It wasn't always like this

I was not raised to be a brand whore.  Actually I was raised quite differently.  My father was a metal musician and my mom was an anti-the-man libertarian with an anti-consumerist agenda.  I never got what was in fashion, I had to come up with my own.

In fifth grade everyone had Pumas.  I wanted them so bad.  I begged my mom for new shoes.  I obsessed, and finally she took me shopping, but it was with one condition.  I had to choose something that wasn't Pumas.  I could have anything else.  There was no budget, but it had to be something that I legitimately liked because I liked it, not because I was conforming.  I got sparkly Doc Marten boots, something that became a signature to my style. That is how it was through the years.  I didn't get Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, or Ralph Lauren.  I had to create my own style, sometimes to great and other times horrible conclusions.

Then there came Coach.  I had been working at Nordstrom for about a year when I decided to buy a little coach handbag.  I was tired of my purses always falling apart and I really like the construction.  I still have that purse and it has held up beautifully.  Then came the jeans.  I discovered how amazing designer jeans fit.  At about four times the cost of jeans I had been buying, I could have a pair that looked and fit so much better. Citizens, 7, Joes... Before I knew it, I was a brand whore, and not just for clothes.  I am fully outfitted with Apple, my home has designer furniture, I eat name brand, clean with name brand, and it is time to stop.

What is a brand whore?  A brand whore is someone who works really hard, and then gives most of her money away to big brands for very little satisfaction.  I confess, I am just that.  While working at Nordstrom I decided to go back to school. I cut back on my brand whoriness, but it still existed.  Then I quit my job to focus on school, then a recession hit, then I graduated.