The Side Hustle in Your Closet
Description
Scarabelli explores the rise of 'virtual shopping' on resale platforms such as eBay, Poshmark and Grailed, which allow users to engage in 'digital window shopping'. The ability to save items to wish lists and shopping carts allows us to create a curated collection of items we may never buy, transforming consumption into an imaginative, almost aspirational experience. The essay highlights the ways in which resale platforms mimic social media, encouraging not only purchases but also the creation of online identities through saved designer goods and mood boards - ultimately embedding subliminal modes of consumption into digital habits, while blurring the lines between physical and virtual consumption.
Quote
"In the world of recommerce, virtual shopping is the new consumerism that everyone can afford. [..] Virtual shopping exists within a liminoid space, what cultural theorist Rob Shields defines as a meeting point of the imaginary and the material."
External references
Vestoj, Taylore Scarabelli, Syllabus: the Digital Bedroom
Added on
22.11.24