Latest / Salon Gazette / The Price of Beauty: 16 Years Later in America, Fall Transitions, Foreign Eyes & Luxury Fashion

Transcript

The Price of Beauty: 16 Years Later in America, Fall Transitions, Foreign Eyes & Luxury Fashion · Salon Gazette

• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's officially the beginning of the end of summer, you guys.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know we hate to hear it.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of hate to hear it too.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it is what it is.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I personally think that the seasons, the fact that we have seasons is beautiful.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And more often than not, when I'm feeling reluctant or resentful of the change of seasons, it's more so because it's reflecting my own sense of finding it hard to deal with change.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: So so that I'm not swimming up against the current.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, for like forever, it's the weirdest thing.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as September first hits, the weather always reflects what's coming.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like today it's gloomy, it's rainy, and because it was raining, some of the leaves have already fallen, and the ones that fell like are a different color, so the leaves are already changing color.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very much so giving strong vibes of fall here right now, already, even though we're not technically in fall yet.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's September 21st.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, it's Virgo season, and I know I know astrology, astrology, but this is my show, and I love astrology, so let's talk about it.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Virgo season, all the mutable seasons is the period between all the mutable signs are is it takes place in the period when it is time for us to kind of slowly transition into the next modality, which always happens.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mutable signs are always at the end of a season, not the beginning of another.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we're in Virgo season right now, and Virgo is all about getting your ducks lined up in a row, getting in touch with your routines, transitioning, changing, getting rid of things that aren't working.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, what that has looked like for me, or what that's starting to look like for me, is I'm just thinking about I don't know, certain things that make me think of fall, or ways that I'm fighting to hold on to summer that whenever I'm not proactive about being on it in terms of my transition into fall, it always catches me off guard when fall is like officially here and it's undeniable.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So things like my wardrobe, my diet, my sleep schedule, little things, little routine things, which I think is very much so conducive to Virgo energy.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's literally looked like baby things.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I told you guys last week's episode that I am in the midst of kind of fall fashion curating, exploring, as well as kind of shopping right now, and I'm still in that process.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: But just for right now, I am kind of slowly bringing out my fall wardrobe.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I find myself reaching more and more for cozy things, and I know we just started, like it's literally September 1st, but I just want to be on it now and have my ducks lined up in a row by the time it's like officially fall, and we're like getting into October, like October 1st.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So today, instead of wearing the kind of slippers that I wear that are um they're just like rubber slippers, I know this sounds very minutiae, but because of other things going on in my chart, and because of how I am personally, I'm very sensitive to my senses.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that things feel on me, all the senses, like your sense of smell, touch, taste, all of that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the way things feel on my body, like I'm very sensitive to that.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I find that with the change of seasons, that's kind of reflected on what I want touching my skin, and so those I know so minutia, those flip-flops, rubber flip-flops.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, I don't want to wear those, they feel uncomfortable.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm cold, my feet are cold.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know the temperature hasn't changed that drastically, but little by little every day we wake up and it's colder and colder.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And this morning, I feel like in you know, September 1st fashion, which always happens every year, it's way colder today than it's been for the past couple of weeks.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I whipped out my furry slippers today, and I don't know, just that small little act literally made such a difference.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I know this is so dramatic, but let me remind you guys that and myself that the Salon Gazette podcast, at least in certain respects, is a frivolous podcast.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're not sometimes we'll touch on like life topics, but this is a salon.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is for us to I think this is like first world problems, you know.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you don't live in a first world, like these things that we think about, it's first world issues, so it's not really if that's what you came here for, for some like deep soul stirring.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, maybe this podcast is not for you.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm doing myself a disservice by saying this, but I just want to be honest, so yeah, but honestly, it made a difference to me in my psyche, like a little bit.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel like okay, because I am sensitive to my senses, and I put on those those furry slippers, I'm feeling cozy, okay.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling strapped and kind of ready for fall a little bit.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's just about um everybody is different, obviously, and I wonder what it is when it comes to each person, especially if you live in an area or a location where there are regular seasons.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder how each person goes about transitioning into that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I find it very interesting, honestly.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But something else that I told you guys I kind of find myself already switching up is my diet.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think especially like when you were having those heat waves during the summer, I was really gravitating towards like my diet changed a lot.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people's diets does, or it should, anyways.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I find myself kind of gravitating towards more cold foods, like juices, that kind of stuff, things that are cold and refreshing and like watery.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I made a lot of juices and I would just have them in my fridge.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would have like um raw salads instead of like cooking my veggies, like nothing like crazy.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a rabbit, so I'm not eating like raw broccoli or that kind of stuff.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I just mean spinach or arugula, that kind of stuff.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I would have more salads in the summer.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, have juices, especially like I love oats and oatmeal, so when I started really getting more into that, and we started transitioning into spring and summer, I was like, I don't want to be eating a hot breakfast.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like hot, um, what's the word?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hot in I have a word in mind, but that's not the word that I want.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's like thick, you know, and and heavy and substantial.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be having that first thing on a hot morning in the summer.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I would have my overnight oats, which is when I don't know if you guys know what overnight oats are.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure some of you guys know, but for those of you who don't, it's just kind of oatmeal, but you have it cold, you just have it in the fridge.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of cooking it, instead of cooking the oatmeal under heat, you just kind of prepare it the night before, maybe a couple days before, and you just add like milk, yogurt, other stuff, sweetener, and you just pop it in the fridge, and then by the time you're ready to eat it the next day or the next couple of days, it has a consistency of oatmeal, but it's more cold, so yeah, yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was really doing it for me in the summer.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was very satisfying.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not really gravitating towards my juices, and I hate that.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but I hate that because my juices is they're a way that I really try to get my nutrition, so I'll make most things that I'm eating.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I try to I sound like a robot, lol, but it's true, and it helps, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like medicine.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: You wanna be if you want to get better, you have to take your medicine.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, if you want to be healthy, you have to figure out a way to eat healthy and just do the damn thing.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, one way that I was like kind of stacking habits is I you know want something refreshing and cold during the day, so I'll make juices.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm gonna make juices, I'm going to make it healthy.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I would actually make I actually don't know.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering if this is what kombucha is.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: What is kombucha, you guys?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's just ginger.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me look it up right now, literally, as I'm talking to you guys right now.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna look it up.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So kombucha is a tea, it's slightly fizzy tart.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's fermented.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it's fermented.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's not fermented, the juices that I make.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're just like brewed ginger.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd make like an iced tea, kind of.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It would just be brewed ginger, and I'd add a tea bag of those like raspberry teas, so those like fruity teas.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I would add hibiscus, depending on what I'm in the mood for, and then I just sweeten it usually with a little bit of honey and agave, and I just have that in the fridge, and that's my quote unquote juice.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Or I do need to, I do really, really want to get a juicer one day so that I can just yeah, have like more conventional juice that comes from actual fruits that are cut up and everything.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I guess what I'm making is more so iced teas than I'm making, even though they it feels like a juice because I'm using fruit teas, anyways.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I haven't been gravitating towards those, and they've been giving me like a lot of nutrition.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: My skin looks amazing when I'm regularly drinking those iced teas because there's just so much, I don't know, whatever's in those, like raspberry, true blueberry, there's like the country peach passion, um, all of those just makes my skin look wonderful.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm now transitioning over to hot teas.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you guys.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready for fall, ready or not.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Here it comes, and I just need to get ready.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, yeah.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you guys, I really want to get into this episode and kind of get into my state of flow, which I usually get into once I start yapping on the mic, but I kind of have something on my mind, and I don't want to be a big baby about it, but I guess it is kind of part of my personal zeitge, so I'll come in here and talk to you guys about it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just had a run-in with a cop, and it was nothing crazy.