Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to spend money. 

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Whether it was my own money (that I earned), or my parents money, I have always (unfortunately) have been a major contributor to capitalism. 

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It's been since I was a kid that I was watching fashion filled movies. Take a look in my basment at home, and you will find bins and bins of different barbies, and barbie accessories. Growing up with an older sister, who I consider my best friend, also did not help my case. Every holiday, birthday etc, whenever my sister and I recieved gifts, I would always ask for a Barbie. As I grew older, and Barbies started to fade away a little, I began looking into other "outlets" that would allow me to further spend more money, but look at pretty clothes all day. 

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As I got older, I found the internet. I realized I wasn't alone in this world where I loved to shop and look at fancy dresses that I couldn't afford. Little did I know I was joining one of the largest communities in the world, a shopaholic. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, loud and proud. I think in this world, we all truly have our vices. Some people smoke, drink, or take part in different recreational activities, but for me, I love to shop. As I became older, I started to question why my shopping habits were so bad. What enabled this? Maybe it was my mom asking me to shop with her for groceries, or going to Home Goods to find little trinkets for our house. It all comes from the family. My father, being an avid nostalgist, constantly is fighting in ebay bidding wars to get things back from his childhood that he adored. I realized that it all had come from somewhere, and for me personally, it has been coming from every single important aspect in my life. Being online was something that was a vital part of my childhood, as I think any kid born in 2003 and over can attest to. Different multiplayer games like Disney's Pixie Hollow to the Sims to Stardoll, all made my love for fashion grow to different lengths that I wouldn't trade for the world. 

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This is where Stardoll comes in. Wow. I think we all can reflect back on our lives and look at either some game or some form of media that truly changed the trajectory of their lives, and man is mine Stardoll. For those of you who dont know what Stardoll is (which I assume would be many), Stardoll is an online game created in 2004 (I was one years old so def didnt play it then) that houses one of the largest fashion communities in a game. Basically the gist of it, you got a doll that you would name, mine was lunadog22, and you would find different ways to dress your doll. I remember back in the day, people called it like the online version of a paper doll game, which I totally see. As you completed different challenges, attended different parties, and dressed to impress, you would move up in levels. In order to ease this process, you obviously could pay for a membership and help your chances of winning COVERGIRL (to be at the front of the website for the entire world to see your doll). Boy did I pay so much money for that game (well my parents did), and I truly have never found such a game that I connected with and have been so passionate about ever since. I got to spend money at actual designer stores and items on the game (this was my introduction to the Jeff Koons x Louis Vuitton collection of my dream), and be able to showcase my sense of style and competitiveness to other people around the world who shared a passion for fashion, like I did. It was all so consuming, looking forward to playing afterschool and being logged on for several hours a week, to showing my mom my different outfits and the houses I built, it all made my love that stronger for Fashion and the community behind it. 

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When I started brainstorming for this project, I looked within  and really began to reflect on what's important to me. Friends, Family, and Shopping are a trifecta of what makes up Samantha Wright. Throughout this thinking process, other annoying things kept popping up in my brain, where I am going to work post grad, New York housing, how I miss my mom back home etc etc. It all made things very fuzzy. Every single living breathing moment I have with myself, I am surrounded by clothing. Whether its picking out what pajama set I want to wear that night, what outfit for class the next day, what I am going to change into for my meetings etc it all comes back to CLOTHING. My roommates and I live in a house with 4 girls, we are all consumerists. Every single day there is not a time where a package is not being delivered to my house. The boxes read SEPHORA, REVOLVE, TIGER MIST, PRINCESS POLLY, FREE PEOPLE etc you get the gist. I am constantly surrounded by the people and things that I love, so looking within and reflecting on what made me want a career in fashion was a no-brainer. 

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As I started shaping Ugh As If, I kept coming back and thinking about the classes that raised me right along Stardoll. Different movies, especially in the rom com realm, taught me a lot of lessons about what I might want my future career to look like. Clueless, The Devil Wears Prada, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sex and the City, etc.—all of them existing like glittery little timestamps in my personal timeline. I was trying to narrow down all of these iconic films, and really reflecting what has truly made an impact on me. I picked these particular films because they werent just movies to me, they were cultural training wheels for every fashion-obsessed girl trying to understand who she was in a world that kept changing their mind about feminity, and a womans place in a corporate setting. What fascinated me now, in 2025, is how differently we view these films, and how theyre both relics of pre-influencer, pre fast fashion overdrive era in a world where a lot of these lines are blurred today. In a moment where fashion discourse is saturated with microtrends, tiktok haults, sustainability guilt, and a trillion dollar beauty economy, revisiting these films feels like opening a time capsule. I want to celebrate their campness, their sincerity, their contribution to girlhood and glamour, and the way that they provided the same escapism and self expression that Stardoll gave so many of us growing up. They taught us that clothing wasn't clothing, it was identity, aspiration, rebellion, and sometimes even survival, and that message hits completely differenly now in the world we're inhibiting. 

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When my capstone professor, and honestly writing professor in general, Julie, told my capstone class that this was the one opportunity where we can take something we love and run with it, I knew exactly what direction my project was heading in. Off the bat BOOM! Lets rewatch Sex and the City for the 5th time in my life (yes 5, once by myself, once with my mother, again with myself, with my roommates, and then again hi me solo!). The more I rewatched the series, the more little things stood out to me. Carrie's obsession with Manolo Blahnick to Charlottle's Dior bow necklace, as I have worked in Fashion Public Relations all throughout college, it all started to make sense. This passion that I had for these things started to be clearer, and started to make me emotional about why my career made so much sense to me. To some it may seem silly, or a fake career to have because of all of the glitz and glamour, but let me tell you that I have never been so excited to start a new chapter of my life. 

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So naturally, with this capstone in mind, I really really wanted to make sure that it was purposeful, something that I could go back to in my life and really be able to remember a time in my life where I was in this weird period between graduating and starting my adult life. With that being said, Ugh As If was born. Yes, like Cher's iconic line in Clueless, I thought that it was an inevitable punch line that was perfect for the capstone I am trying to create. So I hope you enjoy a preview into a part of my thought process, specifically within pop culture. I am so excited that you all get to read my word vomit blogs and really understand the message I am trying to send to you all. 

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Special Thank yous:

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Julie, for being such an amazing Capstone and overall writing minor professor, I could have not done this project without your guidance.

Nick and Hayley, my capstone project group, thank you for the wonderful feedback and amazing work we did together!

Megan, for making me laugh in class and being my rock throughout the entire minor in writing process, we did it!!

Writing 420 peers, thank you for such passionate and valuable discussions throughout our semester, the insight I gained was super helpful.

Jimmy, for being my advisor, you are amazing and Michigan fashion girlies are so lucky to have you in addition to other comm and media staff, we love you!

My audience, thank you for taking the time for reading this. It may or may not take you long to get you through it. Ugh, As If!