In January I set myself a challenge: to not buy any clothes or accessories for a whole season (In this case Jan-Mar). I thought a little time out from shopping would help me review and edit where I had got to in my capsule wardrobe journey. Having just read Anuschka Rees’ ‘The Curated Closet’, I also wanted to spend some time running through her suggested exercises on refining personal style before making any more purchases.
When I started the challenge I thought I was in a pretty good place. I was really happy with the outfits I’d chosen for my winter wardrobe. I knew when it came to spring I would rediscover some gorgeous pieces I’d bought last year and would be so happy to wear them again. In short, I felt sorted and unlikely to be tempted to buy anything for a few months.
So why then, just a week after setting my resolve, was I handing over my hard earned cash in J Crew and taking home a brand new fur-lined hooded parka?!
Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement ~ CS Lewis
Don’t get me wrong, I love my parka and have worn it pretty much every day of this freezing cold season. It is a quality item that I know will be a wardrobe staple for years. That’s not the point though. I had set myself a challenge that I didn’t think would be a problem and within the first week *FAIL*
Disappointed in myself and a little disillusioned as to whether I had really taken the capsule wardrobe principles to heart, I decided to turn a mindful eye to what prompted me to abandon my well thought out plan and spend £160 on impulse. Not only that but since buying the parka I noticed I had been very close to purchasing other items too… what was going on?!
Below I have set out what seem to be the main triggers behind the temptation to break my resolve. I’ve also come up with some advice for myself in each scenario to try and overcome this.
The sale effect
For me this is the biggest temptation. If I come across something I’ve had my eye on for a while that has gone into the sale it is so easy to justify the purchase to myself. The feeling of getting a bargain as well as taking something home I had considered buying at full price is a little intoxicating. Normally I would sleep on it before going ahead but in this scenario the fear that someone else will snap up the bargain while I deliberate overrides any common sense.
This feeling runs so deep that I think it must be part of the human condition: that hunter gatherer instinct is still at work! The idea of securing yourself a scarce commodity combined with the knowledge you have saved money that can then be spent on something else is compelling. In the cold light of day I have come up with a list of questions to ask myself in this scenario that can help: 1. Do I love this piece so much that I would buy it at full price? 2. Can I imagine this piece in my wardrobe in five years’ time? 3. If I was going to Paris next weekend, would I want to wear this item? (I know this last question might seems a little incongruous but it’s a really useful guide for me as to whether something is really going be part of the dream wardrobe. I am sure everyone probably has their own perfect scenario that they could apply here, a scenario where they only ever want to look and feel the best version of themselves).
These questions can help but only if I am really honest with myself and disciplined enough to accept the answers! However, the only fail-safe way for me to avoid this shopping pitfall is to avoid recreational browsing during the sales.
The ‘I need to feel better’ effect
So, it’s a Thursday night and it’s been a very long week. I am tired, feeling a little under the weather but looking forward to the weekend. I have a work party to go to on the Friday and want to look my best. I am now doubting the limited choices I have in my capsule wardrobe for this occasion (I wore the jumpsuit to an awards dinner last month, my cream top just seems a bit meh for this occasion and the burgundy silk is just not ‘party’ enough). The best solution is to go to the shops and find a new outfit that will make me sparkle. Two hours later, exhausted and slightly dissatisfied, I head home with a dress that is pretty enough. I wear it to the party, feel okay-ish and then at the end of the night the dress goes into the wardrobe never to be worn again. Has anyone else been there?!
I have done this so many times! Searching for an outfit for a specific occasion that will make me feel a certain way! Does it? Occasionally yes but more often than not it ends up being a mediocre quick fix that never really delivers in the long term.
The capsule wardrobe approach has really helped me with this. At the beginning of the season I will spend plenty of time choosing outfits for each scenario that I really love. With objectivity and distance, I know that these are great choices and far better than anything I am likely to find on a last minute spree. If I am still overwhelmed by the desire to buy something new to make me feel better I am learning this is more about how I feel about myself in general and a new outfit isn’t the solution here. This is where self-discipline comes in, the discipline to stick to the choices I made at a time when I was better equipped to make clothing decisions and the discipline to say ‘I don’t have to be seen in a new outfit every time I go out’. Not always easy but if I can also switch the focus to making my general grooming and accessories the best they can be I do find this helps me embrace the outfits I already have and enjoy them again.
