Does Money Make You Happy?

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.Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne

It’s not even the weekend yet, and I already find myself in some hip and trendy bar. I guess that’s what you do these days, during the week seems to be the new weekend, at least that’s how the walking Chanel bag explained it to me just five minutes ago. It’s Fashion Week, after all, and I am surrounded by people whose closet is as big as my entire room, but whose biographies fit onto a grain of rice. There’s laughter and chatter everywhere. The mood: fake exuberance. In this environment, there is no such thing as an honest talk over a beer – instead you get fake babbling with oysters and champagne.

I’m somehow in the middle of it all, yet also not really part of it.

I am uneasy, as so often amidst superficial small talk about beach clubs and the endless loop of who-knows-who. I tend to avoid beach clubs if I can (I never understood why you would confine yourself to a few square meters of beach and maybe even fight for a beach chair, with a practically empty beach just a few meters down), and I have never been a fan of pointless conversation.   I am aware that this may contradict the stereotype of the typical fashion blogger. There’s a widespread belief that fashion bloggers are always brats with rich parents. And it’s often true. Many girls have wealthy parents, and define their identity through that wealth. To an extent that’s just natural.

The thing is, if you run a fashion blog, high end brands will only want to cooperate with you if you are already wearing high end. And in order to wear high end you need to own high end – and always the latest shit, no less. As an average student without a 4 digit monthly budget just for fashion it is impossible to keep up. And those few fortunate ones with money to back them can always lean on mum and dad.   There are other examples too, of course. Young women and men who distance themselves from the wealth of their parents, in an attempt to build something with their own strength. I have nothing but respect and admiration for that specimen. It is a very rare one. Not only in fashion circles, by the way.

Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne

shirt: Antonia Goy jacket: Baum & Pferdgarten shoes: 3.1 Philip Lim

A young man walks up to our table. She introduces him to me. ‘This is Phillip’. Later she would whisper: ‘His father is on the board of XY enterprises’. I feel sorry for Phillip. Does he know that this is how he’s being introduced. Is this maybe all he knows? I find the whole thing very distasteful – and that even though I like Phillip, he’s a nice guy, regardless of who his father is.   I wonder whether Phillip has real friends. You know, friends that will be there for him once the flow of money and champagne ceases. Maybe even someone who’d happily share the bill. I wonder if he is asking himself those same questions, looking down from the top of the wage pyramid, where fate or coincidence has placed him.

Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne

jumpsuit: Antonia Goy shoes: Saint Laurent

My childhood was similar to that of many millions of other kids. I attended a public school, wore clothes by H&M and Benetton and went on beach holidays in Turkey with my parents. We were a typical middle class family. Average. We lived in a relatively spacious 3 room flat, which we were happy with. The special moments of my childhood were not defined by toys or consumption, but rather by things like baking christmas cookies together.   I only really became conscious of money after school. As student I lived off roughly 800 EUR per month, of which I had to pay food, rent, enrollment fees and all the other expenses of life. I worked my ass off for a few bucks. And you know what? It wasn’t a bad experience at all. Well, maybe sometimes. But it definitely taught me to appreciate the value of money. I still know exactly how much 50 EUR are worth, and I definitely remember the feeling of having to save for ages to afford something I wanted. I didn’t attend boarding school, and I didn’t eat lobster as a kid. I’m still not skilled at eating lobster, in case you’re wondering, but I don’t eat it anyways, so there’s never a chance to embarrass myself.

Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne

dress: Baum & Pferdgarten coat: Antonia Goy shoes: Karl Lagerfeld x Vans

…you will never influence the world by being like it.

That said, I do enjoy peeks into the lives of the rich – I mean, who doesn’t? Who wouldn’t be interested in eavesdropping at celebrity parties? And still… whenever I am on one of those events, I feel like a square among circles. I just don’t seem to fit. It’s just not me.   All I have, all that justifies my presence at such parties is the fruit of my own labour. These days I buy a designer bag without thinking twice, but I am always conscious of the fact that I could have lived for two months off that money back in the day. In those moments I feel a pang of pain. For a split second I feel like I am betraying my old self.

In the end it is always about truthfulness towards yourself. I don’t want to have to act like I prefer oysters, when there’s a Schnitzel on the menu. I don’t want to wear Gucci just because the trend dictates I do. I was always more comfortable with the harder path. I need variety and contrast. I prefer heading up to Scotland in my Givenchy boots to go on a road trip in tricky terrain than floating alongside life in a drunken stupor on a yacht in Ibiza.   At the end of the day, the question is what makes ME happy, and it can be phrased in three ways: Do I WANT this? Do I want this? Do I want THIS?

  Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne Fashion Editorial with Blogger Masha Sedgwick | Photographer: Fee Glory | Location: Berlin, Schöneberg, Plattenbau,  Hochbunker Pallasstrasse / Pallasseum | Style: High End, German Designer Antonia Goy, Danish Brand Baum & Pferdgarten, DDR, edgy, sexy | Thema: Reich und Schön | Promiparty | was macht mich glücklich | Einsamkeit | Glück | Zitat | Gedanken | Mode | Kolumne

Happiness, for me, is not champagne, and it is not found on a celebrity party. Drinking wine with friends on a balcony, philosophizing about what truly makes us happy – that’s more like it.

Photos: Fee-Gloria Groenemeyer

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26 Kommentare

  1. Of course, in my opinion, money makes me happy. I need money to pay for everything for the needs of living. When I have a lot of money, I can buy things I like such as new shoes, a house, a dress, and more. Besides, I often find out tips to manage and save money effectively.

  2. Yes,Obviously money makes you happy, People always want to save money while shopping. You can save more and stay happy-on shopping by using some daily deals providing website.Thanks for sharing this beautiful collation with us.

  3. Oh and to answer your question.. I don’t think money makes me HAPPY. I don’t think money equals happiness. Yes, I feel “happy” when I wear a new pair of shoes for the first time, but is that really happiness? Not really, it’s an intensive form of excitement and it disappears really damn fucking quickly. I feel happy when I’m having interesting conversations with my friends, when I’m laughing with my mom, when I’m traveling.. Here the money becomes a factor of course. But you don’t really need hundreds of thousands to travel, unless you want to stay at the Hilton for 5 weeks of course. I think money is freedom to a large extent. It’s the freedom not to have to worry about the next rent, how much money you spend a day, not to have to count it all the time etc. The freedom to pick the more expensive but more convenient flights over the cheap, inconvenient ones.. That sort of thing.. I don’t know though, it’s complicated :D

  4. Liebe Masha, ich kann sehr gut nachvollziehen, worüber du schreibst. Ich war ein einziges Mal zu einem Bloggerevent, aber es ging einzig darum, sich mit den Goodie-Bags abzulichten, Fotos vom Essen zu machen und man hatte einfach das Gefühl, absolut nicht reinzupassen. Weil’s einfach so gar nicht die eigene Welt ist, was man braucht um glücklich zu sein.

    Ganz liebe Grüße,

    Stephie von http://www.stephieey.com

  5. You are living among two worlds in other words, very interesting I may say. You can pick what fits you and makes you happy. Money and Chanel bags are a privilege of the few let’s say 2% of the population, the rest of us like the challenge it represents. Makes the blood running, don’t you think?!
    Beautifully written Mascha! I appreciate your Sunday posts, they come from the heart, such posts are difficult to write.
    Love from https://tbymallano.com/

  6. I couldn’t agree more with everything you just said. Just on point.
    I would have never exchanged my regular childhood for any of these preppy, perfect lives. Just the fact I could run up the tree and break my trousers so that my mum could saw them up like no big deal was enough :)

  7. I kinda feel that the more money you have the more problems you have! I think it is nice to know the value of money and I worry for people who never feel the pang of guilt dropping lots of money, very often on things that are quickly replaced. Fashion is supposed to be fun and self expression. You shouldn’t be judged either way.

    Your idea of happiness sounds much better. Id much rather be thinking in my head that I do not belong in a place than pretending to like oysters and making fake conversation. :)

    Love the Mango coat too…

    X

  8. Ich liebe deine gedankenposts liebe Masha,soo soo schön und ehrlich geschrieben! Du bist wirklich anders als alle anderen Modeblogger, auf die ich stoße! Man sieht, dass du trotz deiner vielen Möglichkeiten auf dem Boden stehst und realistisch bleibst. Und auch wenn es nach außen aussiehst, dass man vielleicht alles hat, was man braucht, ist es meistens nicht der Fall…
    Liebe Grüße,
    Sandra

    1. leider ist das wirklich so :(

      Umso schöner ist es, wenn man sich nicht an die guten Dinge gewöhnt, sondern sich immer wieder aufs Neue darüber freuen kann. Mir tun die Menschen fast schon Leid, deren Träume alle käuflich sind :(