When we were first told that we would be looking at Retail Therapy, one of the initial ideas that came into my head was those old charity shops, buried with stuff, layers and layers of random items that you have no idea how long they have been there, who owned them before you, or where it has been in the world. You could pick up a book, for instance, that has been to a beach in Spain or gone travelling around the world and never know.
Also about that, when shopping, you are seen as a certain category of person, girly, indie, punk, hippie etc. and shops use this to try and draw people in. What if you don’t feel that you fit into a category?