Why a No Buy?

Leaving A YEAR behind

So, 2023 for me has been about learning and growing, and along the way, re-connecting with my love of getting dressed.

I guess this will be a recurring theme in my writing, for a while:

How changes in life also reflect in the way I (we) dress. Duh.

Something shifted this year, after going through some major life events last year.

I felt the need to re-evaluate how I present myself to myself and the world. Something felt a bit off. A need to clean out, to let go, to embrace a past joy, but also to reflect a new…calm?

This year, I have read and watched and written lists and tried out different analytical approaches to getting dressed.

Adjectives and modifiers and color-rings (thank you, Tibi and Amy Smilovic), body type mapping (what´s up with this Kibbe-guy), discovering Substack and new voices, re-discovering Pinterest, writing lists of purchases, making room in my budget for said purchases, selling off clothing.

I identified the ratio of modern-classic being off, too many retro vibes going on, too many fun tops alongside too few basic pants.

I enjoy bright colors, but saw a lack of “bridge colors” between black, white and the brights, and felt like embracing the “boring” (and to me scary) classic neutrals more. Wearing beige? Who, me?

Yes, me.

As a major theme, comfort and practicality.

I have held on to uncomfortable clothes and shoes that did not serve me or my body or my lifestyle. Like: I have wide feet. And due to showing up in the gym on the regular, my shoulders have broadened (which is cool), making some shirts fit more awkward (not so cool).

My lack of proper winter shoes to suit the western Norwegian weather made NO SENSE when measured against the undisclosed number of pairs of black heeled ankle boots.

And very few of my jackets could actually fit layers beneath them, not to say lovely, chunky knits.

This is on-going, or at least in part. I love to learn, to discover, to try on, to analyze.

But I have noticed a focus on what´s missing, instead of focusing on what I already have (which is, uhm, consumerism, for ya).

Too much time scrolling, wanting, and also buying.

I have made “secondhand first” my rule for the last three years, but shopping primarily second hand can also lead to FOMO and purchasing too quickly, too much.

So I will continue forward the coming year with the intention of not spending money on clothes, shoes, bags, accessories et cetera.

I will shift my focus to my excisting wardrobe, and having fun with it. Repeating outfits. Appreciating signs of wear. Identifying future tools. Cleansing my palate and deleting apps.

And since reading about and reading the Rule of Five, I intend to adopt this rule going forward, past next year.

I hope to settle more. For now!

I do not know what the future holds, I will never say never, my body will probably change, my lifestyle and the space that I call home can also change.

But what has remained, all my life, is my love of getting dressed and using clothing as a form of self-expression.

And that creative form of self-expression does not depend on me using my credit card, just my time and energy.

So let´s wish for more time and energy in 2024.

(And as a disclaimer: Going on a No Buy feels right for me, right now, maybe or probably not for you. And that´s cool!
I will continue to enjoy reading about others/your purchases. I do not appreciate preaching, but I do appreciate creativity, caring for the climate, solidarity with workers, and mindful spending of our hard-earned money.)