First I am going to warn you that this is going to be quite long and whiny, so please feel free to completely skip this thread.
I have just finished a long spring wardrobe clean-up, stretched over multiple weekends. There are a couple of huge bags of items to donate. Still, I am extremely dissatisfied with the state of my remaining wardrobe. I have a very large wardrobe, partly due to the fact that for the most part of the last 20 years I have remained the same size. Another reason is because I love clothes and shopping, and I am very interested in looking my best every day. It is a hobby and a stress release mechanism at the same time. I like to follow trends ( though not blindly, for example, I am skipping the current slouchy/baggy pants trend which is huge) and am usually an early adopter. I live in a four-season climate which requires a whole range of different clothing options. My lifestyle is such that I need clothes for very different occasions: work which is casual/conservative, free time when I am more trendy and dressy (my natural inclinations), ballroom dancing clothes, a whole myriad of cocktail /formal wear, and various other going out clothes for evening outings. I also like having a lot of options and tend to get bored easily.
While I have always been interested in clothes, the interest really spiked up when I discovered YLF in 2007. Over 2008 and 2009 I did a lot of shopping and my wardrobe was in excellent state. Then, due to some complicated circumstances, I went on about ~90% SYC throughout 2010 and 2011. I think I got a couple of trendy items and some emergency items too, but I do not think that I have added more than 10-15 pieces total in those two years. However, I do not think i felt it much as my wardrobe was in great shape and I already had a lot of the current looking items. Then early last year I resumed more of an SYB approach and added a more significant amount of new items for spring 2012 and fall 2012. Still, after this cleanup, it is evidently to me that you can tell that most of my clothes are 4-5 years old. The styles have changed. I have changed, and so have my style preferences. In a hypothetical dream situation of having a large sum of money for a complete wardrobe overhaul, I think I would keep about 15% of the current clothes, update about 15% as well with equivalent items ( for example, not-so fresh looking white button down with a new one), than substitute about 20% with items that serve the same purpose ( example: new cocktail dress instead of not-so-high quality old one) and completely throw away about a half of everything I currently own that has survived my big spring purge.
The thing is, I am on limited clothing budget at the moment as I am saving for two very important things that are, frankly, much more important that clothes. This will stay like this for a year, after which my budget will still be limited but more tolerable. So in this situation I do not feel comfortable throwing away half of everything I own, especially since I do not know if I would be able to afford to rebuy those things should I need them. I am trying to get rid of things that are really dated (hence a bunch of my recent posts wondering if this or that was dated/current) and keep things that are not necessarily trendy, but still sort-of current. For example, I have a bunch of simple tissue thin turtlenecks in various colors that I used to live in in colder months, but have barely worn in the past two winter seasons, as my style has shifted to wearing much more wovens and less knits. However, there is nothing wrong with those turtlenecks and who knows how I might feel about them next winter or the one after. And there are many more groups of items of this kind: cardigans, knitted tops, fitted tees, sweater vests etc.. Or things that represent results of shopping around the item I really wanted but couldn't afford and ended up getting a couple of cheaper versions that never made me as happy but served the purpose. Or overbuying of the certain trends that were particularly flattering/really matched my style, And so on. I have edited all of these groups of items for the favorites, but still there plenty left.
I do have a lots of closet space so storage is not an issue. But I do not like the idea of not wearing half of the things I own. Then again, I have learned that I am very fickle when it comes to what i like to wear and greatly influenced by the current styles. I often resurrect old items if they feel in line with current trends. In general, I do not really know what to do and if there is anything I can really do considering the whole situation. But the realization that, in couple of years, my wardrobe has changed from being almost 90% full of stuff that are current and I love to that number being 30% at best is not making me feel good.
If I try to keep the big picture in mind, I still have plenty of nice things to wear and the situation is nowhere nearly as tragic, as I feel it is - just a subjective perception. So I don't really know if I am asking for some particular advice or just venting.
