MATH CLASS
Fashion
GENETICS
—BERNADETTE MORRA editor-in-chief
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SLASH AND YEARN
Designer bargain hunting triggers a rush like no other. But are we programmed to stalk the sales? By SHAWNA COHEN EVERY YEAR ON DEC. 26, TORONTONIAN Annabel Carlin rises early, tosses some protein-rich snacks into her bag, slips on comfortable shoes and heads out the door by 7 a.m. with her mother and two older sisters. They drive to Bal Harbour Shops—an upscale shopping mall in Bal Harbour, Fla., around 20 minutes south of their Hallandale Beach vacation spot—where Carlin, 35, has been hitting up Boxing Day sales since she was a teenager. “It’s our family tradition,” she says. “My husband knows he has to watch the kids that day, though once I brought my seven-week-old in a Baby Björn—it was ridiculous.” For Carlin, however, the thrill of seeing up to 80 per cent off designer labels is well worth the effort. “We go to shoes and bags first. We grab everything, then edit down,” she says of her family ritual. She once bought a pair of burgundy Christian Louboutin pumps marked down to $300 from $900, and a Prada bag at 50 per cent off. Like Carlin, most of us can relate to that elated feeling we get when we score an unbelievable bargain—it brings retail therapy to a whole new level. “Buying a sweater at 50 per cent off is a bit like falling in love— there’s a chemical reaction,” says Mark Ellwood,
author of Bargain Fever: How to Shop in a Discounted World. He’s not kidding, purchasing something that’s majorly discounted spikes the brain’s production of dopamine, a feel-good chemical. A gene known as COMT produces the enzyme needed to break down the dopamine rush of a bargain find. But Ellwood says a quarter of us have a genetic quirk that reduces the effectiveness of our COMT, which, in turn, reduces our dopamine control. “I call it buyagra,” he says. Cue even more bargain hunting (on the upside, you can finally blame genetics for your shopping addiction). Ellwood’s theory helps explain why so many women will stand in line for hours, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures, to gain entrance to a designer sample sale, or spend countless hours on the computer checking out online sales and comparing who has the best deals. And who among us hasn’t visited a pair of shoes at our favourite department store, checking back weekly—sometimes even daily—to see if the price has dropped? Tamara Huber, 28, describes discount shopping as “next-level euphoria.” “You don’t feel guilty about spending money when you know you’re getting a good deal,” she says. The Toronto-based therapist »
PHOTOGRAPHY: MODEL BY JULIA KENNEDY/FOLIO-ID.COM; MORRA BY VANESSA HEINS
I have a pink Chanel jacket that I bought 10 years ago, and every time I put it on I feel like a star. I have worn it in the winter with a turtleneck and in the summer with a T-shirt. It works over pants and skirts, day and night, even for dressy cocktail events. I used to think of basics like a black jacket as a better investment. This piece has proved that theory wrong.”
FASHION OCTOBER 2014
I’ve hung onto a Gap jean jacket from my high school days. I remember wearing it to my firstperiod history class in Grade 10—it’s a small miracle it still fits! All these years later, it still makes an appearance every summer, the true sign of a timeless classic.” —CAITLAN MONETA market editor
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by how we look at things. Same with [bargain] shopping, where we focus solely on the amount we’re saving,” she says. “Suddenly, $600 in savings is a better, more powerful gain.” Samra describes shopping as the modern-day equivalent of hunting and gathering, which triggers a primal urge in people. The scarcity principle, she explains, comes into play, meaning we get a physiological urge to gather things quickly when we think an item is rare or difficult to obtain.
