Some people, when they travel, love to buy little souvenirs, be it thimbles, spoons, keychains, or other little objects displaying the name and a picture of the location they went to. For me, I will have none of that! When I travel I love to do what I do best, which should come as no surprise, shop. For me, souvenirs come in the form of clothing, shoes, accessories, and the things used to contain them.
I don't even need to buy locally made items. Be it Lacoste in St. Maarten, Prada in Chicago, or Hermes in Paris, each purchase stays in my mind forever. I have the horrible hoarding habit of saving all the boxes, bows, and bags that come with these items in one rather large box from gilt (it used to be a box from my first pair of Ugg boots [HEY, they are really comfortable!] but I eventually out grew that). This box weighs a good 20 lbs and contains all the bags, boxes, certificates of authenticity, receipts, tags, and lookbooks collected on my travels. Each type of item is put in a separate place for easy access.
This box is my biggest guilty pleasure, and something that I cherish so much. I open it up every few months to put in newly acquired tags and spare buttons from recent purchases, and each time I spend some time looking through everything in there. I have stories for everything in that box. An Hermes S/S 2005 Lookbook brings back memories of me and my best friend Hannah on our trip to California. We spent hours in LAX playing "guess the price" with all the items in it. The feeling of awe when I first saw their saddles, one in particular which was painted with Koi fish that looked like old Japanese relief prints. Then there was my first big purchase when me and my other best friend Jenny went to Chicago on senior skip day just to shop, we went to the Prada store and it was love at first sight. I bought a saffiano leather wallet without even looking at the price, it gave me a feeling that I will never forget, a sort of rush or high of walking into a store you can't afford on a Buffalo Wild Wings salary, pointing at an item and saying "I'll take that" in the most blase way possible. As if I did that every day. Balenciaga is like a Francis Bacon painting to me, an object of such amazing beauty that feels out of reach to me. Prada, on the other hand, is like a piece of my own work. It is like an old friend of mine, which I can look back upon with all sorts of good memories, and imagine all the good moments to come. Some brands are on pedestals, and others are more down to earth. That Chicago trip in the spring of 2007 kicked off an amazing friendship between me and Prada, which has since amassed a large amount of lookbooks, catalogs (which they send me twice a year, with the most ornate packaging and envelope), clothing, and my personal weakness; the trick keychains and cell phone charms.
Where do you get the money for all of this? Where do you work?
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