Friday, September 9, 2022

What is it like to not shop for three years

I would start this blog post by first telling you what it didn't feel like. Not shopping for clothes didn't feel like a dread. At all. When you think of wearing the same clothes year after year, you imagine having to come to terms with looking the same, day after day. Of being judged by people for being cheap. Both might be true to an extent. But if you have more than ten different things in your wardrobe, you can create thirty outfits out of them. And unless you are paranoid about what people will say, you will, sooner or later, figure out ways to live with your new reality.

And what does it feel like? It feels the opposite of guilty for one. I knew I was doing something wrong by buying things and not wearing them, save for some rare occasions. From looking at a piece with impulsive eyes to thinking of a future get-together with imaginary friends, letting it marinate with other clothes, and then buying something new while the old one was quietly begging for attention, I felt like the creator of a vicious cycle. Wearing whatever I had, no matter how less crazy I was about it in the present day, broke that cycle while not breaking my bank balance.

The resolve to not shop for any clothes for a specific time period also introduced me to the realisation of what my real sense of fashion was. It gave me a pattern of things I wore to death and those I ignored like texts offering weight loss programs and personal loans. 

And lastly, it also feels exciting; the prospect of having a new wardrobe altogether in the future. To try being someone new. A mix of Olsen sisters and Natasha Goldenberg maybe (a girl can dream.). For whatever it’s worth, it is akin to getting out of the rate race to having everything the fashion season throws at us; a pause of sorts. 


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