, the time was drawing near. I painfully had to remove topshop from my facebook news feed, hand trembing as I pressed the button, knowing that no longer would little rays of shunshine pop into my world suggesting I buy this 'hot new playsuit'. My newsfeed is now left full of dull and meaningless status updates 'OMG so drunk last night'.

So the pancakes came and went, I indulged myself one last time, flicking through cosmo, lusting over a pair of shoes that I found out were 'a mere' £595. Then the clock struck midnight and that was it. My ties with the fashion world have been cut. I've been left dangling in mid-air. Nothing I wear from now on will be new, crisp, exciting. No more compliments on 'that bag', no more moments when you flick onto the website and see that the dress you needed for months is now half price, and your heart soars, your pulse races and it feels like falling in love.

So, today is the first day of my challange, it's 11.11 and it's been going well so far. Nothing in my news feed, no magazines or websites, just a fashionless void. Looking through facebook photos of a friend I noticed she was wearing a new pair of shorts and a pang of jealousy struck. I believe they are the paper bag shorts in camel from topshop- but for forty days and forty nights... I just can't be sure...