Earlier this spring, I wrote about the Guardian’s challenge to buy just five new items of clothing this year. The concept was immediately appealing because it presented a concrete, accessible and best of all doable means of addressing what can easily feel like an overwhelming problem: too many clothes! Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners Join the Vancouver Fringe Festival for Their 40th Anniversary The beloved performing arts showcase is back this September on Granville Island. In addition to being one of the largest industrial consumers of water, the fashion industry dumps 85 per cent of its wares in landfills every year.
And it’s not just environmental but also human costs. Garment workers are some of the most exploited in the world. Now we’re nearing the end of summer, and perhaps you’d like to know how the “five new things” challenge is going for me.
I’m now up to item number 3. And happy to report that the parameters seem to be working. Here are the rules: In a calendar year, you are limited to buying five new articles of clothing.
Vintage, second-hand, gifted, thrifted or stuff found in the middle of the street doesn’t count. Other items, like socks and underpants, that you cannot buy second-hand are also allowed, and, within reason, shoes, which are also not great used. Everything else — hats, earrings, bags, scarves, stuff that you can easily find other places than traditional retail stores — is fair game, so long as you can source them in a way that contributes to the circular economy rather than, you know, the usual globalized capitalistic hellscape.
Second-hand and thrift stores are chockablock with a dizzying wealth of accessory options. Stop the grifting and get to thrifting! So, what have I spent my three precious things on? First off, an Eileen Fisher silk skirt in the palest shade of oyster. So far, I haven’t managed to actually wear it out of the house.
Every time I put it on, I feel like I’m attending my own wedding. But if I ever do get married again, I’m all set. Which brings me to another realization.
Often people, and I include myself here, buy clothes as aspirational objects. Not for the actual life we’re living, but one that we wish we had. So, what was I thinking when I bought this particular item? Do I secretly want to get married again? Maybe! The fantasy A precious Eileen Fisher silk skirt in the palest shade of oyster.
‘Every time I put it on, I feel like I’m attending my own wedding,’ says Woodend. Illustration for The Tyee by Dorothy Woodend. The oyster skirt was on deep discount.
The colour, the fabric and the sheer beauty alone were enough. Eileen Fisher , as a fashion company, has exemplified good and ethical practices long before anyone else was doing it. This includes being transparent about their manufacturing, and dealing with factories that treat their employees well and equitably .
When you wear out Fisher’s clothes, you can take them back to the store, where they’re either repurposed into new garments or recycled . The first time I bought a pair of the brand’s signature pants, I probably tried them on at least half a dozen times, thinking that spending over $200 on pants was slightly insane. But after finally biting the bullet, I wore those suckers till they begged for mercy.
Then I wore them some more. They have holes aplenty, bagged out at the knees, but they’re still good as inside-the-house pants. If you find a company that is doing things the right way, support them.
If they’re local, even better! Clothing is more than just practical stuff we need to cover our bodies; it is also deeply personal. It’s a means by which we express our identity, creativity and culture. It’s even social currency.
RELATED STORIES Take the Challenge! Buy Just Five Pieces of New Clothing a Year Why We Should Be Furious about Fast Fashion But for all the utilitarian screeds that may indicate otherwise, I’m here to tell you that it’s OK to give in to beauty. It’s also lovely to have things that you aspire to wear. Such things operate as small pieces of pleasure and hope, hanging at the back of your closet, simply waiting for their moment to arrive.
And when it does, they burst forth, a butterfly from a chrysalis, ready to transform your butt into a silken vision. The workhorse A knee-length black dress has earned its keep as the easiest thing for Woodend to walk out the door in. It ‘hides a multiplicity of sins.
’ Illustration for The Tyee by Dorothy Woodend. The next item again hails from Eileen Fisher: a boat-neck, knee-length black dress. The difference between it and the oyster skirt is it’s already earned its keep by being the easiest thing to throw on and walk out the door.
Take the Challenge! Buy Just Five Pieces of New Clothing a Year read more Here is another caveat to keep in mind, if you’re limited to only a handful of things. Get something you know will work. The lesson being, know thyself.
If you think that you like bright colours and bold patterns, but the moment you put them on, you feel like someone plastered a giant “LOOK AT ME!!!” sign on your back, it’s never going to work. If you’re a person who feels best in shades of deepest navy, make peace with that. Everyone needs only a few articles of attire that you can always count on.
Stuff that you never have to think about and becomes a further extension of you. If you’re a Paul Bunyan type, and plaid flannel and a watch cap makes you feel at ease with yourself, cool! Be the best Bunyan you can be. If you have a penchant for deep, saturated colours, then shine on, pinky diamond.
Black is the easiest thing in the world to me. It hides a multiplicity of sins and is easy to pull together. Yes, it’s a bit unimaginative, I suppose, but everyone needs a uniform, a thing you can wear that will always make you feel exactly yourself, be it cut, colour or style.
The investment ‘If you look at a coat online even once, the algorithms guarantee that item will follow you relentlessly around the internet,’ writes Woodend. But she already has hers. Illustration for The Tyee by Dorothy Woodend.
Which brings me to item number 3: a navy coat from Scottish heritage brand Mackintosh . This company has been making raincoats since 1824, so they know what they’re doing. Also, when these things go on sale, do not wait.
Hop to it because deep discounts do not last long. These are investment pieces, things you will wear for decades, so they tend more towards traditional shapes and designs. If you want trends, there’s about a million other options.
One caveat. While online shopping offers an almost dizzying amount of choice, it is designed to wear down, no pun intended, your resistance. If you look at a coat online even once, the algorithms guarantee that item will follow you relentlessly around the internet.
Whatever website you’re on, targeted ads will follow like a puppy tugging at your sleeve. It’s proven strategy. I must have looked at the Mackintosh raincoat countless times before I finally took the leap.
Even if you know you’re being manipulated, it still works. The other thing about buying from a heritage brand like Mackintosh is that they have hammered down a certain ephemeral quality: fit. It’s a term that fashion cognoscente Derek Guy talks about, breaking down why certain things just look right, whereas others, no matter how much money you’ve spent or whatever designer name is attached, simply do not work.
Why We Should Be Furious about Fast Fashion read more Guy’s X account is an ongoing source of erudition and pleasure, but if you’ve foresworn that infernal site, he also has a website . The dude is not afraid to mix it up. He takes on politics, and the ensuing hordes of trollish thugs that such conversations attract, with wit and good humour, not to mention heaps of fascinating information about tailoring, fashion history and the like.
It’s a reminder that clothes are more than just things you put on your body in order not to be arrested for public nudity. Which brings me to a final observation about the politics of clothes worn as a form of communal identification to demonstrate fealty, belonging, loyalty. It goes beyond red hats, overlong neckties and shiny navy suits .
We’re all trying to tell the world who we are through our choices, as well as support our own sense of self. So clothing is more complicated than it seems: it’s moving constantly in two different directions at the same time by communicating our inner selves with the outer world. This can be a lot to ask of a humble baseball cap.
But when you get it right, the feeling is pretty great. Read more: Environment.
