I convinced myself I had nothing in my wardrobe to wear and every time I’d be getting ready to go out, I’d get frustrated and wish I had a new clothes- know the feeling?
I recently found (and fell in love with) Sara Crampton’s capsule wardrobe whereby she makes over 100 outfits using 40 essential pieces and immediately decided I wanted to do the same thing.
But with fast fashion making buying new clothes cheaper and easier than ever before, the poor quality in these mass-produced items sees many of us wearing them for a season or two before they lose their integrity and end up in landfill. I absolutely love shopping but after being made redundant heading into maternity leave, losing my leave entitlements and having to live on the minimum wage Centrelink payments*, I’ve had to relook at this addiction habit and focus more on quality over quantity, and I can’t prioritise new clothes at the moment.
I’m doing my best to really focus on each individual piece that I do buy and how it fits in my wardrobe. Taking inspiration from Sara Crampton’s minimalist style, I’ve been looking at sticking to more neutral and plain pieces that I can wear time and time again in different ways. I love a bold print but I find I wear it only a handful of times and then am sick of it.
I also think since becoming a mum, my personal style has evolved to finding the balance between classic and functional pieces and so items that don’t pair easily with others don’t make the cart.
So, before I started adding these 40 items to my cart I decided to try something a little different first…
For the last few weeks, I’ve set myself a challenge to not wear the same item of clothing twice and this has forced me to make my clothes work harder for me. With the exception of the clothes I wear around the house and basic singlets/plain tshirts once I wear an item, I put it to the back of the wardrobe and can’t wear it until it makes its way back to the front. This little act has made me realise that I not only have more clothes than I thought, but I also have items up I haven’t worn more than once- oh dear!
Over the month, I’ve had a lot of fun making new outfits using pieces I wouldn’t normally think to work with and have put my purchases on hold. So, to those of you who are reading this and also feel like you have nothing to wear, try out my little challenge and see how many days you can go.
-tgfs x
*It goes without saying that I am very grateful to have access to such support from the government and am very aware of my privilege compared to so many around the world.
That Girl from Sydney 