If you have made it this far, than you are a real trooper Thank you for reading!
I have just finished a long spring wardrobe clean-up, stretched over multiple weekends. There are a couple of huge bags of items to donate. Still, I am extremely dissatisfied with the state of my remaining wardrobe. I have a very large wardrobe, partly due to the fact that for the most part of the last 20 years I have remained the same size. Another reason is because I love clothes and shopping, and I am very interested in looking my best every day. It is a hobby and a stress release mechanism at the same time. I like to follow trends ( though not blindly, for example, I am skipping the current slouchy/baggy pants trend which is huge) and am usually an early adopter. I live in a four-season climate which requires a whole range of different clothing options. My lifestyle is such that I need clothes for very different occasions: work which is casual/conservative, free time when I am more trendy and dressy (my natural inclinations), ballroom dancing clothes, a whole myriad of cocktail /formal wear, and various other going out clothes for evening outings. I also like having a lot of options and tend to get bored easily.
While I have always been interested in clothes, the interest really spiked up when I discovered YLF in 2007. Over 2008 and 2009 I did a lot of shopping and my wardrobe was in excellent state. Then, due to some complicated circumstances, I went on about ~90% SYC throughout 2010 and 2011. I think I got a couple of trendy items and some emergency items too, but I do not think that I have added more than 10-15 pieces total in those two years. However, I do not think i felt it much as my wardrobe was in great shape and I already had a lot of the current looking items. Then early last year I resumed more of an SYB approach and added a more significant amount of new items for spring 2012 and fall 2012. Still, after this cleanup, it is evidently to me that you can tell that most of my clothes are 4-5 years old. The styles have changed. I have changed, and so have my style preferences. In a hypothetical dream situation of having a large sum of money for a complete wardrobe overhaul, I think I would keep about 15% of the current clothes, update about 15% as well with equivalent items ( for example, not-so fresh looking white button down with a new one), than substitute about 20% with items that serve the same purpose ( example: new cocktail dress instead of not-so-high quality old one) and completely throw away about a half of everything I currently own that has survived my big spring purge.
The thing is, I am on limited clothing budget at the moment as I am saving for two very important things that are, frankly, much more important that clothes. This will stay like this for a year, after which my budget will still be limited but more tolerable. So in this situation I do not feel comfortable throwing away half of everything I own, especially since I do not know if I would be able to afford to rebuy those things should I need them. I am trying to get rid of things that are really dated (hence a bunch of my recent posts wondering if this or that was dated/current) and keep things that are not necessarily trendy, but still sort-of current. For example, I have a bunch of simple tissue thin turtlenecks in various colors that I used to live in in colder months, but have barely worn in the past two winter seasons, as my style has shifted to wearing much more wovens and less knits. However, there is nothing wrong with those turtlenecks and who knows how I might feel about them next winter or the one after. And there are many more groups of items of this kind: cardigans, knitted tops, fitted tees, sweater vests etc.. Or things that represent results of shopping around the item I really wanted but couldn't afford and ended up getting a couple of cheaper versions that never made me as happy but served the purpose. Or overbuying of the certain trends that were particularly flattering/really matched my style, And so on. I have edited all of these groups of items for the favorites, but still there plenty left.
I do have a lots of closet space so storage is not an issue. But I do not like the idea of not wearing half of the things I own. Then again, I have learned that I am very fickle when it comes to what i like to wear and greatly influenced by the current styles. I often resurrect old items if they feel in line with current trends. In general, I do not really know what to do and if there is anything I can really do considering the whole situation. But the realization that, in couple of years, my wardrobe has changed from being almost 90% full of stuff that are current and I love to that number being 30% at best is not making me feel good.
If I try to keep the big picture in mind, I still have plenty of nice things to wear and the situation is nowhere nearly as tragic, as I feel it is - just a subjective perception. So I don't really know if I am asking for some particular advice or just venting.
If you have made it this far, than you are a real trooper Thank you for reading!
