highfashiongirl Grace featured a great link in her last post, leading on to an article titled "10 Cheap, Simple Ways To Up The Eco Fashion Ante". while all of them are definitely important and good advice (read them here), i now picked the top 3 which i felt are most important to me and the relationship to my wardrobe and clothes.
nr.3/4: embrace tailor therapy/befriend a shoe repair shop.
both belong into the same category, namely the fixing/boosting things you already own category. the part of a shoe which usually will die first is the heel, so instead of throwing the shoe away, for not so very much money you can get the heeled up and walk away as if they were new. as well, if you realize after buying that the shoe is a little bit too small, you can get it widened a bit so it will fit better.
the tailor (or your sewing machine) does the same thing for your dresses, jeans, t-shirts, jackets coats... fixing small holes and broken seams does not cost much and will reduce the amount of clothes thrown away (and thus the need for new ones). as well, having taken in a bit of a dress or skirt, shortening jeans or adding some length to them will make them look differently and thus feel like you've just been shopping... this goes especially for favourite pieces which don't fit so well anymore!
while i am quite used to shortening my jeans on my own, there are other things which i cannot do. for example taking in a dress, or shortening the arms of a wintercoat. for these things, i surely will go to the tailor (which i for some reason or other never thought of before) in the future.
nr.5/8: buy refashioned, recycled and repurposed wearables/ revisit the past.
both buying clothes from designers who make lovely new clothes out of not so nice older ones and buying vintage/second hand is another way of reducing waste-production and boosting your wardrobe. plus that you can make sure that you have clothes which nobody else has! and who wants to look like everybody else?
i did think for some time about not buying second hand anymore, but also not buying so much cheap clothes anymore either. instead, my thought was to go for real good quality clothing which then might cost a bit more but would keep a long time. the thing is, this is a strategy which just does not work for me, as i definitely prefer to have more fun special things than less boring basic things. so, as long as the second hand things are in good shape and condition, i sure will go that way.
nr.6: cultivate a collection, not just a closet full of clothes.
Start thinking of your wardrobe as a collection of special pieces and shop accordingly. this will so much reduce the amount of junk lying in your wardrobe, never being worn. just the questions "what will this add to my collection" and "how will it fit in my collection" are really helpful when deciding if or if not to buy. you already got five black cardigans? no need for a sixth. you don't have anything that might go with it? leave it alone.
this one has been the advice i've been looking for for quite some time now. it feels like all my thoughts have been going in that direction, i just never could put my finger on it. so here it is. i will try and make my clothes a collection. of course, each collection evolves around something, some theme or in this case, style. think of yourself as the gallery, and each outfit as a new exhibition. it will be a lot of fun to revisit my wardrobe and decide what will stay and what will have to go. actually, i have started the process already, but i will have to take it this one step further.
nr.3/4: embrace tailor therapy/befriend a shoe repair shop.
both belong into the same category, namely the fixing/boosting things you already own category. the part of a shoe which usually will die first is the heel, so instead of throwing the shoe away, for not so very much money you can get the heeled up and walk away as if they were new. as well, if you realize after buying that the shoe is a little bit too small, you can get it widened a bit so it will fit better.
the tailor (or your sewing machine) does the same thing for your dresses, jeans, t-shirts, jackets coats... fixing small holes and broken seams does not cost much and will reduce the amount of clothes thrown away (and thus the need for new ones). as well, having taken in a bit of a dress or skirt, shortening jeans or adding some length to them will make them look differently and thus feel like you've just been shopping... this goes especially for favourite pieces which don't fit so well anymore!
while i am quite used to shortening my jeans on my own, there are other things which i cannot do. for example taking in a dress, or shortening the arms of a wintercoat. for these things, i surely will go to the tailor (which i for some reason or other never thought of before) in the future.
nr.5/8: buy refashioned, recycled and repurposed wearables/ revisit the past.
both buying clothes from designers who make lovely new clothes out of not so nice older ones and buying vintage/second hand is another way of reducing waste-production and boosting your wardrobe. plus that you can make sure that you have clothes which nobody else has! and who wants to look like everybody else?
i did think for some time about not buying second hand anymore, but also not buying so much cheap clothes anymore either. instead, my thought was to go for real good quality clothing which then might cost a bit more but would keep a long time. the thing is, this is a strategy which just does not work for me, as i definitely prefer to have more fun special things than less boring basic things. so, as long as the second hand things are in good shape and condition, i sure will go that way.
nr.6: cultivate a collection, not just a closet full of clothes.
Start thinking of your wardrobe as a collection of special pieces and shop accordingly. this will so much reduce the amount of junk lying in your wardrobe, never being worn. just the questions "what will this add to my collection" and "how will it fit in my collection" are really helpful when deciding if or if not to buy. you already got five black cardigans? no need for a sixth. you don't have anything that might go with it? leave it alone.
this one has been the advice i've been looking for for quite some time now. it feels like all my thoughts have been going in that direction, i just never could put my finger on it. so here it is. i will try and make my clothes a collection. of course, each collection evolves around something, some theme or in this case, style. think of yourself as the gallery, and each outfit as a new exhibition. it will be a lot of fun to revisit my wardrobe and decide what will stay and what will have to go. actually, i have started the process already, but i will have to take it this one step further.
2 comments:
Jätte bra regler! som en samling är nog bästa tipset på länge.
Bra blogg du har!
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