SHOPPING MY CLOSET

Shopping My Closet

I received a compliment from a friend the other day on the outfit I was wearing.   When she asked where I got it I replied “I shopped my closet”. 

My friend asked where this shop was located and I repeated to her that what I was wearing came from my closet and that I had just “shopped my own closet”!

I explained further that I was not working much these days, basically just delivering some part time Training.  

I was transitioning into retirement mode and trying to cut back on spending and part of my restraint program involved a personal challenge to stop buying unnecessary clothing. 

I have always loved fashion and take great pleasure in shopping for clothes.  The result was a closet bulging with so many items I had a tough time finding ‘anything to wear’! 

New items would be purchased and added to the already overflowing closet and although I did on rare occasions clear out that which I didn’t fit or wear much I knew that I had more than enough to wear without buying more. 

Shopping, although fun and therapeutic at times, had become a costly habit for me! 

My closet is not large and yet it isn’t too small either but I knew it wasn’t more space I needed. 

I needed to organize the space I already had.  This would aid my motivation to ‘shop my closet’ instead of a store.  I devised a plan to clean out my closet and organize it in a way that I could clearly see and find outfits that I actually wore.  In the past I had thought about removing seasonal clothes however it seemed like too much work at the time.  In spite of this I started with the removal process and I eventually removed EVERYTHING with the intention of only putting back what I actually wore regularly!

Having freed up some space allowed me to spread out my outfits and be able to clearly see what I had available to wear.  I tried on everything and if the buttons were bulging or the waistline too tight they were sent off to the Thrift Shop.

I found things that I had forgotten I had.  I discovered ‘shamefully’, outfits I had never worn. 

 

I had more than enough to wear and the best things were jammed in where I couldn’t even see them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now that I have completed this mountainous task I can ‘shop my closet’ and revisit items that are like new.  

So take a peek in my closet and think of me the next time you say “I have nothing to wear” and consider “shopping YOUR closet”!

Author:  Trish Repay (BlackCrowCurios)
visit me at my personal blog:  http://blackcrowcurios.wordpress.com/a-bit-about-me/

Clothing Power!

So, Merry's post got me thinking about style. Personal style is in many ways, a flashing neon sign directed at other humans. It signals such things as mood, confidence, personality type, daily activities, duties, and sometimes what you ate that morning. I don't care how much you say you don't judge people based on clothing. You many not be "judging" but you are analyzing. We all do it; it's an ingrained method of understanding culture and the individuals within it. Because this analysis is ingrained and largely subconscious, changing your personal style is an excellent way to mess with people's heads. I do this often.

For instance:



My little demon <3

I like to walk my dog with a Pashmina scarf (wide, shawl-like type with elaborate patterns) wrapped around my head if it's misty. This mostly happens in the wintertime. My dog is a wild animal and needs all hands on deck to manage. Umbrellas are out of the question, and most jacket hoods are too small and slip off. My head's not that big, I promise. I suspect the industry just thinks hoods are for looks only. Like fake money, and almost as disappointing. Anyway, I walk my dog with my head wrapped up when it's misting. My neighbors then go from smiling, waving, chatty people whom I've known for years, to nervous little critters. If I wave, they scurry back into their garages with heads bowed and a clear lack of actual purpose. My neighbors think I'm a Muslim when I have the scarf on. They run away because they think I'm a terrorist. Or, perhaps I've got it all wrong and they think me a leper. Either way, these kinds of reactions made me quite curious at the power of a scarf.





OK, that's me in a blanket, but you get the idea.

So I did a little experiment all winter. It was windy, so I could be justified in bundling up. It's not like a tried this in the summer. When I used a "normal" knitted scarf and wrapped my face, nobody gave a flying squirrel about it. When I used the Pashmina, cashiers flinched, nobody was available to help me in the aisles of stores, and people actually stopped their cars more than 3 inches from my kneecaps in crosswalks. It was weird.

It makes a nice tribal wall decoration, too!

Another for instance:

For my college graduation jewelry exhibition, I had made a wild necklace from computer cord and zip ties. It didn't really fit with the collection to be in the show, but it was fun to wear, so I borrowed a hot-momma black dress, popped on the necklace, painted my lips bright red, and went to my show. Those of you that have been to art shows know that strange people infest art shows, so I shouldn't have stood out as much as I seemed to. People asked to take pictures all night, even in the streets, like they were tourists. I went downtown for fro-yo later and somebody got out of their car to shout "Lady GaGa!!" and point at me. Still not sure if they were kidding, drunk/blind, or actually thought Lady GaGa was present. Several people clearly thought I was some kind of celebrity and I almost caused an accident because some driver was gawking. The fro-yo people even treated me like I was a very important person who had paid a surprise visit and whom they were desperately trying to remember the name of.


The best part of this whole thing was not the attention or the stories to tell later. It was the fact that, in that dress, with those red lips, with that spikey wild "necklace" on, I felt invincible. In one of the strangest outfits I've ever worn in public, I felt more confident than I ever could in my own clothes. I walked tall, ordered my fro-yo like I owned the shopping center, and stared directly back at the gawking people. Normally, I'm terriblyshy towards strangers. My words get all knotted up and I forget to look at people. Not in that outfit! (I've always thought it's impossible to be shy in red lipstick.)

So, while I don't believe that clothes are the end-all-be-all to "making the (wo)man," I have to honestly say that it often makes a huge whopping difference.