5 Ways Valentine's Day Romanticizes Fast Fashion and Material Love
Valentine's Day, originally a celebration of love and romance, has undergone a transformation driven by commercialization, influencing its traditions and customs. Today, it is common to witness major brands promoting trends saturated with pink and red hues and offering an endless array of goodies. This commercialized version of Valentine’s Day is intertwined with fast fashion encourages excessive consumption habits as a means to express commitment to loved ones. In this blog article, we will explore five ways Valentine's Day romanticizes both fast fashion and materialistic expressions of love, delving into the idealization of these aspects that often overlook its social and environmental implications.
Commercialized Facades: How Valentine's Day Merges Love with Materialism
While Valentine's Day is undoubtedly a special occasion for celebrating love and expressing affection towards those who matter most to us, it's often bundled with a subtle pressure to buy material possessions in the pursuit of love and beauty. In this narrative, love is entangled with contemporary trends and societal norms, nudging us to buy our way into the affections of others. Valentine’s Day, a celebration of love, can become an act of conforming to certain aesthetics, prompting us to invest in material attributes and project external beauty. This holiday's ability to push material goods we've collectively deemed worthy normalizes a materialistic approach to love. Gift-giving also can overshadow the authentic essence of Valentine's Day and hyper fixate on external things. This holiday encouragement of a transactional approach to love makes things a prerequisite for expressing love. Let’s look beyond gift-giving as the only way to express our love, especially when there are multiple long languages, such as acts of service, quality time, and physical touch.
Brands play a huge role in selling normalized ideas of love and beauty to increase their profit margins. They push fashionable items at the lowest possible production cost and sell for cheap to appeal to a wide market audience. Fast fashion, the quick production of cheap, low-quality clothing made under exploitative labor conditions are essential to Valentine's Day-themed microtrends. Buying and discarding fashion items means brands are profiting from a culture of overconsumption that further contributes to environmental issues and ethical dilemmas associated with the fashion industry. It convinces us that material goods are paramount to the relationships we hold.
2. Western Beauty Standards: The Unseen Influence of Fashion Choices on Valentine's Day
Preparing for Valentine's Day by selecting a sexy outfit is more than just a simple wardrobe choice—it involves navigating through socialization and expectations connected to fashion. When we dig through our closet, we’ll engage in a mental process of envisioning how we'll present ourselves on this special day. However, this seemingly innocent mental preparation is often accompanied by an intangible pressure to conform to established beauty standards, particularly to be thin and beautiful. This social pressure can create the desire to get new clothes to curate an impression of being acceptable and worthy of love. Yet, everyone's mental processes are different given our unique, lived experiences shaping our fashion decisions. Let’s stay aware of how our internalized and idealized appearance may inadvertently contribute to a throwaway culture. We may just buy clothing for this holiday, wear it for a singular occasion, and then dispose of it shortly after. This not only exacerbates environmental issues but also contributes to the over-saturation of inexpensive, mass-produced clothing in thrift stores and landfills post-Valentine’s Day.
The concept of looking "sexy" is also intricately tied to the pressure to conform to the perceived "right" way of dressing, making us adopt prevailing values and social norms. Following fast fashion trends to enhance one's appearance is part of a larger societal narrative that equates attractiveness with external presentation. Consequently, getting new outfits for a sexy look means more than surface-level aesthetics, instead, it reinforces a mindset of desirability and excess consumption. Consider taking a deep dive into your closet and reflecting on what makes you feel most beautiful. Challenge yourself to stay true to yourself, even if your closet is only full of fast fashion. We can still empower and thrive in the fast fashion pieces we already own as long as we don’t buy more of them. Remember: The most beautiful and sexy version of yourself will surely be one where you can be your most authentic self with others.
3. Material Idealization: Valentine's Day, Fast Fashion, and the Unrealistic Image of Femininity
When do you feel most beautiful? Valentine’s Day can romanticize fast fashion when we feel like we need to reach traditional notions of femininity. Fast fashion often reinforces specific beauty standards such as straight hair, perfect skin, size zero, and trendy makeup. Buying trends and popular items help us feel like we are reaching an elusive definition of attractiveness or desirability, yet fast fashion perpetuates a limited and often unrealistic image of femininity. Holidays with a strong focus on love and beauty can further pressure us to strive to meet expectations and to conform. Resisting traditional notions of Westernized femininity takes courage and confidence in our unique beauty and value to the world. Striving for an idealized image of femininity will be an endless and soulless journey given new microtrends are introduced every week by fast fashion brands. And sadly, traditional notions of Westernized beauty extends beyond our personal choices in fashion; its shaped and morphed to a larger societal narrative that values short-lived gratification. It is a waste of time to pursue fast fashion (at best) and cruel (at worst), especially with the normalization of young girls flooding beauty stores. Consider finding your inner beauty and affirming your lovable for who you are. Otherwise, material idealization will marginalize those who don’t fit predetermined social standards. Trends will also leave out unique individuals that are still worthy of love and beauty.