“With thinGs like GamblinG and risky financial behaviour, we often Get skewed by how we look at thinGs. Same with [barGain] shoppinG, where we focus solely on the amount we’re savinG.” Sylvia Atkinson has mastered the art of sample Sample-sale finds definitely fall into that domain. sales—she proudly admits that around 70 per cent It’s this exact principle that caused Michelle Lee, a of her wardrobe was purchased on sale. The 34-year- 46-year-old real estate executive, to purchase a pair old Toronto-based graphic designer travels to New of red Christian Louboutin pumps at 60 per cent York about three times a year and comes home with off during a sale at The Room at Hudson’s Bay in dozens of discounted items (she checks out thestyl- Toronto. “Women around me started saying, ‘They’re ishcity.com beforehand to see what sales are com- so beautiful,’ which made me think, ‘Oh, these really ing up). She once avoided a 300-person lineup on are fabulous and they never go on sale,’” recalls Lee. day one of a Calypso St. Barth sample sale by sweet- “You get caught up in it. When someone else is eyeing talking the security guard at the door. “We had first the shoes you’re considering, you hold on that much dibs on the whole room, but it quickly turned into tighter.” These particular shoes are still in their box mayhem. Everyone was trying stuff on, discarding one year later, though Lee can list off a slew of more stuff and checking out each other’s piles. There was practical items she’s scored at Hudson’s Bay’s end-ofsuch pandemonium, such an energy of buy, win, get.” season sales and on sites like Bluefly, Shopbop and Her latest finds include a Helmut Lang blazer ($250, Net-A-Porter (at the top of her list is a wool coat by down from $795) and a pair of Alice + Olivia leather Giambattista Valli at 60 per cent off ). pants ($210, down from $1,200). “Sometimes I feel The good news is that there’s no better time to like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe what I just got away with,’” shop than now, thanks in part to an overabundance says Atkinson, who views bargain shopping as a bit of stuff. Says Ellwood: “It’s like The Bachelor. Thirty of a game. “When I buy something at 80 per cent off, years ago, shoppers were the contestants and shops I feel the way I do when I beat an opponent in ten- were the bachelor, holding out a rose and saying, nis: It’s that feeling of winning, of conquering some- ‘Would you like the privilege of shopping here?’ It’s thing.” Occasionally, she takes the game a bit too flipped around now, because there are too many far, springing for something she doesn’t necessarily shops and not enough shoppers.” On the other hand, need (or even want) based on numbers alone. Case we have more temptations than ever before, thanks in point: Atkinson recently fell in love with a pair of to social media; we’re constantly bombarded on our boots regularly priced at $300. That was more than smartphones with Twitter pings and glossy photos she wanted to spend, so she walked away. Later that of pop-up sale must-haves. day, she found a pair of $900 boots marked down I recently spotted an Instagram photo from a to $300. Although she liked the first pair better, she Toronto boutique of a stunning Jerome Dreyfuss splurged on the second pair because of the $600 sav- bag that had dropped to 50 per cent off. “Only two ings. “Intellectually, I know that $300 is $300,” she left!” read the caption. I knew I didn’t need the bag— says, “but I felt like I won a prize.” it wasn’t even in season—but I immediately called Dr. Joti Samra, a clinical psychologist in Van- in with my credit card number. At 50 per cent off, couver and host of Million Dollar Neighbourhood I just had to have it. Unbeknownst to me, my sister on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, isn’t surprised by had done the exact same thing just 10 minutes earlier such faulty reasoning. “With things like gambling (clearly, it’s in our genes). Did I feel guilty? Sure. But and risky financial behaviour, we often get skewed in the end, exhilaration won out. ■
PHOTOGRAPHY: MONETA BY VANESSA HEINS
MATH CLASS
Fashion
GENETICS
says her bargain-hunting skills were passed down from her mother, who taught her that if you look hard enough, there’s always a deal to be found. And while Huber is on a limited shopping budget, she says it’s mostly principle that makes her seek out a bargain. As Ellwood explains, “It’s not that you can’t afford it; you refuse to afford it.” (In his book, he writes that 20 per cent of Americans earning more than $150,000 a year refuse to pay full price.)
FASHION OCTOBER 2014