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was just in my car, and I wanted to go and hang out somewhere and be at peace.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So there's this location.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think I told you guys this um in the last episode.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's this location I usually go to, and I just chill there when I want to be alone and kind of be in my own thoughts or maybe get some work done and be alone.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: But this is like twice and within like a couple of days that like policemen have stopped me because I don't know, I guess it does come off a little bit suspicious.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I've I've been going there for like years, I think even before I moved to Arizona, I used to go to that spot.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I left for Arizona in 2022, and even before that, like years before, I would um I would go to that location, and I think I only had a run-in with like a cop like one time because it does look kind of suspicious, but you know, once they realize that I'm just there to be alone, they're like, Oh, okay, you're fine, enjoy your enjoy and have a nice day.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: But like that just happened today, and I kid you not, like two days ago, it also like I got I got a policeman came up to me, and just both times I'm realizing something.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these police officers are really young, they're younger, so they must be like new, they must be new cops.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And just the way that like they approach me and the way that they talk to me, even though like there's no rapport behind between us, so it's not like they have a reason to be hostile towards me because we haven't even spoken yet.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know if I'm hostile, if I'm mean, or if I'm nice, but they approach me in kind of a hostile manner, and yeah, and and I've I've had run in with police officers before, nothing crazy.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not like a criminal or anything, but you know, I very much so don't want to fall into the stereotype of saying, like, oh, policemen are you know, they suck, they're rude, they're aggressive, da da da da da.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I one thing about me is I will always strive to take people on a case-by-case basis, and so it hasn't been, I have definitely have run in with police officers that are super rude, unnecessarily aggressive, and just hostile for no reason.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also run into police officers that are super nice and chill, and they just want to make sure you're not doing anything wrong, and once they know that they're like, Oh, okay, I'm sorry, have a nice day.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but because these two police officers, like their energies towards me, were just so hostile, and I don't know if any of you have ever had experiences with cops where when they're like asking you questions, they're asking it in like a very rapid-fire way, and they're looking at you as if they're trying to get you to stumble on your words, and so that's what this cop was doing.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just looking at him because every time he would do that, I would just kind of pause and look at him and just kind of wonder, like, what are you doing?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not I'm not doing anything, I don't have anything to lie to you about.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just like say what I'm saying without you, you know what I mean?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like being down my throat about the answer.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So he was just being kind of hostile and sarcastic and a little bit rude, and I don't know, it it uh it's not a big deal, it's not like you know, not literally nothing happened, but I will say emotionally I just feel a little bit rattled, and I think it's because this happened like twice within a span of like two or three days, and it was the same experience, and these police officers are both younger.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I say that is because I'm realizing it's clicking for me that obviously, as people get older, different police officers retire, and new people obviously get jobs and they become the new police officers.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm also just thinking about the climate of this country.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Of I live in the United States, the climate of this country, and the climate of just law enforcement culture in general, and how they are again.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is not me being biased or anything like that, it's just what I've seen, what I've heard people tell me, what I'm seeing on the news, that kind of stuff.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like law enforcement culture right now is just a lot more aggressive and hostile and kind of looking for trouble because I'm not even gonna say why, because I'm just gonna ramble on, but like he kind of followed me, you know, and I'm a resident of the town.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why are you following me?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And another police officer has already stopped me, and it's already in your records that I wasn't doing anything wrong.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: So why are you stopping me again?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, whatever.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do your job, they're just doing their job.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: But why do you I was just saying to myself, like, why are these police officers?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they're prickly by nature.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because of the nature of what they do, like their job just makes them prickly and kind of hostile, no matter who you are.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's the case, then that sucks.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of a shitty way to live, to just always be hostile, because you know, life makes you hostile.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds miserable.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I just wanted to share that.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was just kind of it's literally not a big deal logically in my mind.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's not a big deal, but for some reason my emotions right now are a little bit rattled, and I'm just realizing like I'm just feeling this kind of foreboding tone of like I need to be careful and just do my best to like avoid law enforcement because I don't like the energy that I'm getting from them, and I have family members that I don't know, I'm just worried about that just don't they have a different temper than I do, and I'm realizing that I my family and I actually were talking about um a family friend, you know, who's dealing with immigration, and you know, this person doesn't have a criminal background or anything, and they've been in the country for over a decade, over two decades actually, and they're still dealing with immigration, like they're they still have an immigration battle because I don't think people realize just how nearly impossible it's it's basically impossible to naturalize to get naturalized in the United States legally, like it's it's d downright like impossible.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's not impossible, but it's it's like trying to fit a camel through the eye of a needle, it's damn near impossible.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was one thing I was reassuring because of everything that's going on, obviously, with immigration and their status got revoked because it got revoked like on a large scale, like on a national scale.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like on a personal scale that it was revoked because he did something specifically, because for everybody in his status group, like that whole program got revoked, and you know, we were talking, and I I could say a lot of stuff about that, but honestly, I'm just exhausted and tired.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think that people they don't really know people on a case-by-case basis.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think society, people in general have a tendency of lumping everyone into a group when that is never the case, whatever what demographic you're from.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're never just lumped into an entire group, you never act like how someone else might see your group stereotypically.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't even want to ramble about it because I think that would just turn into a whole discussion, and you know, I don't want this podcast episode to be that serious.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we were just trying to, we were we're having a conversation because this is real, you know, and and his country of origin is dangerous, and he hasn't been back there in over two decades, and so it's not even home anymore.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is his home.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's built his family, has he's raised his family here, he has his roots here, he's he's bought a home here, he doesn't have a record, any criminal record at all, he doesn't even get government assistance, any of that.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we're talking, because a lot of them are confused, they're just wondering, like, I wish people would tell us straight up, and there are people like if you go online, you'll see it, it's not anything rational, it's not because people actually believe that you're a violent criminal, therefore you should rightfully get deported.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in this country breaking the laws and initiating violence, then you do deserve to get deported to your country of origin because you're a criminal and nobody wants to live with criminals.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think some people get confused when they're targeted and they've lived, they've fought and battled to assimilate into this, um, into this culture.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this person is so patriotic, and even I have said to this, me, I I'm an American citizen.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even I've said to this person, like, I don't really understand why you're so loyal to the ideals of this country, because they are not loyal to you.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: This person loves celebrating American holidays, like 4th of July, especially, like such a patriotic holiday.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Love celebrating.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'll throw, we'll have a barbecue, all of that, like just assimilate into the culture of this country, and I would just get kind of angry at them because I'm like, You're I feel like you're bootlegging this country, and in a notice, they would just throw you away.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I'm not talking about everybody in this country.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm most more so talking about the politics of this country and especially right now.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's of the ideologies and the politics that are in power right now, they would throw you away without a second thought.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what's happening.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think more and more people are realizing now that it's not the hardened criminals that they said that they were gonna go after.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And even I actually saw through that bulls bullshit because I remember I would watch kind of news conferences about you know, when they would ask, like, why are you going after these people who don't have a record?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And their answer would be, if you're in this country illegally, then you are a criminal, and even that I suppose, okay, I get that you consider those people if they're here illegally, and not because they like hopped the border, and then some people have done that, and again, I'm not judging anybody because I know what it's like, even though I am an American citizen, I wasn't raised here in the first half of my life, and so I had to I did have the quote unquote immigrate um immigrant experience, and so I'm not going to judge anybody about what they had to do to come here because I understand how difficult it is and how harrowing it is like when you're literally in survival mode and you have to leave where you're from.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to leave where they're from, where you grew up, where you're comfortable.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Who all of a sudden just thinks, Oh yeah, I think I'm just gonna get up and pick up my entire life, that of my family, especially if you have children, that kind of stuff, and your stability, and you just pick up to move to a location that is like hostile to you.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: If people are doing that, it's because they're in they're desperate, and I'm not saying that makes it okay, I'm just saying to have some perspective, so that's why I don't want to judge anybody for what they did.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But even people who haven't like actually committed a crime to get what they consider, like you know, if you hop the border, for example, for example, I don't even know if you can do that anymore.