As consumers in the pursuit of romantic expressions, we may not typically examine the supply chains and ethical implications associated with the products we buy. It’s easy to overlook and ignore when there is little information for us to make informed shopping decisions. Brands can get away with a messy and harmful supply chain when there they are not forced to guarantee environmental sustainability, fair labor practices, or the positive impact on local communities. Brands need to be obligated to disclose their supply chain practices. Our collective unconscious shopping practices further perpetuate exploitative systems that remain unquestioned. It is important to understand the ethical dimensions of our shopping decisions to cultivate a more conscious approach to expressing love. Start by examining your own ethical codes of conduct and practice how to think more consciously about love. Our logical reasoning shapes our personal lives and the world around us, which forms the collective value systems that are normalized in our everyday lives.
4. Disposable Affection: The Environmental and Social Impact of Valentine's Day Consumerism
The commercialization of Valentine's Day is rooted in capitalism. Disposable affection thrives on mythic narratives that transform cheap, low-quality material goods into special gifts. Brands harness and capitalize on our emotions and their sharpened story-telling skills around products. No doubt, abstaining from gift-giving and trendy, Valentine’s Day-coded clothing will make us seem counter-cultural and rude. It will take courage and willpower to go against the grain. Time is also needed to make intentional gifts and a degree of imagination to curate unique outfits from our closet. Otherwise, our purchased gifts will surely be more disposable and short-lived. Consider making intentional gifts for your loved ones to avoid traditional gifts, despite the pressure to conform. It is normal to not want to disappoint loved ones, and to do everything in our power to make them happy on special days. However, many gifts' short-lived appeal leads to a cycle of discard-and-replace that further contributes to environmental waste.
Addressing the romanticization of fast fashion and material love associated with Valentine's Day involves a mindset shift. We must move towards meaningful and sustainable expressions of affection for ourselves and for others. Couples can explore alternatives such as experiences, thoughtful gestures, or handmade gifts that prioritize sentiment over material value. You will be able to save money, reclaim the essence of the occasion and foster a more meaningful connection with their loved ones while minimizing the negative consequences of consumer-driven practices.This is also incredibly important in the face of our climate crisis, impacting vulnerable communities all across the world. Let’s reevaluate our habits and traditions to become part of positive change. Valentine's Day can be transformed into an opportunity to advocate for sustainable practices. This shift not only benefits individuals and their relationships but also contributes to a collective effort to build a more environmentally conscious and socially responsible society.
5. Loneliness: The Emotional Toll of Commercialized Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day can exert considerable pressure on individuals to meet romantic ideals. The pressure to create a picture-perfect celebration can negatively impact mental health, as people may feel compelled to meet unrealistic standards. The pressure is especially pronounced on singles, who might experience feelings of isolation or inadequacy during a holiday that prioritizes atypical romantic relationships. A day meant for love can also vary well amplify feelings of loneliness or exclusion.
The relentless bombardment in the media further contributes to the emotional distress associated with Valentine's Day. Constant exposure to idealized depictions of love can foster a sense of not living up to societal standards, potentially leading to internalized feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. The gap between reality and the romanticized portrayals in media can widen, creating a dissonance that intensifies the emotional toll on individuals who may already be struggling with feelings of loneliness or exclusion. Any internalized sense of inadequacy can manifest as a deep-seated conviction of somehow failing to meet societal standards for love and connection. It can also cause us to question our own self-worth and desirability, and possibly creating a negative impact on self-esteem and overall mental well-being.
Consider taking the time to rethink Valentine’s Day. Try adopting sustainable practices by choosing outfits from your closet, supporting sustainable materials and products, and giving experiences (versus gifts) like concerts, cooking classes, or spa days to create lasting memories. You can also create green alternatives like hand-made cards, opting for local, organic flowers to reduce carbon emissions, supporting ethical jewelry options, and buying fair trade chocolate. Lets redefine Valentine's Day and envision a new narrative on how we can love, connect, and become responsible to each other. Remember that love is not just one day, one holiday. Instead, let’s show up for our loved ones every day, where we can move from material love to long-lasting relationships.
