How did the overconsumption of the Stanley Cup become such a frenzied trend?

…it is because people without strong identities of their own, need something to cling to.

I have come to the conclusion that if people go easily with these trends, such as – White SUV mom versus Black SUV mom (no seriously, I am not kidding you)… or identify with restocking their purse with useless miniatures of their bathroom vanity, having perfectly stocked or organized fridges with multiples of things for an aesthetic look, or most telling of all, jumped onto the Stanley Cup collection trend, it is very likely that they do not have a strong sense of who they are without their things.

It is one thing to enjoy things, it is another THING entirely to base who you are on what you own.

Now.

It is one thing to say – hey, I bought and love UGGs because they are warm and comfortable for dry winters – it is another thing entirely to wear them in summer with short skirts because you are following a trend.

I remember that being a trend back in school (I am likely dating myself with this revelation), but in SUMMER, girls would wear short pleated skirts and these ridiculously warm sheepskin UGG boots on campus.

We all follow trends to some extent (myself included), and we all like to be part of a group of people who act or look similar, because it just reinforces what we are doing as being accepted & ‘right’.

Even the ‘outcasts’ of society have their own fringe groups they are a part of and accepted in (I should know!!)

And sometimes, the tide turns and they become extremely cool as a result (apparently Dungeons and Dragons is a trendy thing now, when it used to be seen as not cool???).

In the same way that children who used to mock and bully me for bringing sushi to eat at school, have now grown up to see sushi as a luxurious meal to have, everything has its ebb and flow.

What was cool before, is no longer, and vice versa.

We do not need to follow trends if we have our own sense of self (I am still a diehard skinny jeans wearer, with small forays into wider leg jeans, but not much), but this banal, overconsumption set of trends such as collecting ALL the colours of Stanley Cups, making fancy luxury ice cubes (I kid you not), is to me, really just masking what is lacking deep within – a strong, solid, sense of self, trying to fit into a group in fear of being left out because they are so deeply insecure about who they are and what place they hold in society.

If you have deep roots in something, you would not feel the need to impress others by how many shades of pink Stanley Cups you own. Your own community/friends/groups/family would not be impressed by it, and would not egg you onto collecting more, because they simply see it for what it is – a travel mug.

Each time this nebulous group changes or moves onto a new trend, you would have to then follow. What happens to your previous group ‘investment’ into Stanley Cups then? It will end up being another new set of things to purchase.

It seems wholly ridiculous, to treat a travel mug as the new bejewelled chalice of a consumerist, capitalist religion where the highest deity to be worshipped is money.

I would even see it as a watered down, middle-class version of collecting Birkin bags. They can’t afford to flex with Birkin bags, so they do it with Stanley Cups.

That falls into the same category for me, because anyone who blindly buys all the colours and styles of expensive ‘rare’ handbags like Hermès Birkins just to show them on a shelf, aren’t necessarily stylish or trendy… they are simply rich.

All it really takes is money to buy all the bags, and they are expressing their extreme richness at being able to have millions in these bags, sitting on a shelf, collecting dust, while not having to worry about essential bills.

But is that really stylish? Fashionable? Or cringeworthy?

What is much more interesting, is owning ONE Stanley Cup (two max, maybe), if you are really into their size and quality or owning a few vintage, luxury designer bag with history, or for whatever reason you wish to have.

What I am seeing .. is that it is a much cheaper to buy a collection of Stanley Cups and their accessories, than to do the same thing with ‘real’ signifiers of wealth such as Hermès bags, scarves, or Cartier bangle accessories where they run $10,000 – $100,000 per bangle in some cases (and some people stack these bangles up to the elbows).

A Stanley Cup collection + accessories by comparison, is a heck of a lot cheaper!!!!

…but for me, it is more or less the same thing as owning all of the Hermès bags in every colour as a signifier of status or wealth. These Stanley Cup collectors, are showing that they managed to snag ‘rare’ (LOL) colours and are flexing in their own way.

Owning the whole collection doesn’t make you MORE of something. It makes you less.

In the same way that pretending to be poor when you are really rich (yes some people do this) doesn’t make you more relatable, but actually less relatable because you are living a lie. You are simply trying to fit into a group where you do not belong and yet are trying very hard to, only because you think the poorer you seem to others, the more morally righteous and good you are, by default, because rich people aren’t typically seen as such.

You are no more morally correct or superior to others by pretending to be poor, the same way you are no more part of an ever changing “group” of people in society to whom you desperately crave acceptance from just by buying your way into it with Stanley Cups.

It is based on nothing and stands for nothing.

You can’t pretend to be part of something you are not.

Both attitudes stem from deep insecurity and lack of sense of self-identity, if you need to buy into it, or pretend to be someone you are not, because you do not know who you are on the inside and WHY you want that Birkin bag or Stanley Cup.

Focus on the WHY you want the Stanley Cup / Birkin Bag / (Insert item here), and less on the manufactured, frenzied need to buy one.

If you have good reasons for it, why not? Buy it. Enjoy it.

But if you want it just because you want to show a wall of rainbow coloured cups in ‘rare’ colours… I would take a beat and ask why this is important to you to do so.