The Five Stages of My Clothing Journey (and what stage I’m at now…)

My journey transitioning away from fast fashion and clothing consumerism started slowly, about twenty years ago. At the time, I didn’t even know that my journey had begun and originally it had nothing to do with the environment.

Of course, these days the environment and ethics plays a huge role in how I shop and what I buy, but in the beginning, it started because of money… or more to the point… the guilt of wasting it.

I have never been good at fashion.  There are far too many photos in existence for me to try and deny it; (yes mum…. that cringe worthy photo of me as a teenager totally rocking (in my opinion at the time) a belt over my same colour top and bottom tracksuit comes to mind instantly!)

Still, I tried…. a lot. Amongst others, there was a maxi dress phase (I’m 5”2)  Pretty Woman polka dot dress phase, legging and slip phase, an accessories, accessories, accessories phase… all which look great on some people… just not me. And on the off chance it did look good; nine times out of ten I didn’t actually feel good wearing it!

I dread to think just how much of my hard-earned cash I spent in my early twenties trying to keep up with fashion.  Admiring the latest on trend style on other people, I’d purchase it for myself, wear it once or twice - never feeling great in it; then push it to the back of the wardrobe until eventually it would end up in an op shop donation bag during one of my clean outs, leaving me filled with guilt for spending so much money on something I never ended up wearing! I even spent money on having my “Colours & Styles” done (twice!) so I would know what looked good on me and what didn’t… but still couldn’t get it right. This was Stage 1 of my journey - Random shopping for LOTS of new clothes.

While I’ve never been opposed to Op shopping, I am ashamed to admit there was a time where I was embarrassed to mention it because I was worried about what people would think of me. Ridiculous I know… especially since in the last few years I’ve practically shouted my love for it from the rooftops!

Still, it wasn’t the environment that first got me through the Op shop doors… it was the fact that I could repeat my admire, buy, wear and not feel great, stash in the cupboard, eventually donate routine over and over again for a fraction of the cost of buying new; which all but eliminated the guilt step and this became Stage 2 of my journey – Random shopping for LOTS of pre-loved clothes.

Except for pj’s, underwear, socks and swimmers which I buy new, the majority of my clothes shopping years have been spent in Stage 2 with sporadic new purchases here and there.

Eventually I got to a point in my life where I stopped worrying so much about what other people thought of me and realised that what I’m wearing (or where I’m getting my clothes from) doesn’t define who I am. I realised that even though op shopping was cheaper, depending on how much you were buying; you could still end up spending more than you had; I realised that you always look better if you feel confident and comfortable in your clothes, no matter what you’re wearing. And of course, I started to learn more about the environment and the impact of the clothing industry.

Still it wasn’t until the start of 2018 that I entered Stage 3 of my journey - Planned shopping for specific clothes ONLY (preferably pre-loved) It was then that I made the conscious decision to stop shopping for the sake of shopping. In the few years since, I’ve purchased maybe a dozen pieces of clothing – a couple new, most pre-loved; most planned, one impulse (which by the way, I’ve never worn!) It’s saved me money, given me back some time and it’s been better for the environment.

This year I started Stage 4 of my clothing journey – Project 333, which is a minimalist wardrobe concept initiated by Courtney Carver in 2010. I’ve been following Courtney’s ‘Be More With Less’ Face Book page and blog for a few years now and am drawn to her writings and thoughts on minimalism and simplicity in all areas of life.

Project 333 - Putting together my winter wardrobe

The project 333 concept is simple – choose a total of 33 wardrobe items (or less) and wear only those things for 3 months. Courtney includes clothes, shoes and accessories but not sleepwear, workout clothes or underwear in her 33 items. I’ve modified it a little for myself and don’t include shoes (yet) but do include exercise clothes. I’ve just changed my wardrobe over for Summer and have 36 items to wear. When I started this phase; I thought it would be impossible to have so few clothes in my wardrobe but it’s been said that 80% of the time we only wear 20% of our clothes and going through everything piece by piece I’ve realised that’s true. For the winter season I had 39 items in my wardrobe and I discovered that there were at least half a dozen pieces that I didn’t wear at all this winter.

Tip: An easy way to find out what you are actually wearing… turn all the coat hangers in your wardrobe backwards. When you’ve worn something, washed it and go to put it away, put the coat hanger in the usual way. After awhile you will be able to see what you wear regularly and what never gets worn.

I’m really enjoying stage 4 of my clothing journey (Project 333). My wardrobe feels lighter and airier and it’s easier to see what’s in there. Things don’t get creased or crumpled because they have space, it’s easier to choose what to wear because I like everything in there and everything is suited to the season. I also know everything fits, because I try it all on as I change the season out, so there is no guilt about the kilo or two I might have gained.

The next and final stage of my clothing journey would be Stage 5 – The Personal Uniform, but in all honesty I might not ever get there. While open to interpretation on what a personal uniform looks like; the simplest way to explain it is to mention people like Steve Jobs (founder of Apple) Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) and the Pope. All three are extreme examples of having a personal uniform – they wear the same thing EVERY day!

I love this concept and imagine that my personal uniform would consist of a good fitting pair of dark blue jeans, black shirt, and black shoes. I imagine having one or two scarfs and a couple of necklaces to ‘accessorise’ with. I find jeans to be very comfortable and I FEEL good in them and it’s an outfit that works in the majority of “outfit situations” I find myself in… casual, smart casual, daytime, night-time.

I still have way too many ‘other’ clothes that are still perfectly fine to wear and I’m not as situational as the men I gave as examples above to only have a personal uniform. By this I mean that I can’t imagine mowing my lawn or turning the compost in my jeans and black shirt in the middle of Summer in North QLD… and yet I can’t imagine the Pope doing either of those jobs at all!!  Our situations are hugely different. Because of this, I don’t think I will ever be totally ‘all in’ in the personal uniform stage, but I do think I will hover between Stage 4 – Project 333 and Stage 5 – The Personal Uniform forever now and I’m ok with that.

I’ve had some highs and lows on my clothing journey (yes, I’m thinking about the belt and tracksuit outfit again!) but I’ve reached a point where I now have more space in my wardrobe and more money in my purse. I take less time getting dressed in the mornings, wear things that I’m comfortable in and actually like, have less decision fatigue when deciding what to wear,  and I have more free time because I don’t shop just for the sake of shopping. When I do shop for clothes it’s intentional and usually at on op shop which I feel is a better choice for the environment. All good things…. 

I can’t imagine mowing, turning the compost or gardening in my “personal uniform” but I love this colourful top from the op shop.