#also I know some people hate the huge sleeves puffy skirt girly-as-fuck trend

[aprillikesthings]

The comments for every nice dress or whatever that gets advertised at me on facebook includes somebody shrieking THIS IS SO EXPENSIVE, WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE, I WOULD NEVER BUY THIS IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE!!

Clothes have never been this cheap. In human history. EVER. EVER!

Take a look at old clothing ads that listed prices, even as recently as the 1990's but way further back than that, and find an inflation calculator. Clothes used to be way more expensive. Gunne Sax dresses cost $200-$300 in today's dollars, for instance. Go through scans of Delia*s catalogs from the late 1990's and you can basically double the prices and not be far off from what it would cost in today's dollars. Delia*s wasn't cheap but it also wasn't high-end. It was intended to be within reach of most teenage girls--I bought clothes from them with babysitting money, ffs; making $5 an hour.

My mom (and a lot of other women) learned to sew in the 1970's because it was cheaper than buying off-the-rack. People used to knit their clothes (including socks) because it was cheaper than buying!

The dress I saw someone comment on today, has a full skirt (it was so fluffy!!) and is fully lined and is thoughtfully designed to be flattering on an XXS to a 6X--the ad had models shown in EVERY SIZE in their range and the same dress looked fantastic on all of them. THAT TAKES TIME AND SKILL TO DO. Most companies just scale up, which makes it all look like shit on larger sizes.

And on top of that, those dresses were less than $150. I was actually shocked--Selkie's designs that are similar-ish cost more than that, usually in the $300 range. (I think Selkies have more layers and the sheer fabrics are hemmed, though?)

"I won't pay over $50 for a dress." You'll never own a dress as nice as this one, then; unless you win the secondhand lottery. And all your shit is being made by people who work insane hours and still can't feed their kids.

I'm not claiming I'm perfect on this score; I've bought my share of cheap crap from amazon. And also: I get it!!! I've been poor!! (Hell, I still make less than the median income.) But I also don't act like companies that are actually charging enough to pay their workers are trying to rip me off.

Stop getting angry at designers and companies charging what clothes are actually worth; get mad at your bosses and capitalism ensuring you don't make enough money yourself to afford clothes made by people who also make a living wage.

(Anyway. I need this one. NEED. Maybe after I get back from Spain, lol.)