A whole lof of Capri and a little deep thinking....

During our trip to Italy, Luke and I managed to fit in a trip to Capri: a gorgeous little island that's a favourite destination of many celebrities. The island is truly beautiful, but incredibly expensive, as I'm sure you'd expect!

Stripey Top - Vintage

Scarf, worn as top - Sorrento

Belt - Dorothy Perkins

Ripped Denim Cut-Off Shorts - Miss Selfridge

Tights - Primark

Thigh-High Socks - F&F at Tesco

Ring - Sorrento

Retro Sunglasses - Asos

Shoe Boots - Primark

I adored peeking in the windows of all the high-end designer stores: particularly Valentino, Alberta Ferretti and Roberto Cavalli, who are all among my favourite designers. That Valentino dress is stunning.

It did leave me with a little pang of resentment and deep thoughts for the rest of the day though: It is incredibly unlikely that I will ever, EVER be in a position financially to be able to afford any of these things, and I can bet that most of you would say the same. Even if I WAS, though, can you ever really justify spending THAT amount of money on a dress?! or a pair of shoes?! I'm a lover of fashion, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's possible to come from a working class background such as mine and ever be able to justify spending £10,000 on a dress when that could go so far in helping others that need it. £`10,000 is a decent sixth months worth of wages: a lot of people I know don't make much more than that in a YEAR. 

Should I even covet these ridiculous things? ... because they ARE ridiculous... especially if you start to think about how, even in these modern times, a large portion of the world's population are dying of starvation. And then there are people out there regularly blowing the price of a house on one outfit.... Is this the so-called enlightened world that we live in?

I was likely looking a little TOO deeply into it but it really did make me feel a little guilty about the things I hold in high regard. Materialism, literally. Luke put things into perspective for me later on. He said:

"I can't believe that Capri has upset you more than Pompeii!"

It's not true, I need to make that clear straight away! Pompeii had a bigger effect on me than possibly anything else I've experienced, but I do see what he was getting at.

What about you guys? Do you ever feel a bit guilty about being so enthralled by fashion? I suppose I start to justify it by saying that although I have designers I adore and I mention these things in passing from time to time, the majority of my blog is focused on affordable fashion for those of us that DON'T have rolls of money in our back pockets. It's about self-expression, almost an art form. I work hard for what I have, I don't take handouts off the government and I'm a huge fan of searching around for a charity shop vintage bargain rather than spending £60 in TopShop. Is that so bad?

Materialistic, yes, to a certain extent I can't deny that I am. But not when it comes to the things that really matter: seeing the world for what it really is and living in it the best that we can with the people we love.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

~ Little Rachael. xxx