Blake Lively + Fast Fashion = ???

Not good.

This past week, everyone's least favorite Gossip Girl character admitted that she used to wear Forever 21 on the red carpet. More over, she'd pass them off as "vintage" if anyone asked who she was wearing. She told Instyle, "I wore Forever 21 much longer than I admitted. I just started saying it was vintage because I was so shamed for it."

While some people find this endearing, I was NOT amused! As a twenty-TWO-year-old, I'm phasing out of my fast fashion phase and I'm much happier on the other side. I have very few dollars, but I'm still a firm believer you should invest in quality pieces over quantity slogan tees and weird bandeaus from Forever 21. It has its place every once in a while, but overall its just not good practice for a shopper.

Lively's shame for her lack of designer clothing (as a teenager) is the first thing that made me grimace. How many times will I have to write about class consciousness on this blog?? Conspicuous consumption is obviously FUN, but not something you should subscribe to religiously. Who tf cares where you buy your clothes if you look hot? And Blake Lively is always hot. SO shame on us for making a poor hot Blake Lively feel bad about shopping affordably!

Secondly, my aversion to fast-fashion comes from the fact that it's just not sustainable. The idea of buying a $5 top that will only last as long as it's in style is appealing, but it's wrecking mother Earth and the economy (Made in China, bitches). Anything from that store basically disintegrates after 6 months, and usually looks cheap anyways. So spare the landfills and just ditch Forever 21 already. I could probably afford a pair of Gucci sneakers if I got back all the money I wasted there in middle and high school.

If you want to stop buying garbage clothes that you will throw away after 6 months, try some of these store instead: Madewell, Anthropologie, Reformation, an actual vintage store, Topshop, Uniqlo and MORE! Sustainability!