A brief explanation of why I got rid of 80% of the clothes in my closet this weekend

Getting
dressed in the morning is my least favourite part of the day. It shouldn’t be.
I have mounds of trousers and tops and shirts and skirts and dresses from which
to choose. Over the years I’ve collected pieces from Riviera markets and
Parisienne boutiques, American dollar stores and East London vintage stalls. I’ve
got a veritable dressing up box of outfits to choose from.

Thing
is, none of it is any bloody good.

Although
from a distance my clothes stash looks impressive, I reach for the same key six
pieces in my wardrobe day after day after day. To get to these key six pieces,
though, every morning I try on everything else in my wardrobe, getting
increasingly frustrated that NOTHING LOOKS RIGHT! WHY DO I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!
I HATE MY LIFE! LET’S CANCEL EVERYTHING EVER!

Then
one morning it simply occurred to me: cut out the crap. Just like that. Get rid
of it. Without the daily ritual of
eleventy thousand outfit changes, I’d cease to ruin my morning, day after day,
by getting frustrated at myself in the same old predictable fashion. (Womp.) 

If I
got rid of the stuff that doesn’t make me feel good, I realised, then I’d only
be trying on clothes that, by default, did.

I
lived in that imaginary world for a moment, the world where I only owned clothes
I worshipped.

The
prospect scared me. What if one day I really need the too-short hot pink ruffled party dress that I’ve never-
not once- worn? The eighteen faded t-shirts? Every single sleeveless thing I’ve
ever bought in hope of one day having thinner upper arms?

Yet,
I’ve backpacked for months at a time with nothing but two skirts and all six
Harry Potter books. When I left Rome last year everything I owned fit into two
suitcases. I don’t need as much as I think I do.

When
I contemplate style I think of my friend Cassie, a New York-based model I
worked with for a month, at the convent, last year. She had ten items in her
backpack, a selection of perfectly chosen apparel that mixed and matched in a
way that I remember Liv Tyler once saying, in an interview, that Kate Moss does
on holiday. Effortlessly. Easy. Everything worked with everything else, so it
didn’t matter what she wore- she was still the best dressed in the room and
didn’t even have to think about it.

I
resolved to cultivate a wardrobe like Cassie’s.

‘Whatcha
doing later?’ Calum asked me when he called Thursday night. ‘Pinteresting!’ I
replied happily. And that was how I began my purge. I made a digital collage of
how I want to look when I dress every
morning, knowing that anything that didn’t fit the theme of my collage would be
sold,
gifted, or trashed. I would take no prisoners.

Psych
analysis 101: apparently, my
Pinterest board reveals I mainly just want to be Olivia Palermo.

As a
rule, I put comfort over style every time. I don’t do “work” and “casual” and
“cocktails” and “weekend”. I look the same, all the time. Sort of… drunk
humanities teacher.

The
other thing is that I’ve started meditating, and a few times a week I go to a
Buddhist temple at lunch. Until you’ve tried to unsuccessfully cross your legs whilst
wearing low-slung skinny jeans in a silent shrine, seeing the pity a real life
zen-as-fuck monk displays for you at your commitment to fashion over
enlightenment, you do not know shame.

Elasticated
waists will feature heavily in my new wardrobe for this reason.

I
went with my gut feeling as I worked, taking twenty minutes to decide what
would go. Fifteen or so items remain in my closet now, sighing relief that they
made the cut: two pairs of trousers, 6 sheer blouses, a leather waistcoat, 5
jumpers, and two vintage dresses for playtime.

I
ordered a pair of biker
boots, boyfriend
jeans, and a
black jersey dress online, and all of these things, total, in addition to a
pleather jacket, two hats, and a handful of pashmina scarves, are everything I
now own.

Ev-er-y-THING.

Every
month I will add no more than two or three key pieces to my wardrobe, I’ve
promised myself, because, quite frankly, I’m forever broke. August’s list
comprises of a good grey t-shirt, a black tuxedo jacket and a white, man’s
shirt. Eventually I’ll invest in black ballet pumps and some fun blazers, and
maybe a good watch, too. Also: textures. 

I
will not impulse shop, avoid Primark, and only buy clothes that make me feel
like doing a little dance in them. I will skip trends and focus on
versatility. Everything looks better with red lipstick, and this I will
continue to have in spades. Obviously.

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