Wow, I am an outlier for sure - I wear the same jeans over and over, the same shoes over and over, the same jacket over and over ... honestly the only thing I change daily by habit (other than underpinnings) is my shirt, and I'm saying that wearing the same shirt today that I had on yesterday

I do think for me personally the school uniform thing has stuck ... in fact if they announced a uniform for work from home moms that wasn't hideous, I would sign up voluntarily and be done with it!

I know that I could never be such a minimalist. I always miss my larger wardrobe when travelling where I am limited to a small selection of clothing for a couple of weeks, so I could not imagine doing this permanently by choice.

Regarding her footwear, I wonder if she keeps some dress shoes in the office, so the shoes she wears whilst commuting are just that, her to and from work shoes?

I wear the same thing over & over if the same people aren’t going to see me. Recall that in high school I’d wear the same dress to social dancing Sat, church Sun, and school on Mon—but not repeat an outfit at school all week.
ETA (because posting a third time in the thread is embarrassing). I would tell anyone worrying about repeating that no one thinks about you anyway, they’re all thinking about themselves and what you think of them. But several in this thread have proved me wrong. I don’t know how I’d ever find the bandwidth to keep track of what someone else is wearing, as I sometimes can barely get my own straight.

Hey it works for her! For me - I don't think so. I would get bored. I do wish I was a bit more minimalist sometimes. Right now I am going through a major let's-throw-everything-out-and-start-over mood. Perhaps luckily I haven't had time to actually do any purging and by the time I do I'll probably be over it.

I am an aspiring minimalist, but not to that level! I don't care about people seeing the same outfits, but I gotta wash at least tops between each wearing!

If I repeat pieces during the week I usually don’t on the next day - but after a couple of days. Birkenstock’s in summer, outerwear and jeans would be the exceptions.

Minimal wardrobe aside - how nice to make contact and make friends again! It's nice you have someone to talk to during your commute.

I know I have more clothes than I need. Even when I worked a regular office job, I noticed my truly worn clothes (the ones on repeat week to week) were not extensive. And weekends are only 2 days - so I would often (and still do) re-wear jeans, cargoes, sweaters and sweats.

One of my colleagues back in the day had a very limited wardrobe - and it was smart and suitable.

Different strokes!

I worked in an office, the summer between high school and college, with a lady who rotated the same three dresses for three months. It was hard not to notice and wonder why.

Thank you all for taking the time to comment this thread. It has been a pleasure to read your stories, experiences and different approaches to wardrobe management.

The repeat outfit discussion here reminded me of this funny old blog post on cup of jo: https://cupofjo.com/2014/08/do.....eatshirts/

Anyone aspiring to be more minimal in wardrobe, it's easy to just pack some things away in a suitcase or two under the bed, for weeks or months...or years! And then things seem like new again whenever we need more novelty. Makes the closet prettier and sometimes constraint can spark creativity.

On the other hand, more is fun too! Despite what friends or people on the internet are doing, it comes down to what is the balance that inspires US?

One last thing on the subject, Sisi!

There is no one magical wardrobe size because needs vary from person to person. Your lifestyle, climate, need for outfit variety, need for trendy updates, and your affection for fashion will greatly affect the size of your wardrobe. Other factors are the physical size and convenience of your closet.

I suggest to my clients that a wardrobe is the right size when they can successfully MANAGE it. They can remember their favourite items across the seasons, create sufficient outfit variety, and feel at peace when they enter their closet and dressing space. As soon as they’re overwhelmed, they need to cut back and/or edit. As soon as they’re bored, they need to think about how to refresh their style.

My late grandfather had 3 pants and 3 shirts, all the same fabric and color and that was his entire wardrobe!

ETA, I think he had one coat. And he wore suspenders and work boots. I don't know if he had multiples of those. The pants and shirts were beige, in case you're curious. The shirts were woven cotton with two front pockets and the pants were twill, I think.

Someone who shall remain nameless was a proud minimalist. Spent the night and had to use our laundry because they didn't bring? have? a change of clothes. Not a good use of water or energy-I was not pleased or impressed.
I know that is an extreme example.
Recently I was thinking about how I did own a very tight work wardrobe when I was starting out. And how much smaller the wardrobe of the original owner of our house must have been-as was common then. We have added a lot more storage by double-hanging, etc.

I would love this concept *only* if I knew for definite that *all* the clothing items were of good quality (& would therefore last) - without that guarantee, I'd be having to buy a new closet every season!

In reality though, I like colours too much to just have 4 of each item - I'd be set I could have them duplicated in 9 colours instead (cream/ gold/ orange/ saffron/ moss/ pine/ teal/ plum/ chocolate). Food for thought!

Such an interesting discussion and thoughts from everyone!

I'm in my early 60s and have never had a huge wardrobe or number of shoes at any point in my life. In my 20s it is because I couldn't really afford to have a lot of clothes (no real fast fashion in the 80s). I had just a few things that I loved and had enough to not wear the same thing to work more than one day every week. But pretty much my work wardrobe was repeated over and over on a weekly basis. Clothes were made better back then and lasted. My wardrobe expanded some as I made more money in my 30s/40s/50s but not really that much.

Overall, I don't like having too many choices in my closet as it gets overwhelming. I'm the same way about a lot of things - I detest clutter in my house and this extends to my wardrobe. I work from home (even pre-COVID) and usually wear a very casual outfit 2 days in a row (if I don't go out anywhere) and then the top goes in the wash. But I will wear the same pair of jeans for 3 or 4 days in a row as I'm really not doing anything to get them dirty (but still keeping the hygiene issue in mind...)

Allora, I agree with you that well-made clothing was easier to find back then! I have numerous items from the 80s and 90s that I continue to pull out when it strikes my fancy

Allora - like you, I prefer a moderate/small wardrobe because it gives me peace of mind and, at the end of it all, makes me happy. Not for everybody of course.

Stagiaire - wow, you still have things from the 80s and 90s! The only thing I have from that era is a silk scarf that I bought from The Limited. It is the oldest thing I have in my entire wardrobe/accessory collection. I don't recall but I'm thinking I probably paid $8 or $10 for it and it still looks fabulous. I really really miss the quality of the work and fabrics from back in those days.

Well, this is going to be me for the upcoming seasons due to successful weight loss. I am actually excited to explore a more minimal wardrobe , although not this extreme, and see how it works for me. It is something I have always aspired to and this seems a good opportunity.