I'm your pusher man

When it comes to writing about fashion every week, I try to be as careful as possible. I have realized that fashion has the power of money; it can influence people like a president and it can get you high like the biggest hit of opium. Fashion can have such an amazing hold over people for different reasons. Fashion is its own drug. It can make people spend money they don't have, spend other people's money, steal or sell their own body.\nIn class Tuesday, a girl said she knows a woman that would buy a Fendi bag instead of paying her electric bill, even though she has children. Sounds like a crackhead to me. Fashion addicts will wear fur in the summer and will smoke anything they think will get them high. Like many fashion addicts, sometimes quality goes completely out the window and whatever catches their eye is going on their back. They are like the Romantics of the 19th century, always seeking novelty to satisfy their insatiable appetites. \n"Unlike the dandy, however, the bohemian seeks out pleasure while relinquishing comfort (the bohemian frequently lives in poverty) and looks for new experiences by which to indulge in the senses. This mentality is not limited to the Romantic bohemian, who is essentially an outsider, but spread across the 18th and 19th centuries stimulating a new taste among the middle classes for novelty which is the basis for modern fashion and consumption" (Entwhistle, "Fashion and Identity").\nShopping can often have the same effects as a nice piece of Ethel M.'s Kosher chocolates. It is the highest of the high. I was with someone listening to fashionable music I brought back from New York City, and he ended up burning all of my CDs and calling it HOTSHIT. I thought, "They better not start knocking on my door at 1 a.m. asking, 'What's up?'"\nWhen I go to report on Fashion Week, I sometimes feel like a drug runner or a pusher. \nSometimes you have to be low key about your fashion stash and what you have. The haters out there are like cops. Sometimes the biggest critics are the ones that read my column every Thursday. The worst thing about it is they don't know they are addicted. They are simply oblivious to their addiction, which brings me to my point. \nI have seen and heard of the fashion game bring a lot of people down. For instance, Michael Vollbracht, head designer for Bill Blass, was caught up in the game, published a book saying some pretty bad things about some big people and ended up dropping out of the game or going into fashion rehab. I also know people right here on this campus who spend money they do not have or aren't willing to work for to get designer bags, Prada shoes and Victoria's Secret underwear. This is completely useless considering fashion always changes, but like any addiction, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Like any pusher, I take pride in knowing I am not addicted to my product and am therefore getting the maximum reward. I can stay focused on doing my job without always needing a hit. So, to all those junkies out there: Use your fashion responsibly.