Londoner Hannah Tindle is a beauty editor at Wallpaper who also spent many years in the magazine world, including writing for AnOther. She’s smart, and loves a good pub pint and a saucy little fashion joke about how ridiculous the industry can be. Sounds like a horrible intro to, like, a Bridget Jones flick. Forgive me. Anyways…if you don’t follow Hannah on Twitter you should: Great takes on our favorite well-dressed lesbian Lydia Tár, “best of” reality TV deep cuts (RHONY; ANTM), and Nicole Kidman’s prosthetic nose in The Hours. Tindle’s humor translates into her clothes: A funny trompe l’oeil lingerie Vaquera dress she wears around the Tube, or a classic all-black look with a pop of searing color in the form of a naughty piece of footwear. Hannah is a visual wink. Now, the gist: She loves eBay and buys things she doesn’t need, like we all do. This Closet Psyche, we are going to get down and dirty exploring a buy that she did not wear. PS. You can listen to the whole audio here but for the nitty gritty and very fun analysis, read below!
Name: Hannah Tindle
Profession: Beauty & Grooming Editor, Wallpaper; Twitter’s funny girl.
NEVERWORNS item: A bright pink Jil Sander jacket. “It’s really thin leather. It isn’t a coat you can layer but you wear it on top of a light shirt or a vest top.”
Where did you buy it? eBay
Why did you buy it? Hannah purchased the piece after a breakup. Note this! “I think I was doing a Jil Sander search as I sometimes do; as I often do. It was 80 quid and it was in perfect condition. And the leather has a crinkly texture.”
Ok, that’s nice but when is the last time you wore it? Hannah bought the jacket in 2019. “I don’t even know if I’ve worn it out of the house but I’ve held on to it.”
What emotional state were you in when you bought it? Hannah had just gotten over a breakup. She also mentions later that she does a lot of “panic buying on eBay.”
More on the eBay panic buys? Hannah has since retired from indulging in panic buys but weighs in. “I’ll just buy five different things because they are cheap, and they add up to a lot,” she says, adding. “I enjoy just scrolling through eBay and going ‘I love that, I love that’. Sometimes what will happen is I will go ‘Oh, I am just going to buy like five of the thing because it is cheap’ and then it adds up to…a lot. I’ve done that several times in my life. It’s things that I like aesthetically that I like for other people but not for me.”
Why ultimately don’t you think you’ve worn it? “I’ve come to realize that I dress in quite neutral colors so if I do put a color into my look, it would be an accessory. Like for example, I have a pink Balenciaga city bag but I wear it with all neutrals. A coat feels a step too far for me. I can do a shoe, I can do a bag, I can do a lipstick. But do I wear pink clothes? No. I don’t wear a lot of color. I guess I’m starting to realize that but it is so sad because it is such a fab piece.”
The Diagnosis:
1. The first thing Hannah mentioned to me was that she had just gotten over a bad breakup. There is a reason why the term “retail therapy” exists, which is a way for us to use shopping to alleviate stress or pain. We’ve all felt the jolt of dopamine when we swipe our card or press “buy”; there’s also that tiny feeling of accomplishment and the promise that we will look incredible in whatever we have just purchased. Then there is the titillating foreplay of waiting for the package to actually reach us or maybe it is the sensation of walking home with a new little thing tucked into a shopping bag. This is sartorial edging at its finest; a truly delicious feeling of consumption and the aspirational longing that comes with it. I mention in a Vogue article about shopping bags that even in Carrie Bradshaw’s darkest of credit card-declined days, she still appeared freakishly delighted while carrying home armfuls of shopping bags. Perhaps it is because during the wait period from buy to receive, we’re imaging that these clothes provide escape into another dimension; a portal from our sadness.
There is also the idea of control. When we shop, we may feel like we are exerting control, which might feel like relief in situation that we feel like is flinging off of its axis. There is a great study from University of Michigan that explores how retail therapy can relieve residual sadness thanks to feelings of control.
2. Hannah was under the influence of the Label Dickmatization, which is related to Price Wasn’t That Bad Brain. These two cousin syndromes happen when we feel a flicker of scarcity while shopping. Label Dickmatization happens when we are so excited to find a piece by a certain designer, we buy it blindly. I typically see this mindset in people who buy vintage or resale. They are finding something special perhaps in an unlikely place or for an unlikely price. It’s a diamond-in-the-rough mentality. For example: Hannah went on eBay and thought she found a holy grail purchase; a yummy hot pink leather coat that was birthed from the great German designer’s brain. The jacket was also initially far more expensive than what it was listed for. Then she pressed buy.
I’m also not immune: I’ve browsed eBay and have stumbled upon a vintage Gucci top that was only $60 or so. I knew going into the purchase that there was a chance it may not fit or maybe I disliked the slight ruffle on the sleeve. But it was inexpensive. It was Gucci. And if if it didn’t work out, I told myself that I could simply return it or resell it. I took the risk…and then it languished on my cramped clothing rack.
When we are under the spell of Label Dickmatization, our mental gymnastic justifications often lead to Price Wasn’t That Bad Brain. Hannah mentions that the jacket “was only 80 quid.” But “it was only [insert price]” are everyone’s famous last words. As Hannah notes, she buys several things that are a low price instead of investing in that one elevated piece. The Price Wasn’t That Bad Brain is short-term thinking, and it is often exacerbated by other influences, like the aforementioned Label Dickmatization.
Prescription
1. The prescription is certainly not new but I always believe Adding Friction to your buys. (I spoke with Imani Randolph about this in regards to her bout of Gift Card Visions). The friction can be as long as waiting an hour or a day or a week. But, for many of you rabid online shoppers who track TRR drops twice a day or the eBay babes who have an Old Testament’s worth of Watched Items, I firmly believe in removing all autofill information on shopping platforms. You’d be surprised how merely extracting your credit or debit cards from your wallet and then plugging in their numbers into a website can help you rethink what you are buying; even if it is just for 30 seconds. This idea is related to my Long Lady Wallet piece I wrote for Vogue a few weeks back in which I talk about refining spending habits with an old school wallet.
2. Hannah sent me a few photos of the jacket and honestly, it looked quite good on her. I suggested she put it in the Expiration Pile. It’s a way to try items out but with a time limit and, of course, weather permitting. (As Hannah, would say, “The weather in London is absolutely awful!”) I always say to give yourself a day or two to figure out how you feel in the piece. Take a mental note. Take a photo. Take an actual note! All of these little tidbits will lead you to cleansed wardrobe nirvana.
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