I am a huge supporter of wearing most wardrobe items regularly instead of saving them for special occasions. After all, clothes, footwear and accessories were bought to be worn, and the only way to whittle down their cost per wear to nothing is to wear the heck out of them. So when my clients ask me, “I love this top, but when will I wear it?” More often than not, my reply is, “Every day.” To which they frequently reply, “Every day? That top is too special to wear every day!” I smile and say, “But you are special, and life is too short to save wardrobe pieces for special occasions.” 

That said, I absolutely do ration the wear of certain wardrobe items. Not because they are pricey, dressy, delicate or impractical, but because it will be hard to replace them. Items like this currently in my wardrobe include  my white Anne Fontaine shirts, black Tokyo suit, jodhpur jeans, cream patent booties, cream go-go boots, cream Jil Sander skirt, grey pinstripe Theory suit, pink Joseph man coat, and Alice & Olivia black wide leg trousers.

Some of these are better-end items, but that’s not why they are on the list. Some of them, like my cream booties and the go-go boots, were actually quite inexpensive. It’s that these pieces are one of a kind or hard to replace. In many cases they are items that need to be pristine in order to work in my outfits.

By wearing and laundering these items regularly, I would wear them out. So I deliberately wear them less often to keep them pristine. This takes discipline on my part because I would love to have them in more regular rotation.

Do you ration the wearability of some of your wardrobe items? If so, why are you saving them? Or do you wear the heck out of them anyway?