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's you're committing a crime, even if I'm not judging you for that, but it is a crime.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: But this person they came here legally, their status was revoked while they were in this country legally, and you know, they were just kind of nervous about like what's gonna happen now.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was trying to reassure him, like, okay, well, at least police officers in this part of the country, like we live in the north and the on the east coast.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Seems to me that they are, in my experience at least, in the past, they are very cordial, they're nice, they're they mind their own business, they're not looking for trouble.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm wondering if I should reconsider that because this was just like this was this was nothing.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: These these encounters that I had with these police officers.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was nothing.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: They were just kind of suspicious, and they came up to me.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: But why was your why are their energies like today is a is a Tuesday, by the way.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's Tuesday, it's one o'clock in the afternoon, it's broad daylight.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just a regular girl, I'm wearing a pink shirt, pink leggings, my hair is down, my car is clean, all of it.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: So there's I don't know, in my eyes, there's nothing really suspicious or hostile about me, except for maybe the location that I'm in.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I've been going there for years, and the location that I'm going to, by the way, is right by the police department.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys have seen me there, and I've been stopped before, so it's in your record that I've been here, and every time the two times that I've been stopped in like what six six or seven years.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Both times I wasn't doing anything.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so why the hostility?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why the the rudeness, the the aggressiveness?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: These are men, by the way.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're clearly in power.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're the police officer, you have firearms on you, like you're law enforcement.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just a girl.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's one in the afternoon, it's broad daylight, like I can't go anywhere, I can't run away, I'm not, I can't fight you.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you're clearly stronger than me.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why the aggression?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why the rudeness?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why the I don't know.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just felt like those two, they they really like those two police officers.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they really wanted they were looking for trouble, and I could see in their eyes they were just praying that they could like catch me on something so that they would have a valid reason to be aggressive towards me.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, you guys, that's kind of really terrifying.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's it's one thing to say it out loud and you know, hear that and be like, ah I shouldn't enjoy it, whatever.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's something else, that's what I'm saying.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, logically in my mind, I don't know, it's not a big deal.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're just just not like what are you talking about?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you making such a big deal about this?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is that in my emotions, irrationally, I am rattled because of their energy towards me.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I can imagine if I was actually someone who, you know, I don't know, I'm not saying if somebody committed like a crime or someone who seems more suspicious than me.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: If it was a guy, for example, somebody who doesn't have their papers, someone who's I don't know.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I'm I'm gonna obviously this this was just two encounters that I had with police officers.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm gonna keep my eyes open and just kind of watch.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: And because I I like I keep saying case by case basis, but if this is the trend, if these new police younger police officers, especially in this highly politicized and and hostile political climate that we live in right now, if this is what their energies are like consistently, then I need to be careful.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: You guys out there need to be careful and avoid the police.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those of you who need to protect yourselves, need to protect yourselves and just lay low and yeah.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna leave it at that.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had to get that off my chest because it was just bothering me, and I was trying to lock in for this episode, and I couldn't.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel this dread in my chest.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't know.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: That police officer was salivating, it's like he wanted to take me away or something.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, I'm I'm just a girl.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: I just came here to be alone and gets in peace.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And like, why are you looking at me like I'm he was looking at me like I was his new catch.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Really disturbing.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I'm done.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, I need a break.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, you guys, hard pivot, kind of.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a great segue, but also kind of a hard pivot.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to talk you guys about so I recently just watched Legally Blonde, literally for the first time.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds crazy, and I I've seen it like in passing, kind of.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen clips on social media, and I think I've seen like little clips here and there when it's like on on the TV or when I was younger, just seeing like little synopses of it.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: But this was the first time that I actually sat down and watched it through and through, and I was just thinking and reflecting.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great segue because I was reflecting on the foreigner's experience 16 years later, in my case, and again, I am an American citizen, like I was born here when I was raised in Haiti.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: How many times do I have to say that, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Before I've said it enough.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we know that.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: But in case you don't know or you don't remember, yes, I grew up in Haiti.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was just kind of like uh, it was just kind of like a feature of my life when I was in Haiti, like, yes, like my my base, my family, everything is from Haiti, but it was just kind of this fun fact, like, oh, by the way, you're an American.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't like really anything consequential until it became consequential, obviously, until we moved here, and so that's why I'm saying, like, I was reflecting on my foreigner's experience 16 years later and how I still find myself interacting with key moments of American culture, and that's I think that's that's kind of trippy and kind of crazy to me, and in a good way, because I am someone who always um loves to continue growing.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love to keep learning, and there's nothing I love more than when you're used to a topic, and then maybe like further down the line you realize like there's deeper, there's deeper aspects of the topic, and so you just keep going deeper and deeper and deeper.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am such a rabbit.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: I that's literally my Chinese zodiac, by the way, which is so funny, but it's so real.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm such a rabbit, I'm always going down different holes, and I love it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was it was just it was making me feel good, like it was just a feel-good experience.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, the movie, like it was great, obviously, such a distinct part of American culture and American aesthetics, and yeah, for well, first I want to say what I kind of realized, what what I mean by I'm still interacting with key moments of American culture, because obviously legally blonde is something that is so it's so recognizable in the mind or in the zeitgeist of American culture.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was thinking about that and I finally watched the movie, it was great by the way.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Such a feel-good movie, like those early 2000s, late 90s movies, like rom-coms or whatever that genre is.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like they they're so like they leave you with this warm feeling on the inside that I really really really love.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was a great movie, of course.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Reese Witherspoon is like she's perfect.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can imagine when this movie first came out, and obviously, like I don't know how old she was, but she was like a lot younger, and so I can imagine like she carried that movie so much, she was probably such a phenomenon when it came out, and I can imagine like how much her fame probably surged because she really, really, really takes over that whole movie.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, she's the lead actress, but just because of the lead actress doesn't mean that you're you're you really take over a movie like that.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: But Reese Withersprin, I don't think it could be illegally blonde without her.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I was thinking about something that I realized about kind of something I've noticed from an outsider's perspective about American culture, which is kind of this blind optimism about life, which I don't mean in a negative way, but obviously it can be a negative thing, and yeah, I don't know if I necessarily want to go more in depth about the blind optimism thing, but just kind of like everything was obviously it's a movie, it's a feel-good movie, like it's not that deep.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing we must realize that even though we might know, again, knowing something logically doesn't mean that your subconscious and your emotions will experience it in a logical manner.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times our emotions and our psyches, our subconscious, are very irrational, like they just retain what they will retain, and it's it's up to you and in your brain and in your logical brain to kind of roam that part of yourself and and bring out those feelings, bring out those thoughts, and apply rationale to them.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, of course, with that said, like it's just a movie, it's not that deep.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's literally an early 2000s movie about you know some girl from California, like it's not that deep.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: But because this movie is so popular, like it's so so so so popular, and not everybody is rational about how they kind of experience the themes of a movie.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was just thinking, like, I think it's it's perfectly it's kind of blind optimism of you know this girl, like she's never really had any law experience, or I've dabbled into law, like in her in her academic career or whatever, and then all of a sudden she just decides she's going to Harvard, like in Ivy League school, and then she studies for for what a couple of months, and then she passes, she takes the LSAT, and I know she doesn't pass like well.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think she took like a in the movie, she takes like a a practice test, and then she did she doesn't pass that one, and then she takes it a second time, and then she passes it with like high like a high high score, and then all of a sudden she's going to Harvard, and you know, these things are happening, and it's like especially I I don't know, I kind of jump the shark a little bit a bunch of times.