What Practices I’m Using to Keep My Fashion Consumption In Check in the Fashion Capital of the World

Spoiler Alert: It’s hard and they are in overdrive

I’ve been rethinking my fashion consumption habits lately. After a little over two months living in Milan, it’s safe to say my discipline has never been so challenged, nor have my practices of shopping my closet and gratitude been so employed.

I knew it would be tough to keep my shopping in check; after all, I literally make a living helping people do that very thing, so what happened?

Living in a big, exceptionally fashionable city.

This is the first time where I’ve been exposed to good shopping opportunities for a lengthy period of time.

It turns out that a metropolitan city - especially one that is internationally recognized for being a fashion mecca - offers up irresistible opportunities to shop even when you are actively avoiding them. I find myself popping into a boutique that I swear wasn’t there last week when I took the same route to my working cafe session. On a Sunday passeggiata (the custom of going for a walk after lunch or after dinner) there is a designer vintage market that has sprung up out of nowhere. As if to test my resolve further, the prices are good. EUR 200 for a secondhand cashmere wool MaxMara overcoat? DON’T MIND IF I DO. (I didn’t buy the MaxMara, but there is a part of me that thinks I should have.)

Not only is there so much eye candy in stores and market stalls, but the average human doing their grocery shopping is also a reminder to always put my best fashion foot forward.

So what’s a slow fashion girlie in the ultimate shopping city to do? Don’t worry, I’m about to tell you.