Imma be...ethical?

If you know me, you know that I have fairly exclusive (and possibly pretentious) music tastes. Like, MGMT is way too mainstream for me--I have to listen to KGIL, or some super-new band like that.

Now, over the past couple of years, I've taken myself down a few levels of eliteness. Because life's too short to be judgemental about music, right? Nope. Because R. Kelly is awesome and I love listening to otherwise "terrible" rappers (meaning anyone who is a one-hit radio wonder. Becuase most legit rap music is actually pretty fantastic.) So I feel inauthentic when I'm all "oh wow, did you hear the new Free Energy album? It's pretty great," because "Ignition (Remix)" is blasting from my speakers for approximately three hours of every single day.

And yeah, I'll even listen to "Imma Be" by the Black Eyed Peas. Until Fergie comes in, and I switch back to my indie mix because I want to punch her in the throat.

All of this rambling is leading to something. I've made my peace with what I consider to be my balanced musical tastes. I can talk the pretentious talk about indie bands, but I can also walk the fluffy "shake ya ass!"walk with mainstream rappers. Up until very recently, this balance crossed over into my fashion purchases as well. Sure, I've got my fair share of thrifted items that are sustainable and awesomely cheap/individual, but I also frequented Forever 21 like a crack addict frequents...a Forever 21 filled with crack. I didn't feel too bad about it, even though I was pretty aware that clothes that cheap aren't being made by well-compensated, happy workers.

It's not like I had some epiphany from God or anything (though since the owners of Forever 21 are devout Christians who print "John 3:16" on the bottom of every F21 bag, they'd probably like me to have one) that made me want to avoid this store. Maybe it's just because I'm trying to not spend any money for a little while. Or maybe it's because I got sick of the fact that whenever I was going out somewhere, I thought to myself "why don't I run over to Forever 21 and buy some fun little dress for $15?" I could just look in my closet for the dresses that I've bought from that store and wear 'em out, but wait...most of them fit terribly, are literally falling apart at the seams, and look completely dated, even if they were bought just a few months ago.

Frankly, I expect more from my clothes. Oh, and also understand that my soapboxiness doesn't come from a sudden influx of money that allows me to buy myself really nice clothing. I just figure that if I can't afford to buy decently made clothing (if I am buying it new), then I'm not going to buy new clothing.

Not like I won't miss those fun, impulsive purchases though. God. I'm gonna need to listen to so much more R. Kelly to fill up the void Forever 21 is leaving in my soul.