paper posted finally!

Danielle Sluka

2/18/09

New Millennium Studies

Designer Doom

 

         Magdalena Parise is the average suburbia housewife- she has a perfect family, a job she relatively enjoys, and she has a large circle of close friends.  Her husband Richard and her share a quaint ranch house with a large yard for their three playful children to roam.  Magdalena lives a picture-esque life as an average woman, though she has one very major downfall…her obsession for designer clothes.  Ever since Magdalena was a teenager, she knew she had a passion for eloquent designer clothes.  However, since she grew up on a farm, designer clothes were not very affordable, yet alone acquirable in her situation.  This did not stop Magdalena from starting her own collection of designer goods.  Any time she received any money what so ever, she would stash it in her special designer jar.  And it did indeed work.  Little by little, Magdalena saw her collection of goods grow-  a Marc Jacobs purse, a Burburry scarf, and even a Louis Vuitton cluth.  Designer simply became an obsession.  Since Magdalena often did not have very many friends and was often an outcast throughout high school, designer clothes became the friend she never had.  In some ways it was a perfect relationship…no drama, no tension, just pure appreciation of the latest fashion.  However, as the years passed, Magdalena’s obsession with designer became more and more deadly.  Though her husband and her had stable jobs, they by no means made enough money for Magdalena to go drop thousands on otherwise unnecessary clothing and accessories.   But still Magdalena relentlessly pursued her shopping and ordering of all the latest fashion finds.  Any money earned went straight to her addiction- no thought of her family or any necessary needs; the money always went to shopping.  This not only damaged the family’s financial situation (family vacations, any nice home furnishings, etc. were obviously out of the picture), it also put an overall stress on the family itself.  Numerous fights over the years broke out between Magdalena and her husband, but still she would not stop.  Credit card bill after credit card bill, but still no end to the debts.  Her children had long ago stopped buying her any clothes or accessories for gifts; they knew she would never wear anything unless it was of designer.

            Truth be told, the only main reason Magdalena continued her fetish which once resulted as a friend to her during her troubled teen years, was her quest to be beyond average.  Living a suburbia life as a mother with only a mediocre income took a toll on Magdalena.  She felt as if she were like any other 40-year-old woman on the planet, and she wanted to set herself apart; she wanted to be different.  She hated watching all the fabulous women in Orange County and Upstate New York live their perfect lives filled with luxury beyond luxury.  She wanted to be one of them but she knew it was never going to happen; she was just a plain housewife stuck in a soccer-mom suburbia.

            So quite simply, Magdalena set herself aside by being adorned in only designer ensembles.  Every woman in her neighborhood envied her closet, and that is what brings Magdalena a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a value to her life that it is more than just average.

            She knows that there is more to life, however her quest for a more luxurious life has imprisoned her…one Prada bag at a time.  And though she may look like a luxurious housewife to the outside world, on the inside Magdalena will never feel adequate…she will never feel up to par with the woman of star status, hefty trust funds, and impeccable luxury.  Magdalena will always feel stuck in a world where her life and status will never be good enough.  Designer clothes are simply a shield to hide her feelings of inadequacy.