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you that don't know what that means, it's like a if you're like a English nerd, English class or English literature nerd, it's just something they teach you about when you're when you're kind of like reading a book or when you're watching a movie and something so implausible happens that you're like, okay, wait a minute.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's kind of silly.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like that wouldn't really happen in real life.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's called jumping the shark.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like when the when the narrative goes too far and it's it's kind of hard to believe.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I especially jumped the shark when she um the girl that they were defending, like she fired the guy, and then she took Elle on as her lawyer, and then her first case, like she's hasn't even graduated from Harvard, she's new to law, kind of relatively, and she wins the case, and it's you know, like it's just it it is very much so feel good, and I enjoyed I really really really really enjoyed this movie.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: But and when I was thinking about it in terms of American culture, I feel like that's really reflected in my experience of how I've I think also a lot of people's experience of American culture, and just this very much so optimism and positivity and high energy, and just like everything's going to work out, everything's going to be fine, and you know, even though we go through these hard moments, it's only gonna last like a little bit, and then we'll we'll conquer and we'll defeat it.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think that that's very noble.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's very noble, I think it's very brave, but I think it also makes my experience when I talk to people on a case-by-case basis, and sometimes when they're talking about their personal experiences in life, I've noticed that a lot of people, Western culture in general, but obviously because I live in the United States, it's been my experience, they have a very slow threshold for kind of harsh realities and tragedy, and things not working out for the best, and things taking a turn for the worst, actually, not getting everything that you want, even though you worked super really, really, really hard for it.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I can feel the culture changing a little bit, and I think, especially with Gen Z, with you know job markets, that kind of stuff, inflation, affordability, all that stuff, and war is going on around the world, natural disasters, all of that.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think, especially this year, what is going on this year in 2026 with all these deaths, all these natural disasters that just keep happening?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just one after the other.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, 2026, man.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's very foreboding.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the start of 2020, the start of the COVID epidemic.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys remember, but the beginning of 2020, I'm pretty sure, is when Kobe Bryant and his daughter and those people like died from that air from that um helicopter crash.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just this it was like a new year, and it just gave this foreboding tone to the year, and then all of a sudden COVID started moving rapidly and things started shutting down.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: It just felt like this dun dun dun turning point, and I feel like I can sense that this year too.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: All these natural disasters, dude.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, who knows what's to come, honestly.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Who whoever knows what's ever to come in history, right?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows if if if a huge moment of history is about to happen, like literally tomorrow or next week, or something like that.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, another rabbit hole.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was thinking about my foreigner experience 16 years later and how I really really appreciate these moments where I am discovering kind of fundamental building blocks of American society.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: And again, this is one movie, but it's had such a big impact on the psyche of American culture, and for me to like watch it now and finally understand that and see it and be like, oh yeah, okay, I get it.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: I see why it's so popular, especially in American culture.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it is a great movie, so I think it would have been popular regardless, but also especially of why it's so popular in the United States and why people resonated so much with it.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just reminding me of this conversation that I was having with this man when we were on a date, and he was asking me, we were kind of discovering that we both love um kind of international conversations, sociology, that kind of stuff.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: He he had been in the military and he was telling me about his travels and how I'm pretty sure he he liked his profession, he he's out of the military, and his profession is some kind of linguistic specialist, so he he learns about a lot of different languages and that kind of stuff.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: So he's very much so into communication and society and how that shapes communication and all of that.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we were kind of noticing that we had a lot in common in common in terms of just being global citizens and really, really being we were both Sagittarius, we're both Sagittarius, by the way, which was so cliche.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, of course, we love foreign, anything having to do with foreignness, like it's our bread and butter.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, he was asking me, he was he was wondering.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think we were talking about college, and I told him what I majored in, which was international studies.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he was saying, Why international studies?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why did you get into that?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was kind of telling him, it's um, he was asking me what I love about international conversations, international studies, that kind of stuff, sociology, government.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was telling him that it's it's nuanced as I've gotten older, it's gotten deeper and it's changed, it's taken on different aspects.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the very, very beginning of it, like the reason why I think I come back that I think I know I come back to it time and time again, is because of that experience that I had moving here, and like maybe another time I'll tell you guys about the earthquake, even like just the circumstances of how I came here.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was an earthquake, like my life was turned completely upside down, and all of a sudden I'm in a I I had visited the United States before many times, but only over the span of like a couple of weeks, and that was you know hanging out with family, never really like getting into the the crux of like society and interacting with people on a day-to-day basis, and that was such like a it was such a vivid and jarring and all all the positive and negative things mixed into one, like it was it was like a very high, like what's the word I'm looking for?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't think of a word, you guys.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very high alert time of my life because think about it.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: I I always think about what people say about culture shock.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Culture shock is not about it's not like when you go somewhere and people do things like completely different from how you do it, and that can be a part of culture shock, but that's not really what it is.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Where the shock really comes from is things that you're used to doing on a daily that you don't even notice, that you kind of take for granted, like being able to go outside maybe and walk your dog, or saying hi to somebody, hey, what's up?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like you you do these things, you don't even think about it, like it's just part of how you act.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's when you go to to a different Location and those little things that you're used to doing, all of a sudden, like let's say you say to somebody, Hey, what's up?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: and they look at you like you have three heads, you're gonna be like, Huh?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, or or you know, making a gesture with your hands, and all of a sudden, people are looking like you like they want to kill you.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, wait, what did I do?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just giving a thumbs up.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you go and you go for a run or you go for a walk, we're looking at you like, what is this person doing?
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, wait a minute, I'm just doing that's where the culture shock really comes from, and so I feel like that was a daily thing for me growing up here when I when I first moved here, like it was so jarring, and I was so young, and obviously, my family and I had experienced so much the weeks before, and then coming here, and it's like now I'm going to school, and I am now for the first time in my life, minority, something I'd never experienced in my life because I'm for all of my life, I was used to being around people who looked exactly like me, and so all of those things like language, I didn't speak the language at all, so that was a complete culture shock.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: My thing, my topics that I wanted to talk about, ways that I wanted to play, like I were a lot more active in Haiti in terms of like on a daily basis, like we're running around a lot more, versus like in the United States, you kind of have to sit still, you have to, you have to be on your best behavior.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: You so all these things were really, really jarring for me, and so I was telling him, like, I think obviously, while that was jarring, I think the adrenaline of experiencing that, I think I kind of got hooked on it.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's something I've heard people talk about.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's probably scientific like research about this.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard about this, like when your brain is in an environment that it's not used to, it's on hyper alert because it's your brain is trying to like keep you alive at at all times or to keep um what's the word to keep threats at bay, and so it's constantly surveying for things that might be a threat to you, and also your brain is not our brains are not as rational as we would like to think, because something as small as maybe you don't know the language, and that is kind of a threat to your that can be a threat to your survival, but it's not really a threat to your survival, but your brain will register that as like, oh my god, I'm being chased by a lion, or I'm being chased by a bear, or oh my god, like my food is running out and I'm about to starve.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's how your brain will react, and so it'll be on hyper alert, and I can't even imagine the hormones and the chemicals that are just flooding your body as it's on high alert like that.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think just that it's that jarring but also thrilling kind of daredevil-like experience of all being hyper alert all the time, and in what that it's like an exercise for your brain, it's like when you're chilling on the couch, and all of a sudden there's a problem and you have to get up and you have to solve it, and this, this, this, it's like you feel like you just ran a marathon, even though you're not do you're not going anywhere, but your brain is on such like hyper alert that it's like, oh my goodness, like what's going on with you?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: This like it starts moving at a crazy pace, and so I think I got hooked on that, you guys.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think now that I know what that feeling of adrenaline and just being on hyper alert feels like, I need it.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing like it, I need it, and so and especially being someone who loves to learn and deepen my knowledge and certain things, like realizing that there's more to be learned about a culture that I thought I've kind of gotten a grasp on for what 16 going on 17 years now.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's it's like the more I know, the more I realize that I don't know, and that's very thrilling to me.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if some of you guys, I'm sure there's definitely people out there, there's many people who have either the immigrant experience or just you know, travel or do studying abroad, or maybe they go to another country and for a couple of months, that kind of stuff.