In Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett presented Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”.
Pratchett presents another economic theory in Men At Arms.
“The very very rich could afford to be poor. Sybil Ramkin lived in the kind of poverty that was only available to the very rich, a poverty approached from the other side. Women who were merely well-off saved up and bought dresses made of silk edged with lace and pearls, but Lady Ramkin was so rich she could afford to stomp around the place in rubber boots and a tweed skirt that had belonged to her mother. She was so rich she could afford to live on biscuits and cheese sandwiches.”
I worked in a tiny boutique in Welsh Valleys community when I was 13 years old, (weekend job, it was legal, honest.) The wholesalers would send round copies of clothes that had been seen on Top of the Pops the week before. Fridays, payday, the girls from local shops and factories picked up the things they had chosen and put away during the week. They would look fabulous for their weekend evenings. 😊
I love clothes and for many years I followed fashion trends, though I always wore ‘good’ shoes, Bally stilettos were a favourite.
In the last 20 odd years my thinking and my way of life have changed. I now shop less impulsively, I try to buy second hand, I choose material that will wear well, I dye my clothes to extend the length of time they look good. I also wear clothes that aren’t fashionable, they suit me in my middle age.
However, I know if my income rose I would buy clothes that are out of my budget at present. I like to visit a wonderful shop and dream!
Capitalism depends on creating wants, of creating a dream that we can buy our way into. I am fully aware of this and also self-aware enough to know that part of me will always be that 13 year old who knew that a fringed suede jacket and a pair of hot pants were the pathway to my perfect life! 😊