Weekly digs 8: The clothing crisis
There is too much but never enough
I am confident I am not alone in feeling like I never have enough clothes.
Fluctuating between weeks of loving my closet and weeks of hating everything in it. Never really feeling like I have captured that capsule wardrobe that everyone says has limitless potential for outfit creation.
About 4 times a year I do a massive clean out of my closet focusing on three categories, 1. keep, 2. donate, 3. sell (and then there is the unspoken 4th category of I don’t wear or like this anymore but I can’t get rid of it).
For almost a decade now I have had tiny closets, packed to the brim of clothes but never full to content.
D- Doing
Wanting clothes and wanting to get rid of the feeling of having too many clothes.
This most recent closet clean-out coincided with the changing of the seasons, as so many of them do.
I went through every item in my closet and made 3 big bags full of clothes to donate and sell. Then I looked at what was remaining and was sad. There were so few things I truly loved.
I have written about trying to find my personal style. A journey I am still navigating, as I attempt to create a closet I love, a closet that doesn’t fill me with the temptation to consume.
I- Interested in
Slowed-consumption
There are a few words circling the internet in regard to this topic: overconsumption and de-influencing.
Overconsumption is the phrase used on platforms like TikTok to explain the contemporary need to consume fueled by influencers and social media platforms pushing trends and products.
De-influencing is the phrase used by overconsumption’s adversaries as they attempt to deprogram us against the constant need to consume.
Slowed-consumption is a phrase I just made up. Slowed-consumption is reducing the pace at which we consume so that we have time to sort through the data (what we have and what we need; what we like and what we have just been shown over and over).
Examples of slowed-consumption
making a wishlist of items you want to buy and waiting an extended period of time before you click purchase
creating a vision board of new styles or items you want to consume and waiting until you find them second-hand
reselling clothes before consuming new clothes to maintain a balance in the clothing ecosystem
G- Getting
Money for clothes, and then new clothes.
Sometimes I feel stuck in the race of always needing to have something new to wear. Other times I envy people who stick to a uniform and never feel the social pressure to always have something new.
My favorite ways to get money for my clothes:
buy, sell, trade stores
(in that order).
This is a crucial part of slowed-consumption because the quick thing to do would be to take all the clothes to Goodwill and never think twice about it again.
Taking the time to list individual articles of clothes on Depop allows you to take inventory of why you're getting rid of something so you can avoid making the same purchasing mistake in the future.
I will admit to having purchased a few new articles of clothing recently. They were, however, all second-hand. I am proud to say that 90% of my closet is second-hand.
You know those people in your life who watched one Documentary and then became a vegan? That happened to me except I watched one documentary about the environmental and humanitarian crisis caused by the textile industry and stopped supporting fast fashion (almost entirely).
S-Suggesting
Things that last forever & are easy to find secondhand:
Real leather or suede belts, shoes, bags, and jackets (sorry vegans)
Natural fibers: wool, linen, cotton
Vintage denim. The old no stretch, made-in-USA or Mexico Levi’s are hard to come by but one good pair lasts you forever
Collected silver and gold jewelry- I rarely buy a piece of jewelry just because I like it, almost every piece I have I collected while traveling- these are the pieces that will last in your jewelry box forever
Those, I decided are the core pillars of my personal style & if I am being honest I think you could say the same for every style icon I have ever had.
My style icons (cause why not):
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
Jane Birkin
Chloë Sevigny
Penny Lane
Camille Rowe
Ha! I am the consummate over consumer. But I am in recovery. I am learning discernment.