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you guys know what I mean and what I'm talking about with that feeling and that experience, and it's like we're it's as if you're you become a glutton for punishment, you become someone who likes intense experiences, and it's a very thrilling thing, it's a very scary thing, it's it's like it's very overwhelming, and so I don't really know what my kind of lesson in this is.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what you guys are taking away from this conversation, but I think my one suggestion or my one advice would be to you guys that you know, for those of you who think about traveling the world or experiencing different cultures, I know because I I experience those feelings too.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of like dreading, foreboding feeling of like I'm gonna be in a location where I don't speak the language, I'm not used to the cultural customs, and I'm going to feel like a fish out of water, and you're going to be a fish out of water, but don't run away from that feeling, you guys, because it can be like one of the most thrilling experiences ever.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like working out.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who who have experienced a post-workout endorphin rush or in the moment when when like the workout is hitting, like it's it's like you're literally a glutton for torture for pain because you're putting your body under this stress, and your body is literally under stress, but it's doing something cathartic to your brain.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, this feels good, like I'm shedding something, like I'm I'm I don't know, I'm exercising something, I'm releasing something.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's what it feels like to not only interact with different cultures, but to really immerse yourself into it and to and it has huge benefits.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge huge, huge benefits because it pushes you to see different perspectives, and those perspectives can be so different that you feel like you're in an alien, you're in an alien planet.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's how different cultures are and can be from one another.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think by default, when you're able to do that and you're able, because people are just people at the end of the day, wherever you go, humans are just humans, and so when you're able to find the those commonalities while also realizing that, like, wow, here I was in my own perspective, thinking that there was only one way to do this, or there's only one right way to do that, or to exist, or to be this, and now here I am in this totally different culture, and I'm doing things like this, I'm existing in this way, and I still feel good.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I still feel like I'm like I'm not a bad person.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel like like I'm alive, I'm surviving.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, there isn't one way to do things, there's multiple ways to do things, there's multiple ideologies, there's multiple structures, all those things, and so yeah, I just wanted to share that with you guys, honestly.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that was a very um, it was a very interesting conversation that I had with them, and it was it was really nice to really meet a kindred spirit and really talk about that experience is like when you're kind of a foreigner in your location and you're totally outside of your comfort zone, and also the beauty, the beauty and the satisfaction, you guys.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: Such a deep satisfaction of when you finally start to feel like you're getting a grasp, or obviously not losing completely where you're from, taking your experiences with you, but when you start to feel like things are clicking, or like you're assimilating, or like you're being accepted into your new community, and that's happening on like a subconscious level because now I've watched the movies that you guys are watching, and I can learn to appreciate it.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm listening to the music that you're listening to, or I'm using the slangs that you guys are using, and I feel it when I'm when I'm speaking it.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: I feel it in my bones.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, I understand why you say it like this.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why you like this movie, I understand why you like this song.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's they're all fire.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that's what I was feeling with Legally Blonde, honestly.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, Wow, huh?
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: I understand why Americans like this this movie so much.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: That feel-good energy, that that energizing optimism, and just feeling like, hell yeah, go out there.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you want to go to law school, go to law school.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: Fuck that man who thinks you can't go to law to Harvard because you're not smart enough, because you're just this pretty blonde or this pretty bimbo with no brain.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, yeah.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to share that with you guys.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's I guess that's my movie kind of zeitgeist experience for the week, or all right now, and I just wanted to share that with you guys.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, the last thing I wanted to talk about is again fashion, fall fashion, fall fashion.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, as you guys know, as I've said in the last episode, we're transitioning into fall, and something that helps me to do that is to kind of change my wardrobe and start pulling out the the cozy sweaters and the the cozy slippers and the layers and all of that.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm right now kind of doing preliminary fall shopping, but before I do that, I'm getting inspiration from fashion all over.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't want to say all over the world because some of these fashion most of these fashion houses are like from the west, it's like Europe and the United States and the Western Hemisphere in general, not all of them, but most of them.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so what that's looked like is I've been mostly focusing on high fashion for inspiration, and that's not because I want to be a snob, you guys.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's only because if you guys really go out there and you look at how many different fashion brands, like clothing brands, there are out there, it's endless, endless.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like looking at different musical artists, singers, you know, even like within different genres, it's endless, and so I can't look at everything, and so I choose to focus on high fashion because people idealize them so much, and I think for well, I'm not gonna say automatically for good reasons, but for certain reasons that are most of the time valid, they hold high prestige in just culture in general, and so I think they serve kind of like in the world of art where and even that like it's not a perfect equation.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's just because you're not you don't have high you know recognition, that kind of stuff doesn't mean you're not a good artist, but it just means that some of these people have rapport and people are looking at them for a reason, and obviously you don't have to follow in the same step as that, but I think it just kind of makes it easier and more coherent, and as this podcast is not just for me to come and yap about my own perspective and my own experiences, I also want to meet people halfway where they are, and most people are looking at these fashion houses, and I think for good reason too, and that's with a caveat, of course.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the reason I want to talk about this is because so I've been looking at a lot of these high like luxury fashion brands, so brands like um Chanel, wait, wait, wait, let me let me actually go and look at the ones that I've looked at so far.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't gotten through all of them.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: I still have 20, 20 different brands that which I have to look at their fall and winter collections.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: But some of these brands include like Alaya, Bottega Venada, Tom Brown, Loeve, Mugler, Michael Kors, Christian Siriana, all these things.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: Dior, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, you know, Rabon, Balenciaga, all of those.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: And even in the world of hype, I'm talking about endless and endless possibilities and endless outlets.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even in the world of luxury fashion, you guys, it's also there's so many.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it can also start to seem endless.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, let alone imagine trying to really look at everything out there.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just, I'm just the one girl with two eyes and one brain.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's only so much that I can process before my brain is like, okay, before I start losing my mind.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, anyways, enough with the rambling.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: What I wanted to talk to you guys about is so I've been looking at some of these collections, right?
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these fall fall 2026, winter 2027 collections for inspiration.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't even know where to start, you guys.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: What I wrote down in my notes for this episode is high fashion is so unrealistically expensive, and it's like duh, people say that.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we know that, but I really, really wanted to get into it today.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because in my head, I was just saying, oh, people are only saying that because like I'm not denying that it's expensive, but I think there's good reasons behind that.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: It depends, not always, but it depends.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: And my logic is that there's reasons behind that because A, I think about for sustainability's sake, in our I think in our capitalist and consumer society, we don't realize that a lot of times the things that we buy on a regular basis, like on a daily basis, they're usually not priced according to what the labor was to make those things or to acquire those things.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: So going to that store and getting that, I don't know, let's say, I I don't even know.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: You get something for like five bucks, and to you that seems like oh that's standard because you're used to it.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: But really, if you look at the labor, the person who made it, what what it took to like what the materials um the company had to buy to make that, what it took to like ship that material, to the resources that were needed to ship that material, the fuel, all of that, the price is not really reflected in the product, which I'm kind of conflicted about.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I don't want to pay more for something if I don't have to, right?
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's just being pragmatic, but also I know that sustainability is important, and so if we just get used to using up a lot of resources on this earth and you doing that for cheap, then obviously that's not sustainable, and that's obviously reflected in things like climate change and global warming, like extracting things faster than they are being replenished, faster than we're paying that value for what it actually costs to take that thing from the earth.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so inevitably, you're gonna run out, things are going to burn down, like because you know, you're you're not replenishing, or or people are gonna go without.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you get things like sweatshops or people who live on like five dollars a day, thirty dollars a month, that kind of stuff, because that's why a lot of factories they go to other countries, third world countries, because it's easier, they don't have robust labor laws that kind of protect people from being underpaid or or not given enough wages for the work that they're actually doing.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of been my logic with like okay.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: I always hear people talk about in high fashion like how many hours it took to make this one thing, and a lot of times with these craft um, these what are they craftsmanship, they are doing it by hand, you know, it's specialized, all these things, but obviously, there's also the profit aspects of it when you're dealing with luxury fashion and luxury brands and the luxury market.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, all business is in it for profit.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: But my thing is where I say it's unrealistically expensive, so I should think that I don't obviously I don't want to have to pay like let's say what$3,000 for a blouse or seven thousand dollars for a dress, right?
