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  • We need to renegotiate the idea of minimalism

  • The term was originally coined in the late

  • 1950s to describe the abstract visions of artists like Frank Stella and Carl Andre

  • But has since been co-opted into an aesthetic that leans heavily on class privilege

  • And the ability to choose less today

  • I want to critique what minimalism has become and then point towards a minimalist lifestyle that moves away from

  • aesthetics and into politics ultimately minimalism has promised for

  • socio-economic and environmental reasons

  • but we need to understand that its current state is more an extension of consumer culture than a movement toward an

  • environmentally and materially conscious society the trend of minimalism as a

  • Personal aesthetic has spiraled out of control in recent years

  • Somehow it has become the opposite of what it was trying to be now for certain minimalists

  • The lifestyle means a tightly curated wardrobe of expensive clothes in an aesthetic of white on white on white

  • Using the minimalism as a style merely replaces one form of conspicuous consumption with another

  • Take for example the buy less but buy better mindset that is invaded minimalism

  • Yes, buying a $400 pair of shoes might in some cases be more environmentally friendly than buying four sets of

  • $50 shoes because the pricier shoes will most likely last longer and produce less waste than four pairs

  • However most people don't have the money for that

  • So this minimalist philosophy uses the excuse of having little

  • To buy the most expensive things perhaps minimalists are purchasing less

  • But they're still buying into the idea of creating status via

  • Expensive items thus if you don't have the means or the money to rid yourself of your belongings and purchase just the right things then

  • minimalism must not be for you. As Chelsea Fagan puts in her opinion piece in The Guardian the only people who can

  • quote-unquote practice minimalism in any meaningful way are people upon whom it isn't forced by

  • financial or logistical circumstances and

  • This new trend of minimalism as a visual aesthetic has now been conflated with a surge of self

  • optimization by using the right technology and

  • Paring down your life in the right way minimalism can portably deliver happiness

  • Financial security and free time to those who follow its path

  • Unfortunately it can only be viewed as a key to happiness by those who already have more than enough for low income people buying

  • Inexpensive clothing or owning less furniture isn't a choice

  • It's a structural reality minimalism

  • However can offer so much more than a stylistically slimmed down wardrobe it can instead mean a purposefully

  • anti-consumerist and

  • Environmentally conscious lifestyle that works against the power of capitalism. The focused with minimalism

  • Then is not necessarily working to edit your furniture choices and activewear down to the cream of the crop

  • But instead on working hard to critically assess your consumption choices. Day to day this looks like choosing not to buy the latest

  • Thousand-dollar iPhone or if you're cleaning out your closet choosing not to sell your clothes if you don't need the money and instead

  • Donating them to a progressive organization if you do in fact need to get a new pair of pants consider buying

  • Secondhand the idea is to understand that consumption feeds a system that affects a tremendous harm on the environment and on

  • Marginalized people minimalism can offer guidance, not as a stylistic choice

  • But as a mindset that helps reroute our unconscious purchasing habits into a well informed

  • consumption critical stance

  • Minimum has slowly grown more popular as it is taken hold of the American psyche and with that transition

  • Minimalism has become more watered-down and at times the opposite of what it originally

  • intended to be. So it's important to remember that as an aesthetic trend and a way to find happiness

  • minimalism can sometimes be just another

  • insidious form of conspicuous consumption.

  • As a pro-environment and anti consumption choice however minimalism can offer a way to navigate an economic system that

  • constantly pressures us to buy more

  • Having and buying less do not need to be status symbols or the subject of an Instagram post, they can instead be

  • radical political and environmental acts

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We need to renegotiate the idea of minimalism

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