To keep or not to keep?

After laying out my plans for redesigning my wardrobe I thought I should explain my reasons for keeping some things and getting rid of others.

Before clearing out my wardrobe I did a little research on what fabrics we should be wearing and what fabrics are best to avoid. These days as ‘fast fashion’ has taken off so has the use of the less desirable fabrics to keep production up and costs down.

While scouring the internet I came across a list of fabrics to avoid from the website Body Ecology. If you want a bit more information on any of the fibres you can go to the individual links or head to Body Ecology’s website.

Fabrics we should avoid:

• Polyester
• Acrylic
• Rayon (also includes viscose, lyocell and modal)
• Acetate and Triacetate
• Nylon

It also helps to note that anything that says it’s static or stain resistant, permanent press, wrinkle free, or moth repellant probably contains these fabrics or some kind of chemical assistance.

Going through my wardrobe I realised that if I got rid of everything on the ‘fabrics to avoid’ list I wouldn’t have many clothes left. So some decisions had to be made on whether I loved certain items enough to keep them even though their quality may not be 100% and potentially replace them later once I’d managed to build my wardrobe back up. Some clothes, such as blazers, I kept for this reason. Another reason was that I wanted to try and keep, reuse or donate as much of the clothes that I could because each year tonnes of clothes are dumped into landfill and up to 95% of these could be reused somewhere else.

However if your clothes are ruined, torn or stained don’t donate them because whichever store you give them to will have to throw them away anyway!

Of the clothes I kept there was an estimated total (I forgot to count some) of one acrylic, two nylon, 19 rayon, and 2o polyester as well as two silk, three linen, three wool, 16 cotton and around 5 (possibly more) blends of either cotton and wool or cotton and polyester. It’s interesting to note though that most of the clothes were a blend of fabrics but I marked down the fabric that had the highest percentage.

Now the ethics of fabric and clothing production are a big thing and would take more time than I can give them in this particular post so I will focus more on that side of things later.

I found that one way to decide what stays and what goes was something I should have applied when buying; if you don’t love it immediately or it makes you um and ah then don’t get it and don’t keep it. This helped me get rid of a lot of cocktail dresses! There were some that I had only worn once since I’d bought them. Some were obviously trend focused; neon colours and styles that aren’t long-lasting but were a big thing once and as most stylists will tell you you should never dress based on trends (trends are not popular with serious fashion lovers).

Style is  a very personal thing. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly, style is forever.

– Ralph Lauren

I did get rid of one jumpsuit because it was an ‘um’ moment. I looked at it for a while and the last time I could remember wearing it was three years ago. It’s a cool jumpsuit and when I bought it, I thought this is different, no one else has this so why not buy it! I don’t own any other full length jumpsuits so I was hesitant to let it go. But every time I have tried it on when I’m deciding what to wear, it just doesn’t look right and I think maybe next time. It had to go.

Now I do admit that I got rid of clothes that were 100% cotton (mainly from Cotton On) , a cotton blend or made in Australia. But part of this redesign was also about not holding on to things that I no longer wear just because there a good fabric. When it comes to Cotton On, although most of there clothes are obviously 100% cotton or a blend and in most cases in line with my style, they aren’t always made to the best quality. If you own t-shirts from Cotton On you’ll know what I mean, sometimes seams start to reshape themselves after a few washes.

 The difference between style and fashion is quality.

– Giorgio Armani

 So the next stage is to do something with the clothes that I’ve removed from my wardrobe. The other day my sister put me onto an Instagram page called Mutual Muse. She’s a Melbourne lady and she buys used clothes from people either for cash or store credit to re-sell in her store. She’s opening up a new store around the corner from my house so I’ve contacted her and I’ll let you know how that goes…