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to have to pay that if I can get it for cheaper, but I don't mind paying that if I if a the clothes are worth it, if the value is actually reflected in the crap, all of that.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_00: But some of these brands I'm looking at their collection, for example, I don't I obviously don't want to be bitchy too and be the diva who's just out here shitting on brands, on luxury brands, you know, because I can or because I'm bitter, that kind of stuff.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, charge whatever the fuck you want to charge, right?
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's your business.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, a lot of people are also in it for profit.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's people who actually don't give a damn about the fashion, you know, people like shareholders.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even know what their official titles are.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really care about the fashion.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_00: What they care about is sales and continuous growth, and and they're getting their money's worth and what they're investing.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what, that's valid because it's not like this is a necessity, right?
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_00: Fashion is not a necessity, this is frivolous, it's a frivolous business.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_00: People do it, people buy into it because they want to.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's a luxury, so it's it's not like food or or housing, that kind of stuff, even though that's a whole different conversation, right?
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, do whatever you want.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_00: I we don't have to participate in this, so I'm not just gonna sit here and complain about oh, these are so expensive, blah blah blah, why are you making your prices so expensive?
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you don't want to buy it, then don't buy it, it's not a necessity.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say that if your prices are like if you're pricing a pair of pants or a dress, and that price is more or about the same as somebody's apartment down payment, then obviously it's a given that you are held to a high standard, right?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I expect the caliber of your clothes, and I'm I'm not talking about materials, that kind of stuff, I'm talking about does it look good or does it not?
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously that's subjective, but so where I'm coming from is why I was saying I don't want to shit on anyone.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying this is a forever outcome, but I was looking at Gucci's fall 2026, winter 2027 collection, and it sucks.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, it does.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let me so I told you guys I have a rating system for the collections I look at, I rate it what I think of it personally.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, beauty is subjective, so it's my own personal interpretation of the collection, but for Gucci, I wrote like I not only did I not like it, it's boring as furk, like it's so boring.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: They had these, it looked like an HM fashion show, just like super basic.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my thing is I don't have a problem with basic fashion, like they have like these red, they had this um all red outfit.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was like red leggings and a red, I don't know, like I don't know what the material is, but you know, just a regular tight red tank or or or um short sleeve shirt.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a problem with that.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have basics in my closet too.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's always good to have basics here and there.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_00: My thing is, why are those regular ass leggings$1,500?
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, but what$1,500 for a pair of leggings?
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but they're Gucci.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hang on, you guys, hang on, hang on, hang on.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going on their website right now.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go on their website, and what is this?
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is women's handbags introducing Gucci's primavera collection.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure primavera is spring, or is that winter?
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, actually.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just go to women's ready to wear, yeah.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: View all.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm on their page right now, kind of scrolling.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_00: The col the whole collection.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there was like three or four things that I screenshotted, and I was like, oh okay, these are actually cute.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the rest, boring, basic as fuck.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm using profanity right now because I'm I'm hot, I'm bothered.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_00: I am.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to find these leggings, like these seamless stretch nylon jersey leggings,$1,200.
• 1:05:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're literally just black leggings, and then there's this.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Skirt, it's just like a leather skirt, it's a lightweight stretch leather, it's just a pencil skirt, leather.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_00: $4,600.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, what and my thing is is like it's not even like the clothes, like yeah, have basic clothes.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not hating on the clothes, but it's the clothes match with the price that I'm just like, what is going what in the this is what people talk about when they say dystopian reality because there's no way I'm still trying to look for there stretch jersey leggings, they're red fifteen hundred dollars.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_00: This literally mini skirt with just buttons in the middle that's red, fifteen hundred dollars.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_00: These pants that are like they literally look like just black trousers that you could get at freaking JCPenney or Macy's or something for like 50 bucks, they're 990 dollars, almost a thousand dollars.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my thing is is like even if even if like this is nothing to you, even if this is chump change, like you can afford to spend that much, like it's it's like nothing to you, should you though?
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why?
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I'm looking through the collection and I see something that's elaborate and it clearly looks like wow, I've never seen this before.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_00: A I can tell people worked so hard on this.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even then, I would be like, damn, but but freaking$2,500 though, that's kind of crazy.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_00: But at least I'd be considering it, right?
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_00: At least I would I would look at the merit of the clothes.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I don't want to have to pay that much for clothes, but if if there's something behind it, like if it's just like breathless, like for example, the George Hobaca collection, it's a brand, it's the fall 2026 winter 2027 collection.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, you guys.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_00: Gorgeous, dropped dead, gorgeous.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_00: Their prices, I'm not in that kind of tax bracket yet where I can just drop like five thousand dollars on a dress or seven thousand dollars on a dress, right?
• 1:08:27
  SPEAKER_00: But at least I would be considering it.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: At least I could say, okay, look at the crystals on that, like it just it just looks like like you look like a piece of jewelry walking around.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_00: You just and I don't know.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I also kind of wonder the morality of just wearing clothes for the sake of showing off that you have money, right?
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a whole different conversation, but like I'm sorry, just some regular ass, even if you can afford to drop$1,500 on a regular ass pair of leggings, should you like really?
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm just thinking, bro, I'm listening to these news podcasts about somewhere in East Africa, I think it's Somalia, or I'm not sure where I heard it from.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uganda, I'm not sure.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's people who survive on$30 a month.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, I'm sorry, if you just have$1,500 to spend on leggings, go give that to a charity.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_00: Get involved in your community and honestly, like start some kind of foundation and put that fifteen hundred dollars in there.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, just a hundred dollars of that.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: What thirty dollars a month?
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just three months, dude.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's not even a hundred dollars.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_00: That could be somebody's three months worth of allowance, my guy, but you're gonna spend it on leggings.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think the conversation is nuanced, even if the the value of the clothes is reflected in how it looks, you know, there's there could be a conversation to be had about should you though, should you drop that seven thousand dollars in the dress, even though even if it's dropped dead gorgeous.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, I think that if there's a collection that I like, even if I have like the George Hobacon one, for example, I'm just going with that because I really, really loved like it was so good that fall and winter collection, dude.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was looking at the prices, and I'm like, okay, even though as a girl I'm looking at, I'm like, oh, I want all of them.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I literally want all of them, and even if I had that kind of money where it wouldn't bother me to spend to buy like what six different dresses, and they're each like seven thousand, six thousand.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Even if I could do that, my thing is am I okay with that morally?
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because all of the time, when I'm on Instagram, YouTube, it doesn't matter where I am, I'm seeing constant ads about charities, this and people you know living on this amount of money per month.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Money is needed here, money is always needed.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_00: People starving here, this there, people begging in the comments.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_00: They have a debt that's literally five thousand dollars.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_00: My sister just got an apartment.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Her down payment for her apartment was literally sorry if I'm like putting her on blast.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, girly, if I'm putting you on blast right now.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, she was she was kind of like uh it was like a bother.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where am I gonna get that money?