The ‘it’s only a small, cheap top’ effect
This little trick sneaks in under the radar. I will even admit that I have been known to make the odd supermarket clothing purchase during the weekly shop on the basis that yes I do need another striped top – especially when it is the same price as a box of muesli! It doesn’t count as a clothes purchase right?!
I was in Gap two weeks ago faced with this very dilemma. I was just having a lunchtime browse and came across a nice olive green striped top. It was £7, in a good colour that fitted in well with my A/W colour scheme. Sure I know I wasn’t supposed to be buying clothes but at this price surely this didn’t count?! I took it to the fitting room. It was fine, fitted okay and the fabric felt soft. Hey I could even wear it to work the next day for Casual Friday. It wasn’t wow but it wasn’t bad and it was at that point that a tiny, little voice popped into my head. ‘Do you really need that top?’ It asked. ‘Have you been actively looking for the best olive green stripe top you can find? If so, is this it?’ Pause…. ‘Erm, no, no and no’ was my answer. The price wasn’t the issue here but the principle was. My parka splurge was one thing but then peppering my no spend season with seemingly insignificant small purchases seemed like a pitfall that was almost worse. This was impulse buying of fast fashion, the very thing I am working hard to avoid.
For me, awareness of this is enough to act as prevention. The pleasure of planned, pre-budgeted, quality shopping so far outweighs this type of aimless meandering.
The ‘wish I looked like her’ effect
‘Compare and despair’ someone wise once said and never a truer word spoken. I have been guilty of this on many an occasion. It’s so easy to look at other people and see something that catches your eye, that you would like for yourself. Let’s take Rosie Huntingdon-Whitley as an example. I love her style and wish I would wear a fedora with the same level of panache! She features regularly on my Pinterest inspiration board and the other day I saw a gorgeous cream cashmere jumper that, with white jeans, would be so RH-W! Despite my resolve to not buy until April, despite the fact that I am still planning my S/S wardrobe, despite the fact it was beyond my current budget I was seriously considering buying the jumper there and then. How was this possible?!
It was a day when I wasn’t feeling wonderful, I was looking to escape into the fantasy that by wearing a certain outfit I could live a different life. The lure of the item was about so much more than just getting a new piece of knitwear. I could imagine myself lounging around a villa in the South of France in said outfit, or strolling through an airport terminal on route to Santorini (and obviously being upgraded to first class simply for looking so stylish!) Once those daydreams are built around certain item it can be quite hard to let this go.
In this instance my decision to ‘sleep on it’ did the trick. The jumper hasn’t gone away completely but has been added to a possible S/S wishlist that once edited, considered and re-considered, may still yet be added to my wardrobe. However, if it is added, it will be added on my terms as an item that reflects my own personal style and presents the best version of me, not me trying to be R H-W! That is one thing that I have to accept will never happen!
Just as an aside to all of the above, I actually adore my parka and, given the weather we have been having, am very glad I bought it! I am also grateful to it for highlighting my shopping urges and inspiring this post 😊
The only thing I am not 100% about is how the bag goes with the outfit. My no shopping rule (see previous post) meant that buying a new bag for this evening was a definite no (even though bags fall outside of the 33 piece maximum rule AND I saw a gorgeous LK Bennett deep plum clutch bag on sale at the weekend that would have been perfect *sigh*) However, I have identified this as a gap to look at for next A/W. Observation number two about a capsule wardrobe: the discipline of not buying when you feel a need to but instead adding pieces to a wish list for future seasons seems to pay off in helping you choose items you will love and get much use out of. When autumn comes around if I still feel the lure of (and need for) a deep plum clutch bag I will go ahead and buy one!
lalondonerparisienneblog 