One thing that has drawn my attention to luxury products was never the high price people see at a first glance, but rather the well structured concept behind them, the craftsmanship (and the idea of high quality work) as well as the tradition. An haute couture dress by Chanel is not just a high priced dress by a well-renowned designer made from expensive fabric, it's a story, of women who are passionate about fabrics and needles, who treat every piece of material with respect and who present the final product like a child of their own, whom they are very proud of, it's a story from the idea, the sketch to the runway show, it's a product which receives life from the hands of highly skilled crafts(wo)men... If you are not really seeing the picture, I recommend this document called Signe Chanel, which will open your eyes on a whole new perspective about the luxury industry. It will show you that behind a product there are a lot of beautiful people (and I am referring to inner beauty) who do everything passionately. They live for what they do!
Going back to my analysis of people around me in the last months, I am sad to say that I consider life nowadays too fast-paced, in order for it to have a deeper meaning. Most of us can refer to their lives as to a fast-food dinner, rather than to a 3 Michelin starred gourmet dinner, in which all your senses are required and stimulated.
People just run-run-run and I am wondering: where are we all rushing to? Browsing through Facebook's Timeline instead of calling up your friends to find out what is new, is a shallow way to engage in social relationships. Eating micro-wave dishes instead of going to the market and being attracted by the colours and the smells there, and imagining what to cook, this is also a wrong take on life (at least from my perspective).
From this point of view, even if they had less horizons to set their sight on or less opportunities, our parents were more fortunate. They used to have TIME for themselves and for the people and things that mattered in their lives. They used to spend a lot of time reading BOOKS instead of tweets, and they would meet friends and discuss ideas, not only facebook status updates of others.
Sure, an H and M dress can make you happy (or at least for a period in time),...I have lots of those. But just like that dress, there are many more around the world, they are not unique, and they donnot tell a story. Or at least, not your story, and for sure, not a story of passion and love of life.
So I decided to take a moment and a deep breath and to refuse that fast-food similar life, but to try my best at reaching the gourmet one. I don't say it's easy...it's rather more difficult and more work is needed to gain those 3 Michelin stars, than just to wrap a kebab or a burger. Also that Chanel dress takes a lot of work, many...manyyy hours of work. But in the end, the result will make me more happy, I am sure of that. I have read more books in the last month than in the last year and I am positive I have more new ideas now than I would have with even one year more passing of my life without reading this much. I have met up with more friends than in the last 6 months and have seen their views on life, their worries and the small things which make them happy, and I notice that I am not alone in this world with my wish for a better and a complete life. A life full of texture and colour and music and scent...so that all my senses can be engaged at the same time. Because,...no matter what life you choose, fact is, we only live once, and we have to make the best of our time here. And there is no single recipe of how to live which can apply to two people at a time. But if you put more emphasis on quality, rather than quantity, if you care more about being than on having, you are on the right track for completing that Chanel dress, your life!
(Picture source: above - http://lachanelphile.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fwch11i2.jpg and below - http://www.elle.com/cm/elle/images/up/elle-lagerfeld-chanel-sketch-3-de.jpg)
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