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_00: We had to think about it.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_00: She she got the apartment and like we helped her, but it was a little bit of a scramble.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Five thousand dollars.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking, like, even if I I'm looking at all those dresses, those George Jobeka dresses, and I'm like, oh, I want to get like six of them.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_00: If I had that kind of money, I feel like I would just maybe get one or two, even if I can get all of it, just get one or two, because at some point I don't know if I can live with myself, you guys.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing all these ads pop up on my feed, and it's like okay, even if you are involved in a charity and you you are given like let's say ten thousand dollars here, twenty thousand dollars there, it's like okay, you did your part, but there's always more people out there who needs money.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just think about I don't know if you guys have ever watched any of you guys have watched Schindler's list, so random, I know, but this is what pops up into my head.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know so random.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember in that movie, um, at the end, Oscar when it was time for him, like he had to leave the country because he was in danger.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure they had found out like what he was doing because he was helping a lot of uh Jewish people or people who were targeted to kind of um escape and like like he would pay for them because he was a rich man, like he would he had like a whole facility that he like used as a disguise for giving certain people jobs, but really he was helping to like smuggle them out of the country so that they could like get to safety.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember at the end when it was time for him and his wife to leave because they were in danger because they had found out what he was doing, he was like crying because he was like, because when he was working with those people, like he got you know, like boots on the ground with them.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_00: He saw these people, he saw them, like each person, and how their lives were being affected, and and all of this.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_00: When he was leaving, he was like looking around, he was like, I could have saved so many more people.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, I saved so many people, but I could have saved so many more people.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was looking at this ring on his finger, he's like, Look at this fucking ring that I have, like, because he he got caught at the beginning, he got caught up in you know, a lot of people do, and they're rich, and you know, he got caught up in the status of it all and showing off and and playing the part, looking the part of the rich man, and you know, living in luxury, which I'm not I'm not condemning anybody about, but I'm just giving you an example.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he at the end, when he really got in close quarters with these people, when he realized, like, dude, look at the change, look at look at how I'm affecting these people's lives.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing like it.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, you can't tell me there's anything like it.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_00: When you actually look into someone's eyes who's desperate, literally in survival mode, and they just they just need like a hundred dollars, bro, and you see the effect that it has on them.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they have children they have to care for, just that, like, it's it's like divine, it's a divine feeling, honestly.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like he he was looking at the ring on his finger, he was like, Fuck this ring, dude.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like this ring, what it could have bought like like six more people's freedom, and here I am wearing this ring, and you know, all the people around him are just like, dude, like you've done enough, go, go, go, it's fine, you know, like stop beating yourself up, go, we love you, that kind of stuff.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I that's just what I was thinking about.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, even if you are involved in charities, and you know, you feel like you've done your due, and I'm not trying to rag on anybody, I'm not trying to be condescending to anybody, I'm just I'm just I just want us to think about it.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's there's more that can be done, there's more people that you could save.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, okay, even if you're someone who gives, I don't know, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to charities, and you're out here, you know, buying, I don't know, like hundreds and hundreds of high fashion luxury um clothes, it's like okay, I get it that you're giving to charities, but there's more people out there who who I don't know.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you guys.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've I've said enough about it, but I'm done with like the the okay, even if you have that money, should you?
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I like hit the mic.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you had that money, should you spend it?
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm done with that aspect of it.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's like obviously I'm not the end all be all, I'm not the authority on this.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is just like a conversation, obviously, and everybody walks away.
• 1:16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I keep hitting the mic.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, you guys.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody walks away with their own interpretation.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we all have our free will.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not here to judge anybody.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I just want to stop conversations that make us think, but I'm done with that part of it.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: What I want to come, what what I want to come down on is like really Gucci.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, those leggings, those fugly ass leggings, to be honest.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm pissed now.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Regular ass leggings for$1,500 just because it's Gucci, that's kind of gross.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Look at this top, dude.
• 1:16:55
  SPEAKER_00: It literally looks like a basic ass black tank top, black long sleeve tank top, nothing crazy, even if it's cashmere, which it is wool cashmere.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, okay.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_00: What like 500?
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Even that's crazy.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know so some people that's like, what$500, guys.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_00: This tank is$1,300.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about, Gucci?
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_00: This random basic ass turtleneck seat, like it's literally a no-sleeve white basic turtleneck.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: $1,300.
• 1:17:36
  SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about, Gucci?
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 1:17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, this this slip, it's a jersey dress.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's literally, it looks like a moo moo, guys.
• 1:17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's no fucking way.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's no fucking way.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like scrolling.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't look at all of it, but there's this dress, it literally looks like a moo moo, it just has like rhinestones on it.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_00: It says they call it crystals, by the way.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what they call it.
• 1:18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's higher quality crystals, but I don't care how quality those unless they're diamonds, unless those are diamonds on the dress.
• 1:18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it would be a lot more expensive if it was diamonds, but at least like it would be worth it.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, at least shit.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there are diamonds.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: This random moo moo looking ass dress with crystals, quote unquote rhinestones on it, is six thousand dollars.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_00: You I'm literally not kidding you.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's actually$5,900, but probably after you know shipping all of that, it's six thousand dollars.
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just round it up.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Six thousand dollars.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_00: My the reason I'm I'm pissed is it's not even necessarily the price.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the quality?
• 1:18:50
  SPEAKER_00: What am I looking at?
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not even that I care, even if I was someone who cared about like if I put this on, everybody better realize that it's Gucci.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even that I care about that, but at least, like, if you put it on, you'll you'll look and say, Oh my god, that dress is gorgeous! Like, wow, where did you get it?
• 1:19:13
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even have to be known that it's from Gucci.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't care about the brand.
• 1:19:18
  SPEAKER_00: What I care about is is the impact, right?
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that wow factor, that it factor of like, oh my god, I need that dress, or like, where did you get that address?
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's only one.
• 1:19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are you telling me that I'm able to get six thousand dollars worth of value from a dress?
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_00: You might say yes, but from this basic ass dress that you could probably get from it from HM for like what eighty dollars, a hundred dollars.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Six thousand dollars, beef be for real, you guys.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Be for real.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not here to be that grand who's like, I know what I'm getting involved in.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's high, it's high fashion, it's luxury fashion.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_00: We know it's expensive.
• 1:20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a problem with that, I don't have a problem with the price.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the quality?
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_00: What am I looking at?
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can't I'm looking at these luxury brands, not because I can afford them.
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just be honest with you.
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at them for inspiration.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, like you look at fine art.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_00: There might there's like a piece, what there's some Rembrandt out there.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I can't afford I can't afford a Rembrandt, right?
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Even if I could, why would I?
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I just don't get that kind of satisfaction from owning uh freaking who knows how many millions of dollars that would cost.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can just look at it and get the inspiration from the artistry and and replicate that in my life and try to live by that art.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I can't even do that with this collection, with this Gucci fall 2026, winter 2027 collection.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's just some basic ass, and it's again, I'm fine with basics.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody needs good basics in their in their wardrobe, but I'm sorry,$7,000,$6,000,$5,000 basics?
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
• 1:21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't I can't even take this for inspiration.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just thinking, like, it's funny with with my analogy with fine art.
• 1:21:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's literally people who buy.
• 1:21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Did you guys hear about that?
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know who the quote unquote artist is, but it's this literally banana taped to a wall that was being sold, like it was in such high demand.
• 1:21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this freaking, I think he's um like he's from China, I'm not sure.
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's like from Asia somewhere.
• 1:21:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's either Chinese or Japanese or Korean, I'm not sure.
• 1:21:46
  SPEAKER_00: But he bought it, he bought that that quote unquote painting or whatever for over a million dollars, several millions of dollars he bought it for, and it was just a banana tape to the wall.
• 1:21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying that to say that I know people will buy stupid shit for crazy amounts of money, and you know, that's between them and their makers to to think about the morality of that.
• 1:22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, millions of dollars for a banana taped on the wall.
• 1:22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you're basically trolling people at this point just to show that, like, oh yeah, I have money and I set it on fire.
• 1:22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm pretty sure he he literally took the banana and and ate it after.
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he's just trolling the public, actually.
• 1:22:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those people who are just watching, like who literally don't know what they're gonna feed their kids tomorrow, he's just trolling them.
