Katerina, your collections are fabulous! If they make you happy, and you can store and manage your collections - go for it!

Inge, collects stripes. We once went shopping, and all six items she bought that day were stripes

I am a huge collector of crockery. I LOVE crockery - eating from beautiful crockery - and bring back special pieces from our travels.

I'd say my 25 item bag capsule counts as a collection:

Katerina - good point. I agree with you re the difference between collection and consumption. I was coming back here to apologize for sounding cranky and judgmental about accumulating lots of things - and when I read your comments, I came away with a better understanding of what collecting can and should mean. I have a very fraught and complicated relationship with accumulating, shopping and consumering in general, which rears its head here on the forum once in awhile. Sorry I collect things which have more intellectual or life-long meaning to me , like art and books (including signed first editions from favourite writers ) . When I had a house with more room, I collected vintage china, unique serving and entertaining pieces, and a lot more decorative stuff. I don't have the room anymore, and do miss having my stash of things to work with when decorating and styling my home. Funny how I never saw clothes that way.

I have a large collection of boots and booties which I enjoy. I don't think I really intentionally "collect " them per se as much as grab them if they fit me and are comfortable. I have acquired a very fussy foot and also have skinny ankles and calves which adds to the problem.
Several pairs are between 10 and 15 years old. Some I only wear a few times a year others I still wear a lot. I'm about to get new carpet upstairs which should result in a big cull as I need to empty my closet floor. I plan to wear each of them around the house and if my foot hurts I'm going to try to be strong and donate them ! Will also donate if they look worn which I already know is at least two pairs.
I also like vintage china and have a few pieces but they are handed down family items, I don't buy any.

Scarves and vintage Coach bags, both mostly thrifted. Lately I haven’t seen any Coach in the thrift stores, and bought a few on Etsy. When I was putting together a mustard capsule, I bought several vintage Vera scarves.

I also have a lot of cookbooks and knitting books. For me, they’re reference books. When I cook, I might not use a recipe, but I get ideas from the books. Same for knitting.

ETA: when I’ve found very old knitting or cookbooks, I’ve bought them just because they’re so interesting. I have a knitting booklet from WW1, and a cookbook from the 19th century. The cookbook is really about housekeeping.

My wardrobe has a disproportionate number of dresses and jackets, because that is what I like to wear most. I love handbags and will often pick one up when travelling. I have very few trousers and not a lot of knitwear that seems to wear out quite quickly.

I am not collector by nature - too much things creates stress for me. Not just in my wardrobe but in any category. I live in an apartment and storage is at premium. I keep only what I use. Well, except for jewelry. I don’t wear much jewelry, and I never buy it for my self but I accumulated huge collection of jewelry gifts over the years. Most of it is not even my style and I would never selected it for myself but I keep it for sentimental reasons, it reminds me of life milestones and people in my life.

Scarves, jewelry, and shoes. I have a hard time getting rid of anything from those categories. I'm not that attached to clothes and bags and purge fairly regularly.

Thank you ALL SO MUCH for commenting, sharing your points of view and telling all about your interesting unique collections. Or no collections. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading your posts.

It is so very interesting to see how people are different in that respect, even if all are fashion lovers.

SarahD8, what you wrote really resonates with me. I love the comparison with art supplies. I could never express it so perfectly, but it is exactly what my “collections” do for me. My work is analytical, not artistic at all. And I am quite a pragmatic person. My creative outlet is fashion, creating outfits, putting things together and playing also with repurposing various objects It brings me calm and relaxation. Strangely, it is about the only area where I am like that. In other areas, I prefer not having many things at all, rather minimalist home decorations, deliberately streamlined minimal modern office, simple, but good quality kitchen supplies and tableware etc. DH and I have some nice art, but do not feel we have to collect more. Simple life.

Lisa P., there is no need whatsoever to apologize. I am very happy that you commented and honestly talked about your perspective on accumulating lot of things. I think this is what is so interesting and valuable with this conversation, that everybody is different and sees some things differently. I agree with you on the accumulating things. Only our favorite and not favorite categories are quite the opposite. I am not very much into china or serving dishes or special table decorations and such. DH and I have chosen a simple modern white set of good quality bone china, quite large, which we like very much and use daily for all meals, and also when we have guests or when we have some celebratory meals. Our table is minimalist. Christmastime, DH land DS complain sometimes, that I do not want to decorate our home more. What my clothes and accessories wardrobe is to me would probably be home decorating stash to you, right?

I have a tendency to collect scarves, too. I live in Texas, where our predominant season is "my god it's freaking hot", which means that I don't wear scarves that much. Yet I still get tempted by scarves. At least they're not overly expensive LOL

I love and agree with SarahD8's art supply analogy and that is pretty much how I feel. I am a collector - we have tons of books for example, but I just don't connect my collecting with overconsumption. Rather, I see myself as saving these beautiful things from the landfill until I find their proper home.

Wool coats. I love wool. I love beautiful coats. Some I’ve had for decades. They give me enormous pleasure in both the having and the wearing.

Hobbies. Like dozens of them! And hobbies usually come with stuff-luckily I have a huge garage