Daily Inspiration Quote by Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep calling expensive clothes “a waste of money” lands like a quiet flex disguised as thrift. Coming from an actress whose career has been draped in couture on red carpets and in period pieces, the line isn’t naive; it’s calibrated. The intent reads less like a scolding and more like a boundary: don’t confuse costume with character, or price tag with power.

The subtext is about control in an image economy that constantly tries to rent your identity back to you. Streep’s whole brand is craft over spectacle; she’s famous for disappearing into roles, not for turning herself into a billboard. So the jab at pricey clothes doubles as a critique of how consumer culture trains women, especially public-facing women, to treat their bodies as display surfaces that require endless “investment.” Her point isn’t that clothes don’t matter. It’s that the industry wants you to believe they matter more than your work.

Context sharpens it: celebrity fashion is a machine designed to manufacture desirability, status, and headlines. Even when designers “loan” gowns, the attention economy still charges interest. By dismissing expensive clothes, Streep punctures the idea that glamour is a moral obligation, or that credibility is something you can buy off a rack.

It’s also an actor’s worldview. Wardrobe is storytelling, not self-worth. Spend on what enlarges your life, not what merely upgrades the packaging.