• 1:22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I bought this banana for over a million dollars, and that person just needs what, like a hundred bucks from you, and then they can feed their kids for another month.
• 1:22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lol.
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying not to say I know people will buy stupid stuff for crazy amounts of money.
• 1:22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking, like, I just find it so silly and so crazy, and honestly, I know this word is overused, but it's true, so dystopian.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, come on, come on, all right?
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_00: If something is worth several thousands of dollars, it's within our right to have high standards for you because that's a lot of money, and I know for some people, there's people out there who think it's a flex to say, Well, you know, that's because you're broke and I can't afford it.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, cool, that's that's great for you, but let's not pretend like having crazy amounts of money is something that is like morally imposed on people, like just because you have a lot of money, like that's a blessing, it's it's not like a given.
• 1:23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some people don't believe in that, you know, they think that they worked for it all by themselves, and I'm not denying that a lot of people put hard work into the money that they've gotten, and I also think that people forget about blessings and how things can be taken away from you, like your life can literally be turned upside down in a matter of seconds, like that, you know, and so I don't really see the flex behind being like, oh, you know, I can afford it.
• 1:24:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's great for you, honey.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of people out there who will have five fucking jobs.
• 1:24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm exaggerating, who will have like three jobs and they still can't make it, so it's it's not just about hard work and this and that's it's a combination of hard work and blessings for for real.
• 1:24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, again, I don't want to be part of a group of people who just sit and judge rich people just because we're bitter or I'm bitter about not being able to afford what you can afford.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want to engage with the art, I want to engage with the society, genuinely.
• 1:25:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, things like like I was saying, George Hobeka loved the collection.
• 1:25:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's expensive as fuck.
• 1:25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't afford some of those, but I I will put them on, I will advertise them and say, you guys go look at this collection.
• 1:25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, I haven't gone through all of them, like I said, but George Hobeika, Zimmerman, fall these these are all full 2026, winter, 2027 collections, by the way.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, George Hobeika, Zimmerman, Christian Siriano, Ralph Loren, love them, like actually inspiring and actually like delivered.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if I had that kind of money, I would consider at least buying like one or two from here and there, just because I genuinely, genuinely love it and want to interact with it.
• 1:25:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not here to to judge the prices.
• 1:25:52
  SPEAKER_00: My thing is I have high standards, rightfully, because these are expensive.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So what what what would people even be paying for?
• 1:26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, Gucci.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is that?
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 1:26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And some of these, of course, I haven't gotten through all of them, but another one, Dior.
• 1:26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh 2026, went to 2027.
• 1:26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, huh?
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_00: These basics, like skirt on buy collections, and then you go and look at the prices that are so crazy just because they can.
• 1:26:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, that's I think that's all, or else I'm just gonna keep talking in circles.
• 1:26:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I wanted to say and talk about, but yeah, guys, keep to your high standards and don't let anybody make you feel bad that just because you're not able to afford owning these things, that somehow you're not qualified to interact or engage or judge or have high standards for them because that logic, that yeah, that logic doesn't make any sense because it goes the same for any kind of art.
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's many people out there who who aren't able to afford owning Da Vinci or Um Rembrandt's or Caravaggio, all these artists, but people still interact with the art, right?
• 1:27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And they still take inspiration and they continue the conversation and the narrative, having taken inspiration from those artists.
• 1:27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so, why is it that in order for me to engage with this art form in which fashion is art in some ways, it is a necessity in other ways, but also when we're talking about high fashion and luxury, things that are luxuries, things that are not necessities.
• 1:27:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is an art form, and so if it's an art form, yeah, I have high standards.
• 1:27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be inspired.
• 1:27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to leave me with something not basic ass leggings, and it's like, okay, cool, you can make.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: The basic leggings, but reflect that in the price.
• 1:28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you made it what like$500, I would still be like, damn,$500 for leggings, but at least like I'd be like, okay, sure.
• 1:28:11
  SPEAKER_00: $500.
• 1:28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry,$1,500.
• 1:28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not even$500, what$200,$300,$1,500, guys.
• 1:28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 1:28:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's people whose rent is literally that much.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or their their total bills for the month combined is not even that much.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_00: If they're paying for like their car payments, groceries for the month, student loans for the month, their rent, their light bill, all of it.
• 1:28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, people's livelihoods are that much for a pair of leggings.
• 1:29:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a couple others, and I'm kind of like, eh, okay, you know, it's it's cool.
• 1:29:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't dislike it, but it's not like you know, crazy inspiring, but I like it.
• 1:29:19
  SPEAKER_00: These so far, they're exceptions, so I am enjoying this process, and I'm I will definitely come back to you guys and make an episode or create some kind of content around my overall impression from this fall 2026-20-27 collections.
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'm having fun and I'm right where I want to be.
• 1:29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I will get back to you guys, and yeah, I think a lot of them do take their craft seriously, and they they feel that pressure rightfully.
• 1:29:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think it should be something that obviously, you know, is um like I know some designers that you can be crippling kind of pressure.
• 1:30:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's healthy, but I think that they do feel the pressure rightfully because they are held to high standards, and I think that's only fair if you're asking your public, your your audience, your customers to pay a certain amount, even if you can't afford it, even if it's nothing to you to be able to spend$1,500 on a pair of leggings.
• 1:30:28
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, why?
• 1:30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just why?
• 1:30:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know we hear about just the lack and suffering out there.
• 1:30:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you just have money sitting around and you're you're like that, like in the thousands of dollars that you can just throw away on a pair of leggings, get involved.
• 1:30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, get boots on the ground, care about your community and get involved and give that money to something where it the return is exponential.
• 1:31:01
  SPEAKER_00: You put on the leggings where let's say you go a little too rough and you get a rip in it, and it's like versus somebody could feed their family for like an entire year.
• 1:31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Guys,$30 a month.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some people survive on$30 a month.
• 1:31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine$30 for 12 months.
• 1:31:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not even anywhere close to$1,500.
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that's between us and our makers, huh?
• 1:31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Each and every one of us.
• 1:31:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 1:31:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to leave us on I didn't want to leave us on this somber note.
• 1:31:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's somber, I think it's just kind of serious, but there's nothing wrong with being serious, it's just the reality of life.
• 1:31:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I think if we have a hard time listening to it or rolling our eyes out, why does it have to be serious all the time?
• 1:31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because life is serious for a lot of people.
• 1:31:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, first world problems if you're finding it inconvenient to talk about.
• 1:31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some people live it every day.
• 1:32:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the least we can do is at least talk about it.
• 1:32:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I am having fun, and those that I that I am finding inspiration from, don't worry, I will come back and give them where credit is due once I'm done going through all the collections because they are extremely inspiring, and I think they deserve their flowers.
• 1:32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Those who actually put in the work and put in the inspiration and the craftsmanship and all of it and the artistry, because it is art at that level, so yeah.
• 1:32:28
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys enjoyed this episode, the salon edition.
• 1:32:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I'm out, you guys.
• 1:32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for hanging out with me.
• 1:32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to me.
• 1:32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:32:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just kind of stalling because again, whenever I come on here and record, when I know it's been a good episode, I always feel like I am forgetting there's more that I wanted to say, and I'm forgetting it, so that's how I know it was a good episode.
• 1:32:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm looking at my notes, and I think that's it, you guys.
• 1:33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll be going through those collections and engaging with my art, and I'll be back next week, you guys, for the next salon.
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, you guys take care of yourselves and stay informed, stay inspired, get ready for fall, you guys, so that once it's here, it literally will be here in no time at all.
• 1:33:20
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't catch you off guard.
• 1:33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so make your transitions into cozy season, and we'll talk about it more in the next salons coming up.
• 1:33:31
  SPEAKER_00: So until then, I love you guys.
• 1:33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Take care yourself.
• 1:33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.