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

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:

• Instagram: @stylecontext
• www.stylecontext.com
• Channel Your Influence

Sources:

• Fast fashion & the social media culture of consumption with the Baller on a Budget (Episode 20 Channel Your Influence Podcast)
• Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (by Dana Thomas) - affiliate link
• Statistics On the Purchasing Power of Women (Girl Power Marketing)
• Who Makes the Call at the Mall, Men or Women? (WSJ)
• The Commodification of Kim Kardashian's Plastic Surgery (@kardashian_kolloquium on Tiktok)

Chapters

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