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| This is the void possessions cannot fill. |
The kawaii community is known for its maximism and materialism, which is why most of you might scoff at minimalism as I once did. It’s easy to think that the minimalist philosophy would only point out our supposed “flaws”, but I believe that its teachings could enhance our kawaii lifestyles and help us foster a healthier relationship with our things. Minimalism can help us reduce stress, save up for the items we really want, be more sustainable, and learn more about ourselves. This is why I believe everyone, minimalist or not, should pay attention to the following lessons:
- Stuff is stressful
Yes, shopping is fun, buying stuff is fun, and using stuff is fun too. But our relationship with stuff is more than just looking, buying, then using. There’s also storage, cleaning, and other stuff that may be necessary to use the original stuff in question, and then that other stuff also needs cleaning and storage and maybe more stuff. Storage is usually stuff you use to store other stuff in (boxes, bags, furniture), and cleaning involves cleaning stuff (detergents, tea towels, brooms). For example, let’s imagine you bought your very first piece of clothing that needed to be washed by hand and hung to drip dry. You’d need a special delicate-washing laundry detergent, a place to hand wash that delicate, a place to hang the delicate to drip dry, and something to hang the drying delicate from. Then you might also need a space to store your laundry detergent and your indoor drying rack when you’re not using them. Feeling overwhelmed yet? This was only one example showing how interconnected our stuff can be. I feel as though I could expand on this point in its own blogpost on its own, but alas, we must move on to the next lesson.
- Decluttering reduces stress and mess
Decluttering removes all the unused and unloved things from your life that would otherwise stress you out or get in your way. In The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo emphasises over and over that the reason why we struggle to stay tidy, why we can never keep the mess at bay for long, is often because we have too many things. Minimalists believe that mess is still mess even if it is packed away. Mess will still get in the way of the non-mess, or the things that actually add value to your life. If you remove the mess from your junk draws and junk shelves and junk corners and junk cupboards and wherever else the junk exists, you’ll find yourself living in a more peaceful, low-maintenance home.
- Value only what brings you value
Minimalism isn’t anti-stuff. We all need stuff to do certain things, but minimalists prefer to only own stuff that brings them joy or serves a purpose, either currently or in the foreseeable future. Kawaii lifestylers should always consider how much happiness or usefulness an item offers them. It is easy to confuse decluttering with sacrificing the things you love. It should really be about keeping only what you love and use, as the Konmari method demonstrates. For example, you might have a lovely pair of heels but they pinch your feet and you can’t commit yourself to breaking them in. Despite enjoying the shoes’ beauty, it is of little value to you or your wardrobe, so it might be best to re-home them somewhere they will be valued.
- Appreciate what you have
We often think about how much we want something new that we forget to appreciate what we already have. Yes, you might really want that new pink dress, but what about the lovely pink dress/es you already have? What will that new dress offer you that your other one/s won’t?
I found myself in a situation recently where I ordered a very expensive bag with expensive shipping from Kipling. Because I already had a pink bag, I ordered it in blue, but when the bag arrived it wasn’t as vibrant a blue as the online picture had me believe. I was so disappointed I immediately tried to figure out the logistics of trading it for a pink one. After realising it meant I would temporarily be without much money, and that it would also be expensive, and that I had no way of knowing how the pink would look in real life, I decided that even though my blue bag wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be, it can still hold everything I need, and it has two cup holders making it easy to carry around my drink bottle and my reusable Pusheen cup. That’s pretty cool, right? Also, this is a bag for university and travel, so it does it really matter if it perfectly matches my wardrobe? My iridescent backpack didn’t. Being grateful for the bag I have allowed me to let go of the stress of replacing it, and now I know that my own peace is more important than the exact colour of a bag. It was minimalism that helped me realise this.
- Purchase with precision
"Impulse buys? What are those?” asks the minimalist. Okay, I kid, but when minimalists purchase something, it is usually after careful thought and consideration. They always question if they actually need to buy the thing, or if they can instead rent, borrow, or find a way to make do without the thing. They consider how often and how long they’ll need it for, and sometimes how they’ll get rid of it. Obviously our community likes to buy plenty of things for recreational reasons (which is totally okay), and there are plenty who do consider each purchase carefully, but we should all think before we buy. If you want a new item for your wardrobe for example, you should always think about whether or not you already have something similar, how often you’d wear the item, how long it would last, how comfortable it is, how well it matches the rest of your wardrobe, and anything else you might need to consider. This way, you don’t end up wasting your money on something that you get little value from and can instead put that money towards something that does.
- Material possessions do not define us
As Andrew J Mellen says in Unstuff Your Life, “You are not your stuff.” Every minimalist knows this, and their sense of self is separate from their material possessions. As members of the kawaii community though, especially us lifestylers, many of us tend to define ourselves by our things. I still don’t quite know who I’d be without my kawaii things, but I at least know better the kind of person I’m not, that no amount of things will help me become.
Matt D’Avella is my favourite minimalist icon because he has a strong sense of identity and purpose undefined by his “stuff”. He is a filmmaker who isn’t burdened by the arbitrary need to have the best filming equipment on the market. In fact, he made a video about how he downsized his $38 000 camera because it was slowing his progress. For him the primary factor in making quality content is his skill and creativity, whereas the equipment he uses is secondary. A similar analogy for the j-fashion community could be prioritising unique styling first, and the brand of the clothes second. Off-brand or thrifted clothing can look awesome depending on how you wear it, hence why how “fashionable” or “kawaii” someone is shouldn’t be defined by the brands in their wardrobe. (Disclaimer: I love my popular kawaii fashion brands as much as you all do so don’t think I’m “anti-brand”.)
To the outsider, minimalism might seem like a bland, bare extreme, but like plenty of other things in life, it is a spectrum. I think that the kawaii fashion community, in this chaotic consumer culture, should become a little bit minimalist. We can still enjoy consumer culture if we are more intentional and self-aware about it. We can still grow our wardrobes as long as the pieces we add were curated carefully. We can still express ourselves through our “stuff" as long as we don’t define ourselves by our “stuff”. Instead of thinking minimalism is unattainable or unattractive, just settle on the part of the spectrum where you feel most comfortable.
Some starter resources about minimalism you should check out (mostly YouTubers because that’s my personal jam.)
- The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (link to author's website)
- Break the Twitch
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