Sofia Hedström with Vivienne Westwood, who wrote the forward to Fashion Manifesto.
The entire 21st century has been, so far, characterized by trend hysteria, and throwaway chain store fashion has us consuming clothing just as we gorge ourselves on fast food. Week after week, we are driven on by an insatiable hunger to stuff our already bulging closets with the latest fashions, and with each and every trendy addiction – which consequently hangs there sullenly with the price tag still intact – a glimpse of clothing common sense vanishes. The dime-a-dozen ‘I want it yesterday’ fashion industry has caused us stress and depleted our souls, with the outcome that many of us have simply lost our individual sense of style.
– Sofia Hedström fashion journalist. This quote is the opening paragraph from the introduction to her book Fashion Manifesto: The Guide for the Style Savvy (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013).
After a full career as a fashion journalist both in her native Sweden and in New York City, Ms. Hedström found herself a bit sickened from fashion overindulgence prompted by the industry. So, she went on a year-long shopping fast and wrote a book describing the experience.
(This post is not meant to be a review but, this is a great book. Read it!)
OverDressed for Life 
I so agree… our throw-away society like fast food consumerism, urging happiness thru ‘shop-therapy’, the unfulfilled anticipation of satiety, completely unattached to the item itself, just the ‘score’ of the hunt… this addiction & lust for brand names, living on credit to attain that 10th big name purse (or worse, an expensive knock-off). I now find beauty in states of rust & fading, elegance in hand-craft, the traces of history revealed, creativity in reuse & reinvention. I am cured of longing for the new & trendy forever.
Well stated, Nancy. Thank you! At least there is some movement away from this. The fact that Sofia Hedström – someone in the business of fashion – has come out against this trend of empty consumerism is a good thing.