The Baller on a Budget

(#4) Confessions of a Shopaholic: Exploring Fast Fashion & Retail Consumerism with Diane Taha

July 16, 2021 Season 1 Episode 4

Today on The Baller on a Budget podcast, Diane Taha, influencer & host of the Channel Your Influence podcast are discussing our consumer habits & shopping sins in a tell-all fashion confessional. In this episode, Diane & I talk about the cost of building a wardrobe, the exclusionary practices of luxury brands, corporate activism, sexist marketing & much more.

Diane has been an influencer since 2013 & is a full-time social media manager. She also hosts the podcast Channel Your Influence, where she discusses the climate of influencer marketing.

 In This Episode: 

  • How Diane began her career as a beauty & fashion influencer (1:43)
  • What is “high-low” fashion? (3:38)
  • Designer brands are more of a status symbol than style (7:20)
  • How much of Diane’s wardrobe is designer (8:02)
  • The attainability of luxury brands (10:56)
  • Why do we strive to consume luxury? (16:10)
  • How online fast fashion brands were popularized by fast fashion (18:19)
  • Diane’s main issue with fast fashion (19:52)
  • How often do we buy clothes that don’t fit but still keep them? (23:18)
  • The percentage of our wardrobes that we actually wear (24:45)
  • Why fast fashion sizing is a breeding ground for eating disorders & body dysmorphia (25:45)
  • What are capsule wardrobes? (26:54)
  • Will our current wardrobes age along with us? (30:39)
  • Why designer bags & shoes hold their value (31:26)
  • Small changes consumers can make to reduce environmental impact (34:02)
  • How retail mark-ups & sales are exploitative (38:08)
  • Preventing buyer’s remorse & FOMO (40:45)
  • Consuming new items like underwear with less environmental impact (43:16)
  • Why class divide makes ethical consumption costly for working-class people (48:20)
  • Using influence to advocate for change (49:06)
  • The impermanence of canceling corporate activism (51:13)
  • Is the real power of ethical change within consumers or corporations? (55:38)
  • The majority of household consumer decisions are made by women (58:19)
  • How shifting the responsibility of ethical consumption to consumers contains subtle sexism (1:00:07)
  • The female empowerment argument vs. the male gaze (1:02:50) 
  • How Millennial & Gen Z women are financially independent of men (1:07:33)
  • Do your consumer habits sabotage your financial goals? (1:09:00)
  • How do we identify ourselves outside of what we look like, how we produce, & how we consume? (1:12:29)

Where you can find Diane Taha:

Sources: