Apparel Breakup Affair: Seven months later

I just realized that I haven’t bought new clothes for seven months. Actually, I haven’t bought any clothes for seven months, new or used.

I honestly didn’t think I could make it for more than a few months, let alone a year. I expected that something would happen: bad day/week/month at work, pointless argument with someone I love, or anything else that would make me think that buying clothes would somehow magically make me feel better. I also thought I might go crazy and need a rehab. I am proud to say that none of this happened. YET.

How did I make it so far?

Well, I’ve been really busy in the past seven months and I barely had any time to think about shopping. Although a few times I got very close to miserably failing because a few people showed me really interesting items online. Good thing that I don’t shop online much.

I was very close to buying this t-shirt. The most ridiculous part of the situation was that I don’t even wear t-shirts so why would I buy it? Another example of completely mindless consumption.

In January/February I did another cycle of Six Items Or Less, which later made me much more appreciative of the clothes I have instead of thinking of the clothes I could have. The experiment also helped me survive a trip to New York. Somehow I walked into Zara, Mango, TopShop, Benetton and a few other stores without buying anything. I still can’t believe it happened. Seems very surreal and very not me.

I also moved to a new apartment, which meant major closet cleaning. I donated several trash bags of clothes, but I also discovered several bags of clothes I hadn’t worn in years. It was like shopping in my own closet. Some of the items I found are a gypsy skirt that I bought when I was in high school and a few dresses that I used to think were too preppy for me. Now I wear them more often than anything else I own.

What will make the next five months harder?

I am going to Turkey in November, if everything goes according to the plan, and knowing myself I will feel very tempted to buy cheap scarves and anything in bright colors.

Pantone just announced the fashion colors for fall and the emberglow, phlox, deep teal and nougat will be very tempting.

We’ll see how it goes.