No Shopping for Clothes for a year?...

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For the past couple years or so I have been striving to live more minimally. I am in no way a full on follower of minimalist movement (not because I don't like it, it's just hard for me), but I do try to limit the amount of “things” that I owe. Although, I bet my brother would disagree with that statement. Still, I do strive to do my best to live with less. I find when it comes to my clothing I feel better and more prepared when I don’t have a lot of things, and everything that I have fits me well and goes well together. A closet overflowing with items is seriously anxiety evoking for me. Back in the early days of September 2015 I started thinking about switching my summer wardrobe over to fall/winter. Normally I would pack my summer clothes up and bring all my fall/winter clothes out. I would take everything, put it into my closet and go from there. This time around I decided to do something different. I started with trying to figure out a color scheme, an arbitrary number of items I would want to have and then work within those parameters I narrowed down what I would ideally want in my closet. I tried taking into account what I prefer to wear and what I already have. It did take quite a bit of effort and time, and one day I will share what I came up with, but this post is about something that the process eventually lead me to. Over the fall and early December I couldn’t help but question all my wants and potential purchases from clothing stores. I wondered what I really needed and whether the item(s) I thought I so desperately needed were actually important. Spoiler, unless you don’t have anything to wear, they are not important. That gray sweater I am eyeing is not going to make me happy. I questioned the quality and fit of the items I saw in stores, as well as their prices. The final straw came when I read “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of the Cheap Fashion” by Elizabeth L. Cline. It is a great read, and although I am a big proponent of questioning everything you read and see, the book aligned with something I felt for a while – I did not like the constant internal pressure to buy things. Yet, there was a dissonance since I loved clothes! After I’ve had some time to digest the information and my own feelings on the subject, I think I’ve finally come to an interesting challenge I was considering. The challenge scared me as I wasn’t sure I could follow through, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt sure that I need to give it a good try. So shortly after in January 2016 I have decided to not buy any clothes for a whole year. Feels pretty big and scary! What? No clothes shopping? For a year?? Now, there are some exclusions and rules that will have to apply here:

• Everything I wear will be something I either already own or I make myself. This is key, if I want/need something new this coming year, I need to make it. That goes for everything – lingerie, workout clothes, jeans, dresses, t-shirts, everything.
• I am allowed to buy the following items – socks, tights, stockings, shoes, accessories. But only when I truly need them. That will involve some kind of evaluation process that I didn’t think through yet. I just don’t want to end up buying a ton of things I don’t need just because they are the things I am allowed to buy.
• I am allowed to buy fabric – but only after I’ve looked through my stash to see if there was something suitable. In other words I need to shop my stash first. I can already see this will be a challenge of it's own.

I think that if I utterly fail at making certain items I still have plenty of clothes at home that should carry me through the year. I have no doubts about my dresses, tops and coats. I have been making those items for a few years and I mostly wear what I made when it comes to those categories. But I’ve never tried making jeans, workout clothes, lingerie and trousers until this challenge. My thoughts were that if I run into troubles, be it my skills or the lack of suitable fabrics, I have more than enough right now. I am definitely nervous about this challenge and am worried about certain aspects. I am worried that my “slight” shopping addiction would turn to fabrics and I will end up with a fabric stash bigger than I, or my home, can handle. I am worried that I will end up without a pair of black workout capris halfway through the year since it is hard to find a suitable fabric and I’ve been utterly spoilt by Lululemon (this is definitely a first world problem and part of me doesn't even feel bad for myself!). I am also worried about my sweaters. I love good quality sweaters and it is very hard to find good quality knit fabric to make my own. However, all my worries aside, I think I should have what it takes to get through a whole year of not buying clothes. As much as this challenge is about not shopping, it is also about learning in the process. I am very excited about all the things I will take away from it! I will be posting updates and my thoughts throughout the process on the blog, I haven’t figured out the format or the schedule of updates and that is something I will think about in the coming couple weeks. In the meantime, wish me luck! Love, Anya