2019 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Sayschezza

Bought a jacket so another 11 coupons used. My purchasing is slowing down but needs to stop for a few months at least.

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere wrote: »

In my mid-20s I got my first post-student proper work as a researcher in a huge posh prestigious and old-fashioned university dept. All I owned were combat trousers, army boots and an interesting range of stripey tights and micro-skirts, with a bike jacket and tour t-shirts! Oops.

For reasons I don't remember, instead of dashing out with my first paycheque and buying normal work clothes, instead I sat down and thought like you've described above - I knew I wouldn't change on getting home, so I needed clothes that would do for work, but also for cycling to and from, and for going out to do some gardening when I got home, etc. "When was a time when people made one skirt do for virtually everything?" I thought, and "the late 1930s and 40s" sprang to mind, and that's where my unfashionable style started to emerge... it's got more practical over the years (the pockets!), and slowly it's getting smaller in that more pieces work with more other pieces.

But yes, looking at what you expect and demand of your clothes is absolutely essential, imo!

You and I gravitate to the same time period, clothing-wise. I went for the 1930's/1940's style because the fashions then suit my body-type. I'm short-waisted and big boobed, so need things that are fitted or I'll look pregnant. I can't wear New Look style skirts, because I don't have enough waist to show them off.

For me, the late 1980's were wonderful because of the shoulder pads (which meant things draped properly over my boobs) and fitted waists, but I had to learn how to put a wardrobe together. I made most of the suits I wore to work, when I got an office job after I stopped nursing. I made clothes that fitted me, in colours that suited me, but each of them were one-offs and not co-ordinating with anything else.

Fast forward to my first round of accountancy exams, at Alexandra Palace. At that point, work did not know that I was studying. The hall was occupied by at least 2 different groups of students, sitting different accountancy exams. Naturally, as I took my seat, I looked up and spotted one of the managers (PSM) and one of the senior accountants from my office, walking in at the front of the hall. I could have died. I'd been to work in the morning, so was wearing a lovely, fitted, royal purple suit, in a sea of navy, grey and black. That suit was in PSM's favourite colour and he'd complimented me on it, the previous time I'd worn it.

(The gods were on my side; PSM didn't see me.)

CAFCGirl wrote: »

That is quite possibly one of the most nail on head statements I've seen in a long time. So apt for the throwaway society we've been turned into.....
People have become accustomed to badly designed\cheap materials so expect little of it, don't bother to 'treat' it, and as such refuse to pay for it, which in turn drives the demand for more of the same.

I guess unless we're willing to pay to move out of the cycle of demand, it won't improve - for us individually or the planet as a whole.

Agreed.

- Pip

vintagegal

CAFCGirl wrote: »

That is quite possibly one of the most nail on head statements I've seen in a long time. So apt for the throwaway society we've been turned into.....
People have become accustomed to badly designed\cheap materials so expect little of it, don't bother to 'treat' it, and as such refuse to pay for it, which in turn drives the demand for more of the same.

I guess unless we're willing to pay to move out of the cycle of demand, it won't improve - for us individually or the planet as a whole.

So true. I actually enjoy taking care of the nice things I have, when they are good fabric and well made they are always nicer to iron and to wear.


I'm afraid I have to confess to new shoes. 2 pairs....
I sold 7 things this weekend on ebay, things I don't wear and a few bags I don't use. Made enough money to almost pay for the shoes but they still have a coupon cost!! I know they will be worn and enjoyed though, unlike the things I got rid of.

Laura_Elsewhere

I was trying to explain this thread to my chap last night - I *think* he grasped it eventually, but it took him a while to grasp that the coupons are unrelated to money, but to the items. For a while, he sat there saying, "but I don't see how that saves any money", ie this is MSE forum, but eventually he grasped that it's resulting in my making more of an effort to use the fabric and yarn I already have, and to really look at my groaning clothes-shelves and consider why I have forty or so long-sleeved tops - it's because half of them are either too thin we wear as tops, or too worn-out to look nice, or developed underarm sweat-marks within three wearings, and so they only get worn in winter under jumpers but take up room year-round...

So by working out that, actually, what will work best for my year-round clothing is for me to make myself little blouses and short-sleeved shirts to wear with little fitted cardigans, and keep a *few* good-quality long-sleeved tops for wearing with particular outfits, then I can throw away the tatty ones for textile-recycling rags, and I can wear clothes that make me feel better about myself instead of clothes that make me anxiously wonder whether where I'm going will be over-heated in winter but I can't take my jumper off because it's a grotty old top underneath, etc., etc...

That's just the long-sleeved tops... there's the small question of the shelf above with its 20 or 30 brightly-coloured vet-tops and twenty or so t-shirts, almost all of which are too low-necked for decency or too small or too faded or too tatty or only go with one thing or, or, or... and the shelf above that with 2- or so jumpers and cardigans, most of which - oh, you're way ahead of me here!

PollyWollyDoodle

Truthfully, the Marie Kondo approach worked wonders for me, even if you don't want to do the whole house it's worth doing your clothes.

Firstly when you get all your tops (or cardigans or trousers, whatever) together you realise just how many you have. Then you realise that very few of them make you feel good when you wear them, it becomes much easier to get rid of stuff when you pick it up and don't feel any positive emotion. I realised how much I'd hung on to but never actually wore.

CAFCGirl

I second having 'a kondo'.
It's done wonders for me, although my drawers do seem rather bare now but it's what spurred me into signing up on this thread, and really had me thinking a while new way about clothing, and general consumption\ownership of items.

And I even thanked every item, because even when it felt a bit silly and daft, - that in itself gave me a bit of lighthearted merriment.

vintagegal

Hello


In April I have some time off to decorate my bedroom. It hasn't been decorated for a long time, and since I have become a single parent I have been planning it. I will Kondo my clothes properly then as I don't want to fill up the wardrobes with junk again. I dream of my room being a peaceful haven, rather than piles of shoes everywhere.


I've ordered some shoe storage for the spare room so that I can see what I have clearly.



I did love your colourful wardrobe though Laura_Elsewhere!

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire

PollyWollyDoodle - that Guardian article was very interesting.


I am pleased to say that I have finished my culottes and I am very happy with them. I shall be taking them on holiday with me in July (hopefully it will be nice enough for me to wear them). I need to think about making some long sleeve tops now as that is really what I am missing this time of year. I shall raid my stash tonight and see what patterns I have and see if I have any fabric that will be suitable before purchasing anything.


I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe but it doesn't seem to really work for me like others say. I work in an office but it is a fairly casual office so I would look overdressed if I wore that type of thing. Also, the air con is so "efficient" it is always freezing cold so I need to make sure I wear enough to keep me comfortable. I am thinking of ditching the work wardrobe completely eventually and just make or buy clothes I like rather than "that will do for work". Obviously I will make sure I wear them all out first.

PipneyJane

Laura, does that blue trug/bucket contain a yarn invasion? Thank you for sharing your wardrobe with us - it makes me feel better about my disorganisation.

Thanks CAFgirl and Polly for the suggestion to Kondo. I have never “Kondo-ed” but I may try. I think her approach to clothing boils down to being honest with yourself and letting go of the things that aren’t perfect for you.

I have a coupon spend to declare: 8 coupons spent on four pairs of knickers, which brings my coupon spend to 26, leaving me 40 coupons for the rest of the year.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane wrote: »

Laura, does that blue trug/bucket contain a yarn invasion?

Haha, no, that's only one pair of socks being knitted in three colours, kept by my bedside in a little metal pail as a project-bag...
The yarn invasion would be the double-cupboard in the sitting-room which, acc'g my Rav stash catalogue, has over 200 different sorts of yarn, in varying quantities. Well, not all in the cupboard. Some is in the three huge storage boxes entirely filling the space under the table, and in the three huge storage boxes behind the bench, and in the bags on top of the boxes behind the bench and at my parents' house. The bench is where the five gigantic boxes with my fabric live. Well, the fabric that isn't in huge storage boxes behind the bench.

But then the reaosn my fabric isn't in the shelves behind the bench is because my chap bought 250 laserdisc albums to resell on eBay and hasn't yet... several years on... and the reason my yarn isn't under the bench is that the storage there is taken up with his broadcast-quality technical kit from the 1980s... We make a lovely pair, so we do...

Thank you for sharing your wardrobe with us - it makes me feel better about my disorganisation.

Oi, you minimalist, you - that *IS* organised!!!!!!

C'mon, my handknitted ankle socks and my M&S knickers are all beautifully folded on the shelves nearer the camera... and the clothes shelves are at least organised into long-sleeved tops, and then vest-tops and t-shirts above, and then jumpers and cardis above those... and things are IN the shelves, not on the floor!
That IS organised...!!!

(seriously, after many years as a pathological hoarder, I reckon "all clothes IN the clothes storage